See a lawyer and make a Will. If you have a Will make sure it is current and valid in your home state. Make sure that you and your spouse have reviewed each other’s Will – ensuring that both of your wishes will be carried out. Provide for guardianship of minor children, and education and maintenance trusts. If you have divorced and remarried, make sure that your retirement account beneficiary designations are up-to-date reflecting your current situation.- Pay off your credit cards. Forty percent of Americans carry an account balance on their credit cards or other personal credit – this is not good for your financial future. Create a systematic plan to pay down your balances. Don’t fall into the “0% balance transfer game” as it will hurt your FICO score. Credit scores matter not only to credit card companies but to insurance companies and future employers as well; you can avoid an unpleasant increase in your insurance rates by managing your credit wisely.
- Buy term life insurance equal to 6-8 times your annual income. This is primarily true for younger folks who have financial obligations to cover with future income. Most consumers don’t need a permanent policy (such as whole life or universal life). Also consider purchasing disability insurance; think of it as “paycheck insurance.” Stay-at-home spouses need life insurance, too! Note: Each family’s needs are different. Some families have a need for other kinds of life insurance, so you should review your situation carefully with an insurance professional (preferably two or more) before making decisions in this area.
- Build a 3 to 6 month emergency fund. This helps you to keep from having to charge up your credit cards when life’s emergencies strike. In the interim, before you’ve built up your fund, you can establish a home equity line of credit before you need it – this can take the place of part of your emergency fund.
- Don’t count on Social Security too much. Since the projections show that in the future the most that can be paid out for Social Security obligations is around 77%, you should adjust what you expect to receive – especially if you are age 50 or younger. Make up for this by funding your IRA each and every year. If you don’t fund these accounts annually, you lose the opportunity to increase your tax-deferred savings. Fund a Roth IRA over a traditional IRA if you qualify.
- If offered, contribute to your 401(k), 403(b) or other employer-sponsored saving plan. Just the same as with your IRA, if you don’t take advantage of the opportunity to defer funds into these savings vehicles, you lose the opportunity. In addition, if you don’t participate in the plan, you lose the chance to receive the matching funds from your employer.
- Use your company’s flex spending plan to leverage tax advantages. If you don’t use your flex plan annually, you lose the opportunity – and the tax advantages – for that year.
- Buy a home if you can afford it. Maintain it properly. Build equity in your property. You’ll have much more to show for your money spent than a box full of rental receipts! This is also about more than your financial future – studies show that home ownership adds to peace of mind and improved quality of life.
- Use broad market stock index funds to reduce risk and minimize costs. Indexes are a simple way to diversify, and they can have very low costs but you have to pay attention to make sure you’re getting a low-cost index. Diversification reduces risk of single securities (see #10) and reducing costs is one of the best things you can do to improve your overall investment results. If you have limited options, for example in your 401(k) plan, make sure that you diversify across a broad spectrum of options.
- Don’t over-weight in any one security, especially your employer’s stock. As a rule of thumb, keep exposure to any single stock to less than 5% of your overall portfolio. If you over-expose to a single stock and that company goes bankrupt, you’ve lost a significant portion of your portfolio. It can happen easily, history is littered with good companies that went bad.
Independent financial advice: IRA, Social Security, income tax, and all things financial
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Jim Blankenship, CFP®, EA
Phone 630-40-DUCKS (630-403-8257)
jim@blankenshipfinancial.com
Twitter: BlankenshipFP / Financialducks
Facebook: Jim Blankenship
LinkedIn: BlankenshipFP
Amazon: Author PageJim provides expert guidance for
your Retirement, Education Funding,
and Income Tax issues and concerns.In addition to this blog, you’ll find Jim’s writings all around the internet, as he is a regular contributor to Forbes.com, TheStreet.com, and FiGuide. Several other sites also republish his work.
He has also written five books on Social Security, IRAs, 401(k) plans, and Medicare. See below for more on the books.
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Sterling Raskie, MSFS, CFP®, ChFC®
Phone 630-40-DUCKS (630-403-8257)
sterling@blankenshipfinancial.com
Twitter: SterlingRaskie
LinkedIn: SterlingRaskieSterling provides expert guidance for your Retirement, Insurance, Education Funding, Investments and Income Tax issues and concerns.
In addition to this blog, you’ll find Sterling’s writings all around the internet. Sterling is also an adjunct professor teaching courses in math, finance, investments and insurance.
The books!
The latest in our Owner’s Manual series, A 401(k) Owner’s Manual, was published in January 2020 and is available on Amazon at this link. This book includes all of the updates to retirement plans with passage of the SECURE Act.
A Medicare Owner’s Manual, is updated with 2020 facts and figures. This manual is available on Amazon at this link.
Social Security for the Suddenly Single can be found on Amazon at this link. This book is narrowly-focused on divorcee Social Security strategies and rules. It is also available in a Kindle version.
Sterling’s first book, Lose Weight Save Money, can be purchased by clicking this link. The book is also available on Kindle, which you can find at this Kindle version link.
An IRA Owner’s Manual, 2nd Edition is available for purchase on Amazon. Click the link to choose the paperback version, or the Kindle version.
Jim’s book – A Social Security Owner’s Manual, is now available on Amazon. Click this link for the Amazon ordering page.Queuing Waterfowl
In case you hadn’t already noticed, this blog doesn’t have much to do with ducks – or any waterfowl for that matter.
No, what we’re doing here is talking about all things financial; getting your financial house in order. Here in the Midwest, “getting your ducks in a row” implies organization, which is one of the outcomes of having a better understanding of your financial life.
I hope you find the answers you’re looking for among the articles here, and perhaps a smile. If you can’t locate your answer, drop me an email or give me a call – we’ll see what we can find for you.
And if you’ve come here to learn about queuing waterfowl, I apologize for the confusion. You may want to discuss your question with Lester, my loyal watchduck and self-proclaimed “advisor’s advisor”.
Not so fast on the owning a home thing:+
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/get-there/wp/2014/11/11/why-youre-often-better-off-saving-for-retirement-than-buying-a-home/
There are definitely cases where it can be financially in your favor to rent instead of buy no doubt. I think in general though, it’s financially advantageous and it improves quality of life for the entire family when the home is owned rather than rented.
Any additional advice on “bright financial futureSee a lawyer and make a Will.” Perhaps what type of lawyer, how to find one, ect?
For the average person, a general attorney office will have an attorney who will be able to draft a will for you. For more advanced activities, you might want to seek out a specialist in estate planning who can advise on the use of trusts and the like with a will as the primary instrument.
As far as how to find one, I’d say that the relationship with any advisor is important, so talking to friends and relatives about attorneys that they have used is probably a good place to start. You can also ask your financial advisor for recommendations, as well as your other financial team members (insurance, accountant, etc.). Then meet with a couple of attorneys to see if there is a personality fit.