Clients often ask, “Do I need to budget?” When I reply, “Maybe, maybe not,” they look at me like I’m a weight loss guru who just offered them a cheese Danish. “Wait—you’re a financial planner! Aren’t you supposed to tell me to budget?” My experience is that only about 10% of my clients budget. And …
All the financial whizzes like to say, “You need to be saving money!” Maybe you’d like to, but you don’t know how. (If so, how’s this for a hook: You will by the time you finish this column!) First things first: Saving is a habit. Like all habits, it requires motivation and momentum. If you’ve …
Most folks are convinced the wealthy know some big financial “Secret” the rest of us don’t. Like, they went to “the right” school and met “the right” people. Or they heard about Tesla before anyone else did, or got in on the ground floor of Amazon. Or somehow, they cracked the code on those free …
Do you live within your means? If you answered yes, that’s a problem. Here’s why. Caleb and Jessica bought a new house last year and spent more than they planned. The expenses that accompanied their new home were more than expected. “We are still living within our means,” they explained to me, “but we can’t …
When my wife and I are on the interstate, nothing makes her more nervous than me passing an 18-wheeler. (In her defense, I’m not the one who would first feel the effects of a tractor-trailer swerving violently in our direction.) If she senses even the slightest movement our way, she ends up in my lap! …
How much income will you need in retirement? Here’s an eight-step plan for figuring that out. 1. Start with your current income. As an example, let’s assume you make $100,000 annually. 2. Assume some inflation. No one knows what inflation rates will be between now and your retirement. What we do know is that postage …
I get questions all the time about saving for retirement. Clients ask: How much should I be setting aside each month? How big of a ‘nest egg’ do you think I’ll need in order to retire comfortably? Will Social Security run out of money before I’m 65? Should I even count on that? What mutual …
The 6 Questions to Ask When Saving for Retirement Read More »
“When this new bunch in Washington raises everyone’s taxes, what’s going to happen to the market then?” I get questions like this a few times each week. And my honest answer is “I have no idea.” Will our taxes be raised? Possibly. But since I’m not a prophet, I can’t say for sure—government tax policy …
The 1980s brought us cable TV, personal computers, parachute pants and mullet haircuts (powerful proof that not every “innovation” equals progress). The decade also saw the rise of the 401(k) plan. Before the heyday of mullet haircuts, the phrase “retirement plan” referred to a pension plan. A pension was a social contract between workers and …
“Do you want to retire one day?” That’s a question I ask new clients. The answers I get are fairly predictable. Older workers or people with jobs they hate say, “You bet! How about yesterday?!” People who enjoy their work say things like, “I might want to slow down one day, but I can’t imagine …
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