Financial Planning, Retirement Plan, 401k, Investment Blog

Financial Planning, Retirement Plan, 401k, Investment Blog

Archive for March, 2009

Do You Love Your Job?

Posted March 6, 2009 by Bernz

Being employed is something we aspire to for many reasons: it puts food on the table, it helps us to build experience, and it helps us to develop our social and professional networks. But one question that most of us rarely entertain is “Do I love my job?”

Not everyone can get up in the morning, bounce out of bed, and be excited about another day at work. Although some people can find the joy in anything, I would imagine that many slaughterhouse workers, sanitation engineers and debt collectors are more concerned with the money and not the fulfillment.

But you should love what you do for many reasons. The most important reason is that you’re going to be doing it at least 40 hours a week. You’ll spend more time at your job than eating, sleeping, or playing with your kids. Grinding through 40 hours a week of drudgery and duty can be just as bad as having a continual dental drilling.

(more…)

Posted in Career, Misc, Retirement Planning, Saving Money, Wealth Building | No Comments »

Whatever Happened to Diversification?

Posted March 4, 2009 by Bernz

Every investor has heard the advice to diversify their portfolio holdings in order to reduce risk and increase income. It is the gospel of every television financial guru and appears in every brokerage newsletter.

But how many people actually know what it means and practice it on a regular basis? Diversification is nothing more than a variation of the old “don’t put your eggs in one basket” mantra that has served people well from the Great Depression until today. Spreading out your investments amongst different industries, securities types and company size protects you from an economic downturn in any one segment of the market.

While diversification makes logical sense, many small investors choose to ignore the safe route and try to make fast money in the markets. It’s easy to see why people choose this path. Every late night “you too can make a million next year with tax notes” charlatan encourages you to forget about boring bonds and blue chip stocks and get on the train to riches. After all, Joe from New Jersey made $120,000 last month by spending five minutes a day picking stocks. (more…)

Posted in Financial Education, Investing Strategies, Stock Market Investing | No Comments »

How to Find the Right Health Insurance Plan

Posted March 2, 2009 by Bernz

The election campaigns of both the Republicans and Democrats included a lot of discussion of how well the current health care system in the US is working and what needs to be done to fix it. Now that President Obama has been sworn into office, big changes to health care services and delivery methods may be in the works, however, it may still be quite some time before real change is implemented.

In the meantime, it is still important to have a health care plan in place. The choices today can be mind-numbing and there is some evidence that many people simply don’t choose a plan because of the complexity. But not having health care can ruin your financial future. It is estimated that around half of all personal bankruptcies in the United States occur because of medical or health costs. A simple stitched finger can cost over $1,000 and heart surgery can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. We don’t get to choose when we need emergency health services so getting health insurance in place is a necessity.

Health insurance plans come in all stripes. Some focus on providing for everything from a check up in your doctor’s office to dental and eye care. Some only cover emergency hospital services. As with any other product, the more bells and whistles the plan comes with, the more expensive the premiums are.

(more…)

Posted in Estate Planning, Financial Education, Misc, Saving Money | No Comments »