financial planning

Use Accounts to Save and Budget

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I talk a lot about the psychology of money. The reality is that no matter how much something makes sense mathematically, it just may not work for most people because money isn’t just something we move around on a spreadsheet. One of the most common questions I see are in the form of “What should I do with $5,000,” or “How should I invest $3,000?” The answer is to put it in your savings unless you currently have enough money saved for your emergency fund and short-term goals, otherwise, put it in one of your investment accounts. People don’t like this answer. Why? Money psychology. Use More Accounts to Save One of the problems with money on a personal financial level is that it comes and goes so easily, often without really noticing or appreciating it. Consider a man (or woman) age 35. He earns $120,000 per year, has a mortgage, a car payment, some nice hobbies and he puts money away for his kid’s college and his own retirement. Honestly, that’s pretty great and he should be (and is) pretty happy. Financially speaking, this means that each month he earns $10,000. His company takes out $5,000 for taxes, insurance premiums, …

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Basic Retirement Plan Simple

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Retirement planning is actually incredibly simple and straightforward for most people. However, it can quickly sound complex because of all the edge cases, exceptions, and possibilities that really only affect a small number of people. If you eliminate all of that noise, however, there really isn’t much to the average American’s financial plan. Follow the following information and there really is no reason you can’t make your own simple retirement plan. Obviously, every situation is different. If you have unusual circumstances such as a coming inheritance, money in trusts, or other legal situations, this plan won’t work for you. If you have regular income, a family, and just need a plan, this is perfect for you. Do It Yourself Financial Plan One of the things that quickly complicates financial planning is the idea that you have to predict how much income you will need in retirement. This step is a waste of time for 90 percent of people. Why? Because, for most people retirement saving and investing is about how much they can save, not how much they will need. To put it another way, consider this. If I tell you that if you can save $10,000 per month, you …

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When Can I Spend My Emergency Fund?

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Most professional financial advisors, and most non-professional know-it-alls as well, say that you should keep three to six months worth of expenses in an emergency fund for, well… emergencies. They aren’t wrong. You never know when life will throw you a curve ball, and when it does, you don’t want a few months of problems to turn into a crushing blow to years of hard financial work and smart decisions. However, the reality is that an emergency fund will never stand up to the worst financial calamities (long-term medical problems). Another reality that causes a lot of people stress is that your emergency fund is designed to be used. Over the course of your life, you fund will likely get drawn down, and then get refilled by more saving. Emergency Fund versus Reserve Fund When I was a professional financial advisor in Denver, I stopped calling it an emergency fund when people would find themselves torn about using it when they needed the money for something worthwhile. For example, imagine your son or daughter spent the last several years in the band. During that time, there have been numerous practices, and your child has built up a real love for …

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Bumper Sticker Financial Advice

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Bumper stickers are an interesting way to convey an idea. They aren’t very big, so the message must be small. They tend to be ignored, so the message must be clever. You can’t ask the person driving the car what they mean, so they must be clear in any context. On the other hand, a lot of the information is lost when a message is conveyed as a bumper sticker. Entire political debates boiled down to a certain sounding phrase are one example. In the financial world, bumper sticker financial advice often comes from books where repackaging existing financial ideas in new sounding ways is the fastest way to personal finance stardom. Pay Yourself First What Does It Mean?   One of the most ubiquitous financial planning as a simple phrase is, “Pay yourself first.” What pay yourself first means, literally, is that you should set aside money to be saved or invested before spending money on anything else. The concept works like this. If each week (or month, or whatever) you get a paycheck if you pay yourself first, then you won’t spend too much money and you’ll save for your future. Sounds good, and it is. In practice, …

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Financial Planners and Financial Advisors an Introduction

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Listen to the book authors, newspaper and magazine columnists and many web sites, and you will hear that financial advisors or financial planners are nothing more than glorified snake oil salesmen out to separate you from your hard earned money. To listen to some in the finance industry and their champions, financial advisors and financial planners are bastions of righteousness steeped in knowledge about financial concepts so complex that no mere mortal could possibly hope to navigate the waters alone. The truth of course lies in between. In real life, many financial decisions are frighteningly complex and, unlike other decisions you may face in life, many of them are irreversible once a mistake has been made. More importantly, some of the biggest financial issues, like retirement, take years to accomplish, and you get one chance. If you try the latest fad diet for a couple of months only to find out it doesn’t work for you, you start over a little wiser and with a little more experience. You could try different diets hundreds of times in your life while figuring out what works for you. You could also talk to friends and family, each of whom has dozens of …

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