My husband has been battling to keep his diabetes under control for the last few years. But no matter how diligent he may be, he still may find himself in the hospital. As we started talking about a recent hospital visit, he started sharing with me the financial lessons learned over the last few years. Continue reading “The Other Pain After a Medical Emergency”
A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about ways to reduce “fixed” expenses to free up money for goals like paying down debt or saving for a home purchase or retirement. But of course, it’s generally easier to reduce discretionary expenses that we have more control over like eating out and travel. The challenge is doing that without feeling like we’re depriving ourselves. Continue reading “How to Save Money On Your Travel Bookings”
One of the biggest questions I get when I talk to people is, “Is it better to rent or own?” I tell them that it is not as simple as a yes or no answer. The cost of living in your area, your area’s housing market, and your financial stability are all factors in deciding if renting or owning is the better decision. For some, renting temporarily is a better option but no matter what I say, I normally get the following rebuttals from those determined to buy a home now: Continue reading “Is It Better to Rent or Own?”
If you have read any of my prior blog posts, you probably know that I have a thing for chocolate. I even do a run called “Hot Chocolate” held in January. I do the 15K, about 9 miles, with water and chocolate stops along the way. Once I am done, you are given hot chocolate and I gulp it down in about 30 seconds. Despite the sub-freezing temperatures, I enjoy the runs because they gives me and my friends uninterrupted girl time to catch up. Continue reading “Want to Quit Your 2016 Budget? Don’t!”
Last week, I wrote about the importance of reducing so-called “fixed” expenses and not just discretionary ones like that morning coffee at Starbucks.The important thing is to reduce them before they become fixed. Here are some of the key decision points in which you can make that happen: Continue reading “Fix These Expenses Before They’re Fixed For You”
A common request from users of our Financial Helpline is for money management app recommendations. I haven’t found one yet that I love, so I’m always on the lookout for new ways to make it simple and painless to track expenses, stick to a budget and save more money. In other words, I’m in search of the My Fitness Pal for money.
Continue reading “5 Reasons You Shouldn’t Use Your Phone to Manage Your Money”
Did you have a New Year’s Resolution to save more money this year? How’s that going? If you’re struggling, you’re certainly not alone. Continue reading “Why Saving Money is As Hard For You As It is For the Government”
As I type this, the Powerball lottery jackpot stands at $1.1 billion. Yes…that’s BILLION with a B: 1,000,000,000 – nine zeroes. As a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER(TM) professional, I can attest to the fact that that’s a whole bunch of money! It’s fun to listen to the radio and hear what people would do with that kind of windfall. As with almost everything, there is both good and bad to what could be viewed by most people as an all good scenario. Continue reading “What If You Won the Powerball Lottery?”
Happy New Year! One important step in setting financial goals is establishing or reviewing your budget. After all, how can you tell your money where to go if you don’t know where it’s been? Continue reading “The Number One Budget Breaker and How to Avoid It This Year”
I was talking to a group of girlfriends over an amazing cup of hot chocolate with melted chocolate on the bottom and toasted marshmallows on top. For a chocoholic like me, this was heaven. I will admit I focused more on the chocolate than the conversation, but after a few minutes, my financial planning ears perked up. My friends were talking about their top New Year’s resolutions, which was the same for all of them- to get out of debt. Continue reading “How To Turn That Resolution Into Reality”
My friends often laugh at how quickly my life changed within about 18 months. I was happily single with plans to be a working woman with no husband and no kids. A friend of mine told me that I needed a life and suggested I check out a dating website. I said “never” but was intrigued… Continue reading “From Single to Married With a Baby”
It’s amazing how fast time flies but today marks my final appearance as a weekly blog contributor for Financial Finesse and you will have a new voice who will communicate her passion about financial wellness topics. I’ll still be here at Financial Finesse doing that financial wellness thing that I do along with conducting some research and continuing education for other CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ professionals. I will also occasionally make some guest appearances here on the Financial Wellness@Work blog, but you can still follow my Forbes contributions and my new role as the retirement planning expert writer for About.com. I may even be able to complete writing another book tentatively titled Live, Plan, Thrive by the end of 2016. Continue reading “A Few Last Words”
I recently had the chance to sit down with Brian Kelly, CFP®, an expert “money coach” and one of our more recent additions to the financial planner team and the Think Tank at Financial Finesse. I asked him a series of questions designed to find out more about how he became interested in joining our group of financial planning professionals who are committed to providing unbiased financial guidance to employees in the workforce. Here is a summary of our discussion with some unique insights about how an experienced financial planner uses an unbiased perspective to help others learn how to take control of their financial future: Continue reading “Meet Brian Kelly, Money Coach”
Do you ever feel like you have no idea where your money is? When I do individual consultations with people, I often find that they have trouble managing their money simply because it’s spread around in so many different places that it’s hard for them to keep track of it. If that sounds like you, there are a couple of ways to simplify your financial life: Continue reading “Simplifying Your Finances: Consolidate Or Aggregate?”
We talk a lot about ways to save money at Financial Finesse. One of the easiest ways to do that is to avoid paying bank fees. After all, it doesn’t require you to give up your morning Starbucks or bring lunch to work. All you have to do is a little paperwork. Here are some options to consider: Continue reading “3 Places To Find Free Checking Accounts”
In addition to writing for the Financial Finesse blog, I also write for Forbes. One of the Forbes staff members, Samantha Sharf, laid her wallet bare and shared her last ten purchases. She then challenged other writers and readers to do the same. One of our financial planners, Scott Spann, took the challenge and shared his last ten purchases. Realizing first with horror that I am older than he is and second the need for people to see that we are not perfect, I took up the challenge to share my last ten purchases over the weekend: Continue reading “The Last 10 Things This 42 Year Old Mom Spent Money On”
It seems like almost every week I’m reading about another company getting hacked and customer data being breached. Within the last month, I’ve read about at least five major security breaches. So far, I have been fortunate enough to escape being one of the impacted customers of these hacked companies. Continue reading “How To Protect Your Credit From Data Hackers”
Did you know that this week is the Financial Planning Association’s® 14th annual “Financial Planning Week?” The purpose of the week is to raise awareness of the financial planning process and to enable individuals and families to make prudent financial decisions. You can visit FinancialPlanningDays.org to see if a one-on-one financial planning advice event or educational workshops is being offered in your area. In the spirit of smart financial decision making, here are 10 ways to celebrate Financial Planning Week along with some of our thoughts on how finesse your personal finances: Continue reading “10 Ways To Celebrate Financial Planning Week”
I happened to overhear the following conversation while visiting my local coffee shop the other day:
“Hey, nice laptop. Where did you get it?”
“We have this program at work where we can buy computers, electronics, furniture, appliances, and other stuff and pay for it with monthly deductions from our paychecks. This laptop will be paid for in 12 months, and I never had to use my credit card or pay any interest.”
Buy now and pay interest-free over 12 months with convenient payroll deductions? Sounds like a great way to buy, right?
Maybe. Maybe not.
Often touted as “employee purchase plans” or similar programs, companies engaged in this business can make it sound as if this is a great alternative to credit cards or personal loans to purchase items such as computers, household appliances and more – until you take a closer look at the total cost of the purchases you make under these programs. Granted, there are employee product purchase plans that allow employees to buy products at a significant discount. But too often, those who cannot obtain credit or who aren’t willing to save up cash for a purchase, buy these items at greatly inflated prices when less costly alternatives may be available.
A popular employee purchase program offers a 40” named-brand LED television for $849.99 or “only” $70.83 per month over 12 months — all conveniently deducted from one’s paycheck, of course. There will also be additional charges for shipping and taxes, according to information buried in the fine print.
On the other hand, this same item can be purchased from a large online retailer (whose name is similar to a very large river in South America) for only $479! This is a savings of $371 or a whopping 44%. Of course, for someone who doesn’t have $479.00, that monthly payment of $70.83 can look pretty attractive. However, even for consumers who have poor credit or no credit, some creative thinking can help them find less expensive options for making these purchases.
For instance, there is Mom’s well worn and time-tested advice: save up for it and then buy it, particularly if the item is not something you absolutely must have to support your career or education. Using the earlier example of the monthly payments at $70.83, if we instead saved $70.83 in a savings account, it would take a little less than seven months to accumulate the much less expensive $479 purchase price offered by the online retailer. And if we kept saving $70 each month, we could use that money to build or improve our emergency fund, save up for a future vacation, pay off some credit cards, contribute to an IRA, etc.
But what if the item you want to buy is something you absolutely need right now? For example, my fellow java junkie at the coffee shop may have needed that laptop for some college courses she was taking in order to improve her career prospects. In that case, waiting seven months or more to save up for the purchase may not be practical.
Some other alternatives she could have considered instead of the expensive payroll purchase plan include borrowing from family members (a bit awkward at Thanksgiving), or she could consider borrowing some money from her 401(k) plan at work. There are pros and cons to borrowing against an employer’s retirement plan, of course, such as missing out on future investment growth or taxes and penalties if the loan is not paid back on time so we certainly do not want to use 401(k) loans as ATMs for frivolous purchases. But for overcoming occasional and relatively small financial tight spots, a 401(k) loan that you borrow from yourself and pay back over time may be a practical solution.
Better still, when you need or want to buy some new things, why not sell some old stuff you no longer use or like? An old fashioned yard sale still does the trick and modern technology can also help us quickly turn household items, collectibles, or heirlooms into quick cash. Social media sites are popular options for advertising your sale items, and there are well known websites such as ebay.com and craigslist.com you can use.
While you are busy thinning the herd and selling off excess possessions, this is a good time to also review your personal spending plan and see where some additional trimming can be done. In my case, cutting back on the weekly trips to the coffee shop can save me a tidy sum, though I may miss out on some interesting conversations.
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Last week, while attending the Illinois CPA Society annual conference, I had the privilege of seeing Frank Abagnale, the con artist turned FBI agent on whom the movie Catch Me If You Can is based. He shared some alarming statistics with us about white collar crime and especially identity theft.
Continue reading “Identity Theft Tips From A Former Con Man”
