Tag: Saving
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Financial Things Every New Parent Needs to Consider
As a parent, your primary concern is ensuring your children have everything they need to grow up healthy, happy, and well-educated. However, it is equally important to consider their financial future, particularly in today’s volatile and uncertain economic environment. In this blog post, we will explore some of the most critical financial considerations parents need…
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Everything You Need To Know About Pay Yourself First Budgeting
Pay yourself first is a form of reverse budgeting, a financial management strategy recently(ish) gaining popularity. Unlike traditional budgeting, where you allocate a certain amount for each expense category, reverse budgeting starts with your income and encourages you to save a certain percentage while allowing you to spend the remaining amount freely. How Reverse Budgeting…
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Everything You Need To Know About Target Date Funds
Target-date or lifecycle retirement funds have become increasingly popular over the past few years. These funds intend to help investors reach their retirement goals by automatically adjusting the allocation of assets over time. They are very much a “set it and forget it” approach to investing. What are Target Date Retirement Funds? Target date retirement…
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Best Short-Term Investments Right Now
It’s no secret that the Federal Reserve has rapidly increased interest rates in 2022. While those rapid increases have killed investor sentiment in the stock market, they have made short-term investments appealing again. Short-term investments can vary significantly in length, quality, and restrictions, and this guide will help you sort through them. What are short-term…
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26 Ways to Use Your FSA
What is a flexible spending account, or FSA? As the year winds down and open enrollment begins, it’s a great time to look at your flexible spending account. FSA stands for flexible spending account. It allows you to use pre-tax money (saving you on taxable income) for healthcare. You choose the amount you wish to…
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Financial Planning and Advice for Millennials
Building wealth in your 20s and 30s looks different. The traditional financial service industry targets the retirement market, as that is typically the height of wealth for most families. Financial advisors usually attempt to get their investments and charge a percentage or sell annuities that generate commission-based and ongoing fees. Either way, financial services focus…
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Emergency Fun(d)
What is an emergency fund? An emergency fund is a reserve of savings used expressly for unplanned expenses or financial distress. Whether medical bills or a car repair, an emergency fund is a cushion that absorbs those unexpected expenses. Ideally, an emergency fund will keep you from raiding your retirement savings or, worse, taking on…
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What A Year This Quarter Has Been
It has been a difficult quarter for investors. Major indexes entered bear territory (means down 20%). US treasuries, generally the safest of assets for when investors are scared, have had their worst year since the 70s (when interest rates go up, bonds go down). Commodities, which I generally say “they suck until they don’t,” have…
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How Much To Save for College
It’s no secret that college is expensive, and college education costs have only accelerated over the past decade. The staggering cost of college and its acceleration will be a significant challenge for millennial parents to meet. Parents want to know first: “How much do I need to save for college?” How Much Should I Be…
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Beginners Guide to 529 College Savings Plans
A 529 plan is a savings plan is one of the best ways to save for tuition or college expenses. A 529 offers many tax benefits and designates an individual’s tuition and related education expenses. The two main 529 plans are prepaid tuition and more typical college savings plans. Prepaid tuition plans allow the account…
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Is It Better to Pay Down Debt or Invest?
One of the most common questions a financial advisor gets is paying off debt vs. investing. More specifically, is it better to pay down debt or invest? Should you delay retirement savings to pay down a mortgage or student loans? Should you pay off debt before starting an emergency fund? The simple answer is that…
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A Financial Wellness Guide for Millennials
We often think of wellness in terms of physical or mental health. Paying lots of attention to them, we often spend a lot of time, effort, and money trying to focus on them. To achieve a better quality of life, we focus on our mental and physical health. We rarely talk about money. It’s so…