The year after you graduate college is as good a time as any to get your personal finances on the right track. Here are a few things to keep in mind as you do. It doesn’t hurt to keep living like a student The idea that graduating is the start of your adult life doesn’t […]
Personally, I probably spend way too much time projecting our income and expenses for the years between now and retirement, tweaking our plan, and working on our retirement budget. If you saw my massive Excel workbook, your eyes would probably glaze over (my wife certainly does ?). Having said that, there’s that well-known quote often […]
Social Security is a critical part of making retirement even somewhat affordable for many Americans. According to Fool.com, Social Security can replace over half of career-average wages for low-income Americans, and about 40% for middle-income Americans. By the time you reach the maximum Social-Security-taxable income, benefits replace just over a quarter of your career-average income. […]
Personal finance experts will tell you that budgeting well is at the heart of good money management. It’s true, but any budget is only as good as the method you use to make it. Sloppy budgeting could even be worse than no budgeting at all. If you leave important categories out of your budget, you’ll […]
* But Fortunately, Times Are Changing (Quickly) People who have access to a financial advisor have better financial outcomes. Charles Schwab conducted a survey of the financial behaviors of people who work with a financial planner compared to those who don’t. The results for people who work with a financial advisor are encouraging. 75% pay their bills and still have enough […]
Inflation keeps ticking higher and higher, but affects the cost of some items much more than others The US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) tracks thousands of prices and folds them all into a weighted average they call the consumer price index, or CPI. Last month, I wrote how the CPI’s year-over-year increase was 5.0%, […]
When it comes to making a budget, one thing that will often trip you up is a lack of understanding regarding what you actually spend. You can start tracking your spending at any time, of course. But if you’ve tracked your spending for a month, you still won’t have a good idea of what your […]
High Inflation Is Here Now. Are You Wondering How Badly It Will Hurt Your Wallet? There’s no two ways about it. Prices are moving up. For some things, by over 50% in the past year! According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the official score-keeper, May’s year-over-year change in the consumer price index […]
We’re often told that budgeting is as simple as spending less than we earn, as if we have perfect control over our outgoings. Spending less than you earn isn’t as simple as it sounds. In fact, earning more than you spend can actually be simpler, in some ways. Getting a raise or a second job […]