Small Changes Now Can Mean Big Long Term Results

May 08, 2015

In a conversation I had recently with an employee of a large healthcare company, the topic of retirement planning and investing merged together. She had recently started her job and wanted to be sure that she got off to a good start. Her prior employer had no financial wellness benefits provided so this was her first conversation with a financial planner. The conversation was very revealing about her views of herself, the world of investing and the level of financial knowledge that many people who work in financial services business assume that individuals have when they walk in for a conversation. Continue reading “Small Changes Now Can Mean Big Long Term Results”

Laughter Can Be Retirement Medicine

May 01, 2015

Earlier in the day, I had a conversation with a couple who were convinced that they didn’t have nearly enough money to retire any time soon and this was a very problematic issue for them.While she loved her job and said she planned to work until she’s the oldest employee ever at her company, he is absolutely miserable. Through a reorganization at his company, he now reports to a manager that he absolutely cannot stand and he said he feels like life is being slowly sucked out of him. The new boss, in his view, is an absolute megalomaniac who makes life miserable for everyone in their department. Nearly half of the staff has left for other opportunities within the last 6 months and the workload for those remaining is overwhelming to the point that he feels like his health is being compromised. Continue reading “Laughter Can Be Retirement Medicine”

The Hidden Benefits of After-Tax Contributions

November 20, 2014

No, I’m not talking about Roth contributions. If your employer’s retirement plan offers this option, you may be able to contribute more than the annual limit of $17,500 (or $23,000 if you’re 50 or older) to your plan in the form of “after-tax” contributions. As the name implies, the contributions are taxed before you put them into the plan. And unlike Roth contributions (which are also “after-tax”), the earnings are taxed when you withdraw them. Continue reading “The Hidden Benefits of After-Tax Contributions”

How the IRS Can Help You Save More For Retirement in 2015

November 17, 2014

It has often been said that the only constant in life is change. As a parent, I find that change is both exciting and scary as heck because you never know what lies around the corner. This statement about anticipating change definitely remains true when the IRS is concerned. Continue reading “How the IRS Can Help You Save More For Retirement in 2015”

Think Long Term For The Holidays

November 11, 2014

So the weather is cooling down and immediately we start thinking about all of the yummy holiday food and spending time with our loved ones. After we start basking in the glow of chocolate chip cookies and family, it slowly starts to sink in that this time of the year is expensive. Between traveling, Thanksgiving Day meals, and presents, you and your wallet are exhausted by New Year’s. So what is a gift-giving person to do? Continue reading “Think Long Term For The Holidays”

Living Longer May Not Be All Good News For Women

November 05, 2014

According to a new report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Health Statistics, Americans are living longer—o.1 years longer to be exact—as the national life expectancy has reached a new record high of 78.8 years. Women, with an average life expectancy of 81.2 years, live on average 4.8 years longer than men, at 76.4 years. While some may see this purely as a blessing, it does present a financial challenge for today’s women. Namely, women may need to save more for retirement than men in order to account for these additional years. Here are five things women can do to help address this added financial challenge: Continue reading “Living Longer May Not Be All Good News For Women”

Do You LUV Your Brand?

September 12, 2014

As someone who travels a lot for work, news from airlines always gets my attention. Southwest Airlines is doing an overhaul of their logo, their paint jobs on planes, their snack bags…virtually everything associated with their brand. We see the same images and messages all the time and after a while we stop noticing. I always think of Charlie Brown’s teacher when I hear a friend of mine threaten her kids with some form of punishment (which never happens, they still get ice cream after failing to listen to anything she says). The same “you’re going to bed early” or “no technology if you don’t do X” or some similar thing is held out as a consequence, yet there are never consequences. In order for her kids to take her seriously or for companies to get us to pay attention again, sometimes a change is required. Southwest is doing exactly that with their makeover of their logo and branding efforts. Continue reading “Do You LUV Your Brand?”

In Defense of the Traditional 401(k)

August 14, 2014

Should you make pre-tax or Roth 401(k) contributions? I recently read this article by Penelope Wang called “The Great Retirement Account You’re Not Using” that argues for Roth contributions. However, I still think pre-tax contributions make more sense for most people. Here is my response to each of her main arguments: Continue reading “In Defense of the Traditional 401(k)”

Are You Choosing the Right Investments in Your 401(k) Plan?

June 30, 2014

It can be hard to figure out if the investment selections within your retirement plan investments are a good fit for your personal goals. The concept of diversification is usually represented by the phrase “don’t put all your eggs in one basket.” It makes perfect sense but how do you know which baskets are the best fit and how much do you put in each basket? Continue reading “Are You Choosing the Right Investments in Your 401(k) Plan?”

How to Avoid a 50% Mistake

December 18, 2013

Every year, the Ward family gathers around the table to share a traditional Thanksgiving meal together. Each of us takes turns sharing what we are thankful for and before long, the whole dining room is alive with laughter and joyous conversation. After the kids are excused, the adults sit closer together to talk about more serious issues, and inevitably the subject of money enters the discourse. Fortunately, there is a financial planner among them, so everyone knows who to ask when financial questions arise. Continue reading “How to Avoid a 50% Mistake”

Retirement Saving Strategies: Going Beyond Your 401(k)

December 09, 2013

Are you doing enough these days to prepare for retirement? If not, you’re not alone. Nearly four out of five people feel they aren’t on track to meet their retirement income goals. Continue reading “Retirement Saving Strategies: Going Beyond Your 401(k)”

In Defense of the 401(k)

December 04, 2013

I began my career in 1994 as an enroller for a large 401(k) provider. From the moment I started, I was indoctrinated in the virtues of this particular savings vehicle. Things like “tax-deductible savings” and “payroll deduction” became everyday vernacular, and before you knew it, I was out there evangelizing the masses on the greatness of this extremely important part of the tax code. So imagine my chagrin when I learned that my beloved 401(k) has come under attack recently by some who are calling for its demise. Continue reading “In Defense of the 401(k)”

Automatic Enrollment Does NOT Mean Automatic Retirement

November 27, 2013

As Thanksgiving approaches, what are some things you have to be thankful for? Your health? Your family? Your friends? How about a new job? According to the most recent data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, over 200,000 people entered the workforce in October. Whether they are entering the workforce for the first time or found a new job after previous employment, many will be automatically enrolled in their new employer’s 401(k) plan. Continue reading “Automatic Enrollment Does NOT Mean Automatic Retirement”

Why Millennials Shouldn’t Worry About Retirement

September 30, 2013

Millennials shouldn’t worry about retirement! OK, now that our CEO, Liz Davidson, and the rest of the research team at Financial Finesse are having heart palpitations (and the CFP® Board has started the process of stripping my credentials) I must clarify this statement. I don’t mean that Millennials (a.k.a “Gen Y”) should ignore saving for the future. My point is that as the saying goes, “Sometimes it’s not what you say; it’s how you say it.” When it comes to financial planning, we often give the right message in the wrong way.

Think about any commercial that you’ve seen for retirement planning or investing. Have any of them been geared towards anyone under 50, let alone 40? There is nothing wrong with the retirement and investment industry focusing their attention on the Baby Boomers – they are the ones that are concerned about a life changing event just around the corner and frankly they have money to invest. Unfortunately, if there is any generation that needs to be prepared financially, it is our youngest generation in the workforce.

As the recently released Retirement Preparedness report from Financial Finesse points out, employees under 30 are actually less prepared for retirement than they were last year and will face higher medical costs, longer life expectancies, and the potential for much higher inflation and higher taxes. So how do we fix it? Maybe we don’t talk about retirement. Think about it. When you were 26, were you worried about what you were going to do after your career was over or were you trying to figure out what in the heck you were going to do for a career?

There is a lot of talk about various methods of reaching Millennials – social media, smartphone apps, and SEO marketing, but in the end, it doesn’t matter how we deliver the message if the message doesn’t resonate. What does matter to someone early in their adult life? I would suggest that the motivating factor when I was a young adult was being able to make my own decisions. From the time we are teenagers and get a taste of freedom, we tend to crave all the freedom we can get our hands on.

So what does freedom have to do with retirement? Everything! Think about it. What retirement really means is that you have options: Do you want to keep working or not? Do you want to live here or travel, or maybe relocate to the place you’ve always wanted to live? In many ways, retirement is the ultimate expression of that teenage craving for the freedom to do whatever we want.

So if you are a human resources professional trying to boost 401(k) participation, a financial planner working with younger clients, or a concerned parent talking to your kid about money, there is a key message here when talking to Millennials about financial freedom. Don’t dwell on retirement. Emphasize that money can’t buy you love or happiness (once your basic needs have been met), but it can buy you freedom to live life on your terms.

For all of the doomsday talk about the financial challenges facing Millennials in so many ways, they have the greatest opportunities of any generation. If a young person today takes advantage of their full 401k match and they max out their health savings account and contribute to Roth IRAs for an entire career, they have a great chance to build wealth. In an era with massive student loan debt it won’t be easy, but if we can help young Americans understand that the biggest limitation on them is not their age but their debt, they will find a way to solve it.

It’s what we do as Americans. Then Millennials will be in a position where they can use the money freed up by paying off their student loans and increasing their savings of all types. Many employees also have the opportunity to set up an automatic increase in the percent they set aside in their 401k every year. Those factors could help them accumulate a bigger nest egg than their parents or grandparents could have imagined.

If you are in the Millennal generation and you are burdened with student loan debt, imagine having your student loans paid off in 5 years. What if you could buy a house and still be debt free by 45? What would life look like if you had true financial freedom (a.k.a. “kiss my back side money”)?

It can happen if you make small changes to help fund the big picture, but it starts with believing it is possible. The reality is that Millennials need to seriously focus on creating and following a plan that will give them financial independence. However, the traditional retirement messages of previous generations needs to be re-framed or Millennials could become the “lost generation” when it comes to retirement.

So go to iTunes , download some of my favorite 80’s rock and Don’t Stop Believing that you can take control of your financial present and future! (Yes, many of us Generation X types are as cheesy as an Adam Sandler or Vince Vaughn movie.)

http://youtu.be/aH0EBpRXixM

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Let Open Enrollment Help You Minimize Taxes

September 13, 2013

With tax rates where they are today, and potentially going higher in the future due to the ever-increasing national debt and Congressional spending habits, I get asked a lot of questions about how to minimize taxes. That’s always an interesting conversation because taxation comes in many forms (taxes on income, capital gains, and interest, not to mention all of the consumption taxes we pay) and across many timelines. Are we looking at ways to minimize this year’s tax bite or our lifetime tax bite? Sometimes there are tradeoffs. Continue reading “Let Open Enrollment Help You Minimize Taxes”

Does Your Financial Life Feel Like a Burning Limo?

June 14, 2013

I saw a news story over the weekend about ten ladies who were able to escape a burning limo. What makes it a good news story is that there were no significant injuries. And, most of the women were in their 90s. Continue reading “Does Your Financial Life Feel Like a Burning Limo?”

Are 401(k) Loans a Really Bad Idea?

June 10, 2013

Following a recent financial planning webinar presentation, I was faced with a frequently asked question. Does it make sense to take out a 401(k) loan to consolidate debt? This employee had definitely done her research on 401(k) loans but she was wary after reading warnings from many financial planners and media gurus. However, this didn’t deter her from exploring a 401(k) loan as she was eager to eliminate her high interest credit cards and get them out of her life forever. Continue reading “Are 401(k) Loans a Really Bad Idea?”

What Comes First: Saving, Investing, or Paying off Debt?

June 06, 2013

One of the most common questions we get is whether to prioritize paying down debt, building up savings, or investing for retirement. Ideally, of course, we would do all three but most of us have limited dollars with which to work with. So what should take priority? It’s a topic that has generated some disagreement among some well-known financial gurus. Here are some guidelines to follow: Continue reading “What Comes First: Saving, Investing, or Paying off Debt?”