March 13th, 2010
Where The Jobs Are, How to Spruce Up Your Skills and Ready Your Finances for the Change
During the recent recession, many have found themselves back in the job market after age 50 due to layoffs or changing demands at their employers. Yet as life expectancies lengthen, a late career change isn’t always a negative. It may be a welcome chance to renew, re-educate and restart a full life.
It’s possible that in the future, an over-50 career change might become a common event, maybe even a desired event in our society – which means it’s definitely worth planning for. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Over 50, Practical Issues, Wealth Building | No Comments »
February 1st, 2010
Owning a home outright is a dream that many Americans share. Having a mortgage can be a huge burden, and paying it off may be the first item on your financial to-do list. But competing with the desire to own your home free and clear is your need to invest for retirement, your child’s college education, or some other goal. Putting extra cash toward one of these goals may mean sacrificing another. So how do you choose?
Evaluating the opportunity cost
Deciding between prepaying your mortgage and investing your extra cash isn’t easy, because each option has advantages and disadvantages. But you can start by weighing what you’ll gain financially by choosing one option against what you’ll give up. In economic terms, this is known as evaluating the opportunity cost. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Wealth Building | No Comments »
January 20th, 2010
By Roger G. Best
We’ve already talked about the Snowball Method and the Avalanche Method of Debt Reduction. They both have their advantages and disadvantages. The Snowball Method works toward paying off debt and does so by playing into basic human emotion. It pays off the smallest debt first, then moving on to the next smallest and so on, until all your debt has been retired. This method tends to be very emotionally satisfying because you will be able to completely pay off the smaller debt very quickly, leaving you with a sense of satisfaction. The disadvantage is that the Snowball Method doesn’t take into account the actual cost of the debt. If those smaller debts that you have are also the lowest interest rate, you’ll end up paying a lot more in interest, making this method the more costly of the two approaches. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Debt, Priorities, Wealth Building, debt reduction | 1 Comment »
January 15th, 2010
Thanks for coming back again today. Yesterday I started an article (Debt Reduction Methods – The Avalanche Method) and found that it was getting longer than I intended so I’m going to take this opportunity to “flesh out” the things I missed yesterday. By way of a brief review, the simple thumbnail of the Debt Avalanche method is that you list all your debt by order of the most expensive first. In other words, you look at all of your debt by way of the interest rate that you are paying and list the higher interest rates first and then the next, and the next, until you have the lowest interest rates listed at the bottom. This particular approach is strictly based on math and not nearly as emotional as the snowball method. That’s why the critics say that it’s not as likely to achieve fruition (in other words, be followed through to its completion). Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Debt, Practical Issues, debt reduction | No Comments »
January 13th, 2010
By Roger G. Best
This is my second installment dealing with the different methods of reducing y our debt. My last articles “Debt Reduction Methods – Part 1” addressed the snowball method. If you haven’t already read that one, you’ll want to do so, although it’s not necessary to read it before you read this one. In this article we’ll address the avalanche method of debt reduction. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Debt, Practical Issues, Priorities, debt reduction | No Comments »
January 11th, 2010
By Roger G. Best
There are several different approaches to debt reduction, most of which have merit. Although this series of articles aren’t intended to be an exhaustive study of all the options, I do intend to cover the most accepted and successful methods, in order to give everyone a better understanding of the options.
The first widely accepted method is known as the debt-snowball method. Simply put, this method encourages applying extra cash to repaying the debt with the smallest amount owed. One of the biggest advantages it offers is in the form of personal satisfaction… You get to eliminate certain debt quickly, then apply that extra money to the next smallest debt, which will reduce the number of payments you have to make and begin to quickly reduce your overall debt. This method is widely accepted and taught by many experts. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Debt, Practical Issues, debt reduction | No Comments »
December 25th, 2009
Credit card debt is something that most Americans can relate with far more than they would prefer. Most have seen their credit card debt rise over the past few years or, at the very least, know someone who has. Racking up the charges on those credit cards just seems to come way too easily to most of us. There just seems to be an allure to buying when we don’t have to actually part with any money at the time of purchase, yet we still get to walk away with whatever it was that caught our eye. That’s the allure of instant gratification! Most Americans understand a credit card isn’t free money; that there will come a day when we have to pay, but that thought doesn’t seem to be foremost in our minds when we are paying for the purchase with that card. But one of the biggest misconception of absolving ourselves of credit card debt is that by simply making the minimum payment will get that debt paid off. The cold hard fact is that this is so unmistakably false. By paying off your credit card debt that way you are only paying interest and the debt will never go away. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: bad debt, debt reduction
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December 19th, 2009
Even as the economy begins its slow crawl back, college costs are continuing to rise – that means parents are continuing to fight a tough battle between funding college and funding their own retirements.
In October, the College Board reported that the average published price of tuition and fees for in-state students at four-year U.S. public colleges was $7,020 for the 2009-10 school year, up $429 or 6.5 percent higher than a year ago. After adjusting for inflation, the average net price paid for tuition and fees by public four-year college students overall is lower in 2009-10 than it was five years ago — but higher than it was last year. Private four-year colleges saw a smaller increase of 4.4 percent or $1,096, but for a much higher average annual tuition of $26,273 for the school year. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Family, Stocks and Investing, Wealth Building | No Comments »
December 16th, 2009
It was Benjamin Franklin who once said, “The man who achieves makes many mistakes, but he never makes the biggest mistake of all – doing nothing.” Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Debt, Insurance, Practical Issues, Wealth Building | No Comments »
December 12th, 2009
Any financial planning process begins with a change in financial behavior and expectations. The degree of change varies based on financial priorities, but in the end, it’s about adopting new habits and abandoning others.
Before you take any of the following steps, it makes sense to talk to an expert who can help you see your whole financial picture. A CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ professional can examine all your sources of income and expenses and find the most efficient ways to cut expenses, pay off debt and boost the money you have for saving and investing. Read the rest of this entry »
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