Financial Planning, Retirement Plan, 401k, Investment Blog

Financial Planning, Retirement Plan, 401k, Investment Blog

Financial Goals

Coupons – Great Way to Save on Groceries

Posted May 29, 2011 by Bernz

Saving money has become a way of life for many people who are trying to adjust to living on a budget. If you would like to know more about saving money on groceries, then you should really consider using coupons whenever possible. Using coupons for everyday expenses may take some getting used to, but the money you will save will be worth it in the long run. If you have never used coupons before, there are many resources available on the internet that can help you with whatever questions you might have.

For some people, the concern with coupons may be the time it takes to find them and cut them out. In reality, it really does not take a long time to pull the coupon inserts out of the Sunday paper and cut them out. One thing that will save you time though is to only cut out coupons for things that you use. Don’t waste your time on the dog food coupons if you do not have a dog! There are also many other places that you can find coupons besides the Sunday paper.

If you spend a lot of time online, you may already know that there are sites that are dedicated to coupon lovers and offer you the chance to print off whatever coupons they have available for free. When searching these sites, it is important to remember one thing and that is that when you print lots and lots of coupons, you may spend a lot of money on ink to print them. An idea to keep the cost of printing coupons down is to only print the ones that think you will use.
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Are ETF’s Right for You?

Posted May 25, 2011 by Bernz

Taking the time to make sure you are spending your hard earned money wisely is very important in every aspect of life and money spent on investments should be no different. If you have done any kind of investing before now, it is likely that you have spent some time researching which stocks, bonds, etc. to invest in, but you may now be looking at trying something new. ETFs, or Exchange Traded Funds, may be the right choice for you, but you must make sure that you research this investment as well so that you can be confident that you are investing your money well.

An Exchange Traded Fund is an investment fund similar to a mutual fund that holds stocks as assets. There are many different reasons that so many people find EFTs desirable and one of the big ones is that they carry relative low costs. If you are looking for something that is similar to stocks, then an ETF may the right choice for you. One of the other benefits that many investors like about ETFs is that they may be taxed at a lower rate than other investments. When you are looking to invest your money in something, it is always a good idea to keep all of the costs associated with the investment as low as possible.

You should also keep in mind that the question of whether ETFs are right for you may not be the question that you want to ask, but what you should be asking is “which ETF is right for me?” There are many different kinds to choose from and if you are not an expert in the financial world, you should make sure you understand what each one can offer you so that you can choose the best ones to fit your needs.
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Training your Kids to be Financially Savvy

Posted May 12, 2011 by Bernz

Teaching children about money may not be something that you think you can do if you are not a financial genius. But don’t worry because given the fact that you are an adult means that you already know more than they do about many different things including money. Children love to learn, especially very young children. If you have children you have probably already noticed that they want to absorb as much knowledge as they can about every topic possible.

This is good news for both parents and teachers because it makes teaching them easier. What you do have to remember when you teach them important life skills like how to manage money is to make it fun. If learning is not fun, it will be more difficult for the children to pay attention and they will soon forget what you just said to them about saving up their pennies instead of spending them.

A great way to make sure that you have their attention is to use something to represent money that they will pay attention to, like their favorite candy or something similar. Another idea for parents to use to teach their children about money is to buy them a piggy bank. There are these great piggy banks that are specifically designed for children to teach them about financial responsibility. The banks are shaped like pigs, but have four separate slots so that the child can divide their money up equally.

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Estate Planning – When and Why it’s Needed

Posted April 17, 2011 by Bernz

It is very important for everyone, not just those with a lot of money to plan out what they want to happen with their estate once they are gone. Though many people do not like to talk about death, it is a necessary part of life and everyone should make the time to write out an estate plan. While many people think that a will is the only part of the plan that they need, you will also want to think about power of attorney as well as a living will.

No matter how small your assets are, if you do not have a will in place when you pass away, you could be leaving a legal mess for your loved ones. Not only will they have to sort out your possessions, but they will probably have some unexpected expenses that could end up costing them a lot of money. Even if you know that you need to make a plan for your estate, you may not know where or when to start.

Well, the answer to the when question is easy. You should definitely start working on putting together a will as soon as possible. If you have a home or any other large assets then it is even more important that you make creating a will a priority. But an even better reason than because you have property is if you have children. Life can get pretty complicated if Aunt Nancy and Grandma Mary both think that you would have wanted them to become the guardians of the kids because there was no will to tell them otherwise.

 

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Retire Happy: Keys to Reaching that Goal

Posted March 28, 2011 by Bernz

Every one who is working looks forward to the goal of one day retiring with enough money set aside so that they can truly enjoy themselves during retirement.  If this is your goal then you need to determine now the kind of funds you need to have on hand to enjoy your dreams during retirement.  Some people convince themselves that they cannot see the world or build their dream home when they retire, but this is really short-sighted and with careful planning you can reach those and a number of other goals.

One big key is to start saving now.  Ideally a person should begin saving in their 20′s in order to have enough personal savings set aside by the time that they retire to live comfortably.  The more you can save the better, and looking for ways to reduce your spending while you are younger to save more for the future can really pay off in the long run.  Setting aside 10 percent of every check in a savings account with a fairly aggressive compound interest rate, and then leaving the money alone, a very important key to financial success, can result in a very impressive nest egg when retirement rolls around.

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