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September, 2015:

Am I Saving Too Much?

This post is in response to a question an individual had for me when I was meeting with her a few months ago. The question she had for me and the title of the post was if she was saving too much money. The reason she asked is that after a conversation with friends of hers, they had collectively told her that she was saving too much money for retirement. Currently, this 25 year old was saving 26% of her income for retirement! My verbal response was a firm, “Well done!” My internal response was, “Get some new friends.” Her friends were trying to convince her that 10% was more than enough to save for retirement at such a young age. While 10% is a decent amount to put away, 26% is even better. In addition, this young lady was already used to saving 26% of her income. It wasn’t […]

Identity Theft Protection

Whether they’re snatching your purse, diving into your dumpster, stealing your mail, or hacking into your computer, they’re out to get you. Who are they? Identity thieves. Identity thieves can empty your bank account, max out your credit cards, open new accounts in your name, and purchase furniture, cars, and even homes on the basis of your credit history. What if they give your personal information to the police during an arrest and then don’t show up for a court date? You could be arrested and jailed. And what will you get for their efforts? You’ll get the headache and expense of cleaning up the mess they leave behind. Not to mention the potential loss of money, even jobs, that goes along with this problem. You may never be able to completely prevent your identity from being stolen, but here are some steps you can take to help protect yourself from becoming […]

A Brief Explanation of the Thrift Savings Plan (TSP)

I love the TSP and the fund options it offers. Participants (generally government employees and military) have access to very low cost index fund options and a handful of target date funds (L Funds) that incorporate different combinations of the individual index fund options depending on what stage you’re at in your retirement savings journey. I wish more employer sponsored plans mirrored the TSP’s simplicity, low costs and efficiency. Employees may or may not have access to a match on deferrals, depending on their employment class. The TSP has a number of different fund choices available. The G Fund invests in short-term Treasury securities that are specifically issued for the TSP. The principal and interest are guaranteed by the US Government but they are not inflation protected. That is, these funds may have returns below the inflation rate. The C Fund is the common stock fund designed to replicate the […]

Diversification: I Know I Should, But Why?

Any discussion of the tenets of long-term investing includes the recommendation for diversification. This concept is delivered almost without thought – after all, as children we are taught “Don’t put all your eggs in one basket!”. But have you ever stopped to consider just why we should diversify? Of course, in the example of the saying about the eggs, it’s simple spreading of risk: if you have all your eggs in one basket and you drop that basket… all your eggs have broken! By spreading your eggs into a second basket, if one basket is dropped, only those eggs in that basket will break, and you’ve still got one basket of good, unbroken eggs. What if we add a third basket? A fourth? As you might imagine, it soon becomes too clumsy to carry so many baskets (potentially one for each egg). One person couldn’t possibly manage twelve baskets effectively just to […]

Do You Have The Will?

Statistics show us that approximately 70% of all Americans don’t have a valid will. Are you one of them? With that statistic, chances are that you don’t. This means that in a circle of four people, three probably don’t have a will. This situation begs an obvious question: Do I need a will? One simple way to determine if you need a will is if you can’t truthfully answer “No” to both of the following questions: Do you care who gets your money and property when you die? Do you care who is appointed guardian of your minor children if you die? If you answered “Yes” to either or both of those questions, you need a will! Otherwise, state laws will determine the outcome of those situations – and it’s not likely that you would have made the same decisions that the state would. Why should you have a will? A will […]

Are You Biased? (Hint: Yes, You Are!)

There are several behavioral heuristics and biases that can lead to poor financial decisions. For brevity, we will focus on a few; mental accounting, the endowment effect, loss aversion and status quo bias. For each bias, we will provide a definition and then provide examples of how the biases can lead to poor financial decisions. Mental accounting is the way individuals code and evaluate transactions, investments and other financial outcomes. An example is when employees with access to company stock have 50 percent of company stock in their retirement plan and the remaining money split evenly between stock and bond funds. These employees make the mistake of owning too much company stock (not enough diversification). Mental accounting puts company stock into its own “asset class.” The endowment effect, developed by Richard Thaler is the tendency to place more value on an object once an individual owns it; especially if it’s […]

Exception to the Divorced Spouse Remarriage Rule

Generally speaking, when a divorcee is receiving a Social Security spousal benefit based on an ex-spouse’s record, the recipient must remain unmarried in order to continue receiving the ex-spouse benefit. (For more details on this, see Coordinating Social Security Benefits in Matters of Divorce and Remarriage.) In many cases,when a divorcee remarries, the spousal benefit based on his or her ex-spouse’s record will end. However, there is an exception to this rule that I recently became aware of. It’s in part because the circumstances surrounding this exception have recently become more common – so let’s get to the exception. The Exception If the person who is receiving a spousal benefit based on an ex-spouse’s record marries someone who is currently receiving widow(er)’s, mother’s, father’s, divorced spouse’s, or parents’ benefits, the spousal benefit will continue. That’s a mouthful! Let’s play out an example: Jane is divorced from Gerald. Jane has been receiving […]

Spousal IRAs for Stay at Home Parents

Many parents make the decision that after their child is born one parent will stay at home to be with the child. Some of the reasons include saving on daycare expenses, and wanting at least one parent to bond and be with the child during those precious first few years of development. Whatever the reason, the stay at home parent may leave a job and lose access to certain benefits – mainly their employer sponsored retirement savings plan. Although the stay at home parent has lost this benefit, it doesn’t mean that they have to stop saving for retirement. One benefit the stay at home parent can take advantage of is the spousal IRA. Spousal IRAs aren’t a specifically titled IRA. In other words, the IRA needn’t be titled “Spousal IRA”. It’s simply an IRA in the stay at home parent’s name – no different than if they had an […]

Timing of Delay Credits

When you delay filing for your Social Security benefits past Full Retirement Age (FRA – age 66 if you were born between 1943 and 1954) you earn Delay Credits for each month that you delay. The credit amount is 2/3% per month, or a total of 8% for every 12 months of delay. When you file for benefits after delaying, these credits are applied to your PIA. The timing of the application of your credits is not immediate, though. Delay credits are added to your benefit only at the beginning of a new year, so this can cause a bit of confusion as you begin receiving benefits. Example For example, Janice was born on October 14, 1949, so she will turn age 66 on October 14, 2015. Janice’s PIA is $1,000. If you’ll remember from this post (When is Your Social Security Birthday), Social Security considers Janice to have reached […]