Retirement may be a long way off for you – or it might be right around the corner. No matter how near or far it is, you’ve absolutely got to start saving for it now. However, saving for retirement isn’t what it used to be with the increase in cost of living and the instability of social security. You have to invest for your retirement, as opposed to saving for it!

Let’s start by taking a look at the retirement plan offered by your company. Once upon a time, these plans were quite sound. However, after the Enron upset and all that followed, people aren’t as secure in their company retirement plans anymore. If you choose not to invest in your company’s retirement plan, you do have other options.

First, you can invest in stocks, bonds, mutual funds, certificates of deposit, and money market accounts. (This topic has been discussed in detail in another chapter.)

You do not have to state to anybody that the returns on these investments are to be used for retirement. Just simply let your money grow overtime, and when certain investments reach their maturity, reinvest them and continue to let your money grow.

You can also open an Individual Retirement Account (IRA). IRA’s are quite popular because the money is not taxed until you withdraw the funds. You may also be able to deduct your IRA contributions from the taxes that you owe. An IRA can be opened at most banks.

A ROTH IRA is a newer type of retirement account. With a Roth, you pay taxes on the money that you are investing in your account, but when you cash out, no federal taxes are owed. Roth IRA’s can also be opened at a financial institution.

Another popular type of retirement account is the 401(k). 401(k’s) are typically offered through employers, but you may be able to open a 401(k) on your own. You should speak with a financial planner or accountant to help you with this. The Keogh plan is another type of IRA that is suitable for self employed people. Self-employed small business owners may also be interested in Simplified Employee Pension Plans (SEP). This is another type of Keogh plan that people typically find easier to administer than a regular Keogh plan.

Whichever retirement investment you choose, just make sure you choose one! Again, do not depend on social security, company retirement plans, or even an inheritance that may or may not come through! Take care of your financial future by investing in it today.

Though it may sound complicated, financial planning is really just a matter of using common sense. For instance, why would you pay $20.00 when you could pay $10.00 for the same item or results?

It’s no more than a guess that you work very hard to earn your money – so you need to make sure that your money is working hard for you in return. That’s one.

Money, when it is all said and done, is a means to an end. You work to make money; you take that money and use it to make sure that you have a place to live, a car to drive, food to eat, and clothes to wear.

And with luck, you take that money to enjoy some of the finer things in life. Many people believe that money is made to spend, and in a sense, that is validly true, and you will spend it – but not necessarily today.

If you are young, it is hard to imagine that you will reach a point in life when you can no longer work for your income. It may be a long way off, but that time will come, and you must be prepared for it. You cannot expect to start saving for retirement the year before you will need to retire!

The sooner you start saving and investing for your retirement, the better your retirement years will be – and that should be a major goal for everyone! When you retire, you will start spending the money that you’ve worked all of your life to earn and save. With luck and planning, there will even be some or plenty left over to give your grandchildren or great grandchildren a good financial start.

Just because you make a lot of money, you don’t have to spend a lot of money. We would all like to live rich and famous lifestyles, but it isn’t very realistic. Common sense is best when it comes to money, so again, why would you pay more for something that you can have for less? If you are using common sense, you wouldn’t!

If you don’t have to spend your money, don’t. It really is as simple as that. Instead, put that money to work for you, and have it make more money for you and your future.

When it comes to investing, many first time investors want to jump right in with both feet. Unfortunately, very few of those investors are successful. Investing in anything requires some degree of skill. It is important to remember that few investments are a sure thing – there is the risk of losing your money!

Before you jump right in, it is better to not only find out more about investing and how it all works, but also to determine what your goals are. What do you hope to achieve with your investments? Will you be funding a college education? Buying a home? Retiring?

Before you invest a single penny, really think about what you hope to achieve with that investment. Knowing what your goal is will help you make smarter investment decisions along the way!

Too often, people invest money with dreams of becoming rich overnight. This is possible – but it is also rare. It is usually a very bad idea to start investing with hopes of becoming rich overnight. It is safer to invest your money in such a way that it will grow slowly over time, and be used for retirement or a child’s education.
However, if your investment goal is to get rich quick, you should learn as much about high-yield, short term investing as you possibly can before you invest.

You should strongly consider talking to a financial planner before making any investments. Your financial planner can help you determine what type of investing you must do to reach the financial goals that you have set. He or she can give you realistic information as to what kind of returns you can expect and how long it will take to reach your specific goals.

Again, remember that investing requires more than calling a broker and telling them that you want to buy stocks or bonds. It takes a certain amount of research and knowledge about the market if you hope to invest successfully.

Investing has become increasingly important over the years, as the future of social security benefits becomes unknown.

People want to insure their futures, and they know that if they are depending on Social Security benefits, and in some cases retirement plans, that they may be in for a rude awakening when they no longer have the ability to earn a steady income. Investing is the answer to the unknowns of the future.

You may have been saving money in a low interest savings account over the years. Now, you want to see that money grow at a faster pace. Perhaps you’ve inherited money or realized some other type of windfall, and you need a way to make that money grow. Again, investing is the answer.

Investing is also a way of attaining the things that you want, such as a new home, a college education for your children, or expensive ‘toys.’ Of course, your financial goals will determine what type of investing you do. If you want or need to make a lot of money fast, you would be more interested in higher risk investing, which will give you a larger return in a shorter amount of time.

If you are saving for something in the far off future, such as retirement, you would want to make safer investments that grow over a longer period of time.

The overall purpose in investing is to create wealth and security, over a period of time. It is important to remember that you will not always be able to earn an income…you will eventually want to retire.
You also cannot count on the social security system to do what you expect it to do. As we have seen with Enron, you also cannot necessarily depend on your company’s retirement plan either. So, again, investing is the key to insuring your own financial future, but you must make smart investments!

Set up a filing system either hard copy or on your computer.

A hard copy file is easy to set up and stays at your fingertips for easy access. A basic filing cabinet costs about $30.00.

There are a lot of good software programs for keeping financial records and you don’t need an expensive one just for your personal needs. You do need to remember to back up this file.

Open your mail when it comes in. Put your unpaid bills in a designated spot so that when you are ready to pay them, they are all in one place.

Set a specific day and time for paying your bills and let nothing deter you from your appointed rounds.

Once every two weeks should be sufficient.

Balance your checkbook and do it often.

After every check written is not too often. It will prevent you from bouncing checks which is costly and unnecessary.

Banks charge up to $35.00 for a bounced check and businesses charge up to another $35.00 so that $20.00 check you wrote when you only had $19.95 in your account can cost you $90.00 and a lot of stress.

OK, you have let your personal financial situation slide a little…or maybe a lot. It’s time to clean the house but where do you start?

The very first step is to ask yourself some simple questions.

Do you open your bank statements and bills the minute they come in the mail or throw them aside and do a Scarlet O’Hara, “I’ll worry about that tomorrow”? Without looking at your bank balance, can you say within $10.00 what your balance is right now? Do you know what stocks and/or bonds you are invested in? Can you say with certainty how much you spend on gasoline or entertainment in a month? You do…you don’t…no clue? Yes, you need help and you need to get your financial house in order.

Tip: the Internet can help. There is a mountain of financial information out there on the net and all you have to do is look for it. Use any search engine you like and type in “Personal Financial Help”. Follow those leads until you find programs that can help you get a handle on all things financial. There are a lot of very good ones…some free…some not. Some sites will even help you make a budget you can live with. When you have less income than out-go, making more money isn’t always the answer.
The answer is usually managing the income you have better, more efficiently and wiser. Here are three simple rules to follow:

1. Save first. When you get your paycheck, before you spend one penny on anything else, set aside a few dollars in a savings account. I call that, “Pay Yourself.”
2. Budget your necessities. Necessities are food, clothing, shelter, and transportation… not necessarily in that order. Shelter includes utilities.
3. Subtract #1 and #2 from your total paycheck. The remainder is all you have left for entertainment. Stick to this plan and your financial house will soon be in order.

We have become a nation of spenders. Most American households have more debt than they can pay on a good day and the loss of a job or a second income can be devastating.

In a recent survey 5% of households said their debt was “a heavy burden” and 4% were behind on at least one debt commitment. 20% of people say that they neglect checking their bank balances because they “are too scared to find out how much money they have”… or maybe that’s “don’t have”.

We have used our credit cards to buy groceries, gasoline for our cars, clothing that was over priced, and entertainment we couldn’t afford. Something must be done if we are to get control over our personal financial situation and there are ways to do just that.

If you find that you just have more debt and more monthly payments than you can meet for whatever reason, there is help in the form of Consumer Credit Counseling Service (CCCS) and websites such as “lowermybills” and “moneynet” It will take time but you can get out of debt. Staying out of debt is another matter.

You must make a budget. You must know exactly what your checking account balance is at all times. You must never make “spur-of-the-moment” purchases… PLAN all expenditures for clothing, household goods, entertainment, etc.
Take the time and put forth the effort to learn to do things for yourself that you hire others to do for you. This can save you hundreds of dollars a year… maybe thousands.

Invest in some good Personal Financial Management Software for your computer and learn to use it effectively. There are a lot of different programs out there.

Learn to do comparison shopping and use those coupons that come in the Sunday paper. Spend your money with a plan and don’t plan to spend all of it.

You are taking a huge risk by not being financially prepared for long-term health care. Those have been there know.Middle income families are the ones who can be hit the hardest if they don’t plan for the impact of long-term care for themselves and their dependents. Higher income families can afford it and lower income families can qualify for government assistance. Middle income families bear the financial burden themselves.

In a recent survey it was found that nearly three-fourths of middle income Americans were concerned about needing long-term care in the future but only one-fourth had actually purchased long-term care insurance.

Does that mean that even though we are concerned, we prefer to just stick our heads in the sand and hope for the best?

“Hoping and praying” isn’t a plan considering that one out of every five Americans over the age of 50 will require some level of care in the next year of their lives. The average cost of a nursing home is $55,000. If you are 65 or over, and on Medicare, don’t think that Medicare will cover long-term care…it doesn’t. Part B provides for a few days of therapy and rehabilitation…after that it comes out of your pocket.

The reason given in the survey for not having long-term care insurance, were that it was too expensive. But is it too expensive?

It wouldn’t take long for retirement nest eggs to melt away when paying over $50,000.00 a year for a nursing home or more that $20,000.00 for assisted living facilities. You should ask yourself if you would rather pay several thousand dollars a month for long-term care or a fraction of that to protect your assets with long-term care insurance.

Many times younger people think it is too soon for them to worry about long-term care insurance and older people think it’s too late…neither is accurate.

You can find lots of misinformation about money and credit and especially credit cards. Misinformation is misfortune, so arm yourself with The truth before you tackle the credit card demons!

Myth #1: “It’s all my fault I got into this credit card mess!”
The truth: It may not be your fault at all. Credit card companies really are out to get us. You probably just got caught in the trap.

Myth #2: “Credit Cards are what got me into debt.”
The truth: Spending is what got you into debt. The credit cards just made it easier.

Myth #3: “My credit rating is destroyed forever and there is nothing I can do about it.”
The truth: If you have a job and are willing to work at it, you can get your credit under control and your credit rating restored. Rebuilding your credit requires that you do three things; pay your bills on time, look for better options and learn about money and credit.

Myth #4: “It’s fine to give my credit card number for identification as long as I don’t authorize a charge.”
The truth: NEVER give your credit card number for identification purposes. For that matter, you need to guard all of your personal information like a ferocious tiger.

Unless you initiate the phone call, do not give your name, address, phone number, social security number, credit card number or driver’s license number to anybody. All of this information can cause your identity to be stolen or worse.

Myth #5: “If I pay off a debt or cut up a credit card, this information is removed from my credit report.”
The truth: When you pay off a past due debt it actually restarts the time period that it can be reported in your credit history. Cutting up a credit card does not close the account. You must call the credit card bank to close an account under all circumstances.

Even just a few years ago, estate planning was a matter handled in the brick and mortar world for our assets, which existed in the brick and mortar world. However, so many of us now have assets that exist out there in cyber space like online businesses, bank accounts, stock accounts, etc.

Without the knowledge that these things exist and the passwords to access them, they will be lost to our heirs unless we include them in our estate plan and give the information for accessing them to our executors. Our computers can also have more value than just the value of the machine if things are stored on it.

A professional journalist or photographer for example may have articles or pictures stored that can be sold. Nobody, however, will know how to access these things unless we leave instructions for finding them after our inevitable death.

Laws covering digital assets lag far behind and will continue to do so for years to come so the best thing we can do is take care of them with our estate planners, executors and in our wills.

First, create separate email accounts for your online business and your personal business and make sure that your executor has the passwords to access your business email account. If you have sensitive personal information stored online, you can arrange for your executor to delete it upon your death.

Doing something as simple as writing down the information about your online business, bank accounts, stock accounts, etc. and including passwords, putting it into an envelope and marking it, “to be opened only after my death”, and giving it to your executor could solve the problem.

Make provisions in your will to renew URL’s after your death. You wouldn’t want your heirs to lose myfamilybiz.com because nobody knew it was time to renew your subscription and, also, make provisions to pay your suppliers and/or employees for your online business.