Planning for Your Retirement
Published by Admin on Tagged RetirementPlanning for your retirement is an important part of your overall financial plan. Americans are living longer and longer yet saving less and less every year for those retirement years. It’s hard to think about reaching retirement age when you still have a growing family that has growing needs and you are watching the costs of sending them to college going up and up with no end in sight but you must think and plan for those retirement years starting now.
First you must determine what your income needs will be once you retire and enter your “Golden Years”. Could it be 50% of what your income is now…or 75%? What expenses will continue and which ones will be reduced or eliminated entirely? Do you know?
It might seem ridiculous to go to a professional financial planner while you are still in your 30’s and it’s taking most of your income to just meet the monthly bills but you would be very wise to do that very thing. You need to make investments now to insure a secure financial future for you and your family. It isn’t too early; don’t let it become too late.
Your assets need to be diversified. Allocate your assets among cash reserves, bonds, annuities and stocks. Build a guaranteed income into your portfolio. Each person’s situation is different.
Protect your assets with insurance. You, of course, must have health insurance, life insurance and your home needs to be insured, too, but you might, also, consider long term medical care insurance. If you buy into a long term care insurance plan at an early age, your premiums will be very low and your coverage will protect your assets when or if the time comes you need it.
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Determining Where You Will Invest
Published by Admin on Tagged InvestmentsThere are several different types of investments, and there are many factors in determining where you should invest your funds.
Of course, determining where you will invest begins with researching the various available types of investments, determining your risk tolerance, and determining your investment style – along with your financial goals.
If you were going to purchase a new car, you would do quite a bit of research before making a final decision and a purchase. You would never consider purchasing a car that you had not fully looked over and taken for a test drive. Investing works much the same way.
You will of course learn as much about the investment as possible, and you would want to see how past investors have done as well. It’s common sense!
Learning about the stock market and investments takes a lot of time…but it is time well spent. There are numerous books and websites on the topic, and you can even take college level courses on the topic – which is what stock brokers do. With access to the Internet, you can actually play the stock market – with fake money – to get a feel for how it works.
You can make pretend investments, and see how they do. Do a search with any search engine for ‘Stock Market Games’ or ‘Stock Market Simulations.’ This is a great way to start learning about investing in the stock market.
Other types of investments – outside of the stock market – do not have simulators. You must learn about those types of investments the hard way – by reading. As a potential investor, you should read anything you can get your hands on about investing…but start with the beginning investment books and websites first.
Otherwise, you will quickly find that you are lost.
Finally, speak with a financial planner. Tell them your goals, and ask them for their suggestions – this is what they do! A good financial planner can easily help you determine where to invest your funds, and help you set up a plan to reach all of your financial goals.
Many will even teach you about investing along the way – make sure you pay attention to what they are telling you!
Making a Will
Published by Admin on Tagged Estate PlanningMaking a will is the first step in estate planning. Where do you start? You start by making a list of the people and organizations you want to remember in your Will. You, of course, want to provide for your dependents first but then you can get as creative as you wish.
You can give items that are meaningful to family members or friends, honor a colleague or arrange gifts to organizations or charities that you believe in. Prepare the list and include addresses, phone numbers and Social Security numbers if you have them. Be accurate. Clearly identify not only people but organizations.
Many organizations have similar names so contact the organizations or charities and get specific information about their identifying names and addresses.
You will need to choose an executor or executrix to settle your estate and carry out your wishes. Choose this person or persons with care. You might want to name a family member and a lawyer or a bank or trust company. The executor’s role is to file tax returns, invest assets, and setting values and selling property.
The job, also, includes submitting the Will for probate, safeguarding assets, paying your debts and distributing the remainder according to your wishes. The executor is entitled to a reasonable fee from your estate because the job is time consuming. Your executor should:
1. Be Trustworthy
2. Be willing and have the time
3. Be impartial to all beneficiaries
4. Have some business sense
5. Have some knowledge of estate law
6. Be younger that you
You should name an alternate executor in case the person you name dies before you and you should ask the person if they are willing and able to accept the responsibility.
Now that your decisions are made, the final step is to make an appointment with an attorney and have him write your Will according to your wishes. If you haven’t written your Will, do so today.
Stabilize Before You Invest
Published by Admin on Tagged InvestmentsBefore you consider investing in any type of market, you should really take a long hard look at your current situation. Investing in the future is a good thing, but clearing up bad – or potentially bad – situations in the present is more important.Pull your credit report. You should do this once each year. It is important to know what is on your report, and to clear up any negative items on your credit report as soon as possible. If you’ve set aside $25,000.00 to invest, but you have $25,000.00 worth of bad credit, you are better off cleaning up the credit first!
Next, look at what you are paying out each month, and get rid of expenses that are not necessary.
For instance, high interest credit cards are not necessary. Pay them off and get rid of them. If you have high interest outstanding loans, pay them off as well.
If nothing else, exchange the high interest credit card for one with lower interest and refinance high interest loans with loans that are lower interest. You may have to use some of your investment funds to take care of these matters, but in the long run, you will see that this is the wisest course of action.
Get yourself into good financial shape – and then enhance your financial situation with sound investments. It doesn’t make sense to start investing funds if your bank balance is always running low or if you are struggling to pay your monthly bills.
Your investment dollars will be better spent to rectify adverse financial issues that affect you each day.
While you are in the process of clearing up your present financial situation, make it a point to educate yourself about the various types of investments.
This way, when you are in a financially sound situation, you will be armed with the knowledge that you need to make equally sound investments in your future.
Managed Care Plans
Published by Admin on Tagged InsuranceThere are many different types of Health insurance plans out there. Picking the right one for yourself can be troublesome in the beginning, especially if you don’t know what you are looking for. You might have trouble deciding which one would be better for you.
Health insurance is divided into two large categories—indemnity and managed care plans. Indemnity plans, also commonly called reimbursement plans, will reimburse your medical expenses up to a certain limit. Under the Reimbursement plan, the insurer pays a percentage of the total charges, regardless of how much the charges are. With the indemnity plan, the insurer will pay a specified amount every day for a specified number of days. The amount reimbursed does not rely on the cost of medical care, but what you are reimbursed will never exceed your expenses.
The other popular type of health insurance plans is managed care plans. The three types of policies categorized as managed care plans are HMOs, POSs, and PPOs. This type of insurance is more popular than the indemnity plan, as they offer more flexibility. With these types of options you either pay a monthly fee no matter how many times you see a doctor, or pay a co-payment but no monthly fee. With managed care plans, you are given options of care. The plan you choose and the amount of money you wish to pay determines how big of a network of doctors and specialists you can see and still be covered under the plan. Some managed car plans (most often PPOs) offer sponsorship programs from a network of hospitals and medical services. You can often get this kind of plan through your employer.
Managed healthcare plans are better for the average person due to the fact that they are more cost effective. While indemnity plans may give you a lot more freedom in cost, you will have to use the healthcare provider that the insurer chooses. If you have a specific disability, this can present itself as a problem. In the long run, a managed care plan will save you money, especially if emergencies arise when you are out of town. These types of plans also are more flexible in policy. Before you purchase any kind of health insurance, be sure to research the many options available for you and your family to ensure you receive the best coverage possible for the lowest monthly premium or deductible.
Online Trading
Published by Admin on Tagged InvestmentsThe invention of the Internet has brought about many changes in the way that we conduct our lives and our personal business. We can pay our bills online, shop online, bank online, and even date online! We can even buy and sell stocks online. Traders love having the ability to look at their accounts whenever they want to, and brokers like having the ability to take orders over the Internet, as opposed to the telephone.
Most brokers and brokerage houses now offer online trading to their clients. Another great thing about trading online is that fees and commissions are often lower. While online trading is great, there are some drawbacks.
If you are new to investing, having the ability to actually speak with a broker can be quite beneficial. If you aren’t stock market savvy, online trading may be a dangerous thing for you. If this is the case, make sure that you learn as much as you can about trading stocks before you start trading online.
You should also be aware that you don’t have a computer with Internet access attached to you. You won’t always have the ability to get online to make a trade. You need to be sure that you can call and speak with a broker if this is the case, using the online broker. This is true whether you are an advanced trader or a beginner.
It is also a good idea to go with an online brokerage company that has been around for a while. You won’t find one that has been in business for fifty years of course, but you can find a company that has been in business that long and now offers online trading.
Again, online trading is a beautiful thing – but it isn’t for everyone. Think carefully before you decide to do your trading online, and make sure that
you really know what you are doing!
How Much Money Should You Invest?
Published by Admin on Tagged InvestmentsMany first time investors think that they should invest all of their savings. This isn’t necessarily true. To determine how much money you should invest, you must first determine how much you actually can afford to invest, and what your financial goals are.
First, let’s take a look at how much money you can currently afford to invest. Do you have savings that you can use? If so, great!
However, you don’t want to cut yourself short when you tie your money up in an investment. What were your savings originally for? It is important to keep three to six months of living expenses in a readily accessible savings account – don’t invest that money! Don’t invest any money that you may need to lay your hands on in a hurry in the future.
So, begin by determining how much of your savings should remain in your savings account, and how much can be used for investments. Unless you have funds from another source, such as an inheritance that you’ve recently received, this will probably be all that you currently have to invest.
Next, determine how much you can add to your investments in the future. If you are employed, you will continue to receive an income, and you can plan to use a portion of that income to build your investment portfolio over time.
Speak with a qualified financial planner to set up a budget and determine how much of your future income you will be able to invest. With the help of a financial planner, you can be sure that you are not investing more than you should – or less than you should in order to reach your investment goals.
For many types of investments, a certain initial investment amount will be required.
Hopefully, you’ve done your research, and you have found an investment that will prove to be sound. If this is the case, you probably already know what the required initial investment is.
If the money that you have available for investments does not meet the required initial investment, you may have to look at other investments. Never borrow money to invest, and never use money that you have not set aside for investing!
Determine Your Risk Tolerance
Published by Admin on Tagged InvestmentsEach individual has a risk tolerance that should not be ignored. Any good stock broker or financial planner knows this, and they should make the effort to help you determine what your risk tolerance is.
Then, they should work with you to find investments that do not exceed your risk tolerance.
Determining one’s risk tolerance involves several different things. First, you need to know how much money you have to invest, and what your investment and financial goals are.
For instance, if you plan to retire in ten years, and you’ve not saved a single penny towards that end, you need to have a high risk tolerance – because you will need to do some aggressive – risky – investing in order to reach your financial goal.
On the other side of the coin, if you are in your early twenties and you want to start investing for your retirement, your risk tolerance will be low. You can afford to watch your money grow slowly over time.
Realize of course, that your need for a high-risk tolerance or your need for a low risk tolerance really has no bearing on how you feel about risk. Again, there is a lot in determining your tolerance.
For instance, if you invested in the stock market and you watched the movement of that stock daily and saw that it was dropping slightly, what would you do? Would you sell out or would you let your money ride?
If you have a low tolerance for risk, you would want to sell out… if you have a high tolerance, you would let your money ride and see what happens. This is not based on what your financial goals are. This tolerance is based on how you feel about your money!
Again, a good financial planner or stock broker should help you determine the level of risk that you are comfortable with, and help you choose your investments accordingly.
Your risk tolerance should be based on what your financial goals are and how you feel about the possibility of losing your money. It’s all tied in together.
5 Quick Ways to Take Control of Your Finances
Published by Admin on Tagged Personal FinanceThough 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.
Planning Ahead - Start Now
Published by Admin on Tagged RetirementRetirement 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.