A recent online article in Financial Advisor magazine pointed out some disturbing factors that don’t quite support the “golden years” view of life after employment. The piece by Robert Laura, author of Naked ...(more)
Do you need motivation to help you save for retirement? Here’s a suggestion: try living for a month on nothing but your projected Social Security check.
The reason this might work lies within the human brain. There’s a ...(more)
Most people with Individual Retirement Accounts open them with a bank or brokerage firm (the custodian) that limits what investments can go into the account. These custodians typically limit your investments to stocks, ...(more)
I had no hat and no sunscreen to protect me from the scorching heat in the Australian vineyard. Yet I couldn’t leave as I listened to Leigh telling his family’s heartfelt story of grit, passion, and struggle. Standing ...(more)
Ronald Reagan was noted for saying, “Trust but verify.” And that was before Al Gore invented the Internet. When it comes to believing forwarded emails with dire warnings, it’s a good idea to go even further and “Verify ...(more)
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“Fee-only advisors derive no compensation from selling commission-based products; any compensation they receive comes from clients. That compensation structure helps ensure that the advisor is working strictly on the ...(more)
I’ve had an interesting conversation on Twitter recently where I was “tweeting” (that’s “talking” for the over-50 crowd) about a research study that indicated when paying off debt, there is no advantage psychologically ...(more)
If you’re a plumber, do you send your sister a bill for replacing her leaking shower head? If you make your living as a massage therapist, do you expect your mother to pay you for her twice-monthly massages? As a ...(more)
If the premise of a new book, Academically Adrift, is correct, college might be just a waste of money. In spite of soaring tuition costs, more and more students go to college every year. A bachelor’s degree is now ...(more)
Jannie Wu wanted a better life.
I met Jannie on a recent trip to China. After earning an undergraduate degree in English, she took a teaching job paying 1000 Renminbi, or RMB, ($150) per month. In China, obtaining a ...(more)
Ron Lieber, who writes the “Your Money” column for The New York Times, wondered what kind of tough questions clients were asking their financial planners after last year’s financial crash. To find out, he moderated a ...(more)
Not long ago I read a Wall Street Journal article, focused on proposed tax increases on those earning over $250,000 a year, which profiled a Colorado dentist who earned around $300,000 a year. The dentist was quoted as ...(more)
Have you ever seen a Super Bowl ad touting how much money you could save if you bought something second-hand? Of course not. There’s not a lot of encouragement in our culture to buy used stuff. Even the one exception, a ...(more)
I am not sure if there is an “Occupy Windhoek” movement, but there should be. Windhoek is the financial capital of Namibia, which has a Gini Index rating of 70.7, giving it the largest gap in the world between its ...(more)
A reader recently left this comment:
“I’ve read with interest your comments about “fee based” financial advisors. However, you have yet to address the issue that “fee based” relationships work only if your “nest egg” ...(more)
“It isn’t how much money you make that matters; it’s how much you get to keep.”
Recent years have shown most investors that an unfavorable stock market or global financial crisis can threaten their nest eggs. A ...(more)
Some of the attacks on Mitt Romney as a Presidential candidate have focused on his tenure with the private equity firm Bain Capital. Critics and rivals have denounced Romney as “profiteering off the backs of fired ...(more)
Financial consultant Rick Kahler says there are still many good reasons to stay away from credit cards.
Kahler says, “I’m a great advocate of not using credit cards, especially for anything consumer related. The best ...(more)
Preparing for an unanticipated and unforeseen financial disaster may seem like an oxymoron. How can you possibly prepare for something that is unknown?
You can, as long as you remember that the only thing really ...(more)
Last week’s column offered four ways to prepare for inevitable financial calamities by building a financial shield against disaster. This week adds four more strategies that are as much about people as about money.
1. ...(more)
