Do you know how a 401k contribution affects your paycheck? Your take-home won’t go down by the same amount that you defer into the 401k.
financial planning
Maintaining Your Resolve During Time of Uncertainty
Life is full of uncertainty and sometime unexpected events can cause us to overreact, make impulse decisions, and behave in a way that would otherwise run counter to our long-term goals, dreams, and habits. Surprise events such as a market crash, loss of a job, a spouse, divorce, or other traumatizing events can have the effect of instilling apathy towards our goals and bring the temptation to deviate from our plans. The following are some ways to maintain resolve when life happens – and the urge to give up on goals is high. Review your plan and goals. Whatever the plan or goal, be it financial, life, occupational, etc., take a moment to review the goal you’ve created. If not yet in writing, write the goal down, quantify it, visualize it and remind yourself why it’s a goal in the first place. Picture yourself having achieved the goal. How do […]
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Financial Counseling and Marriage
Many individuals who are dating and growing closer together learn more and more about the other person. Habits (good and bad) likes, dislikes, and traits all make themselves known at some point in the relationship. Before getting married, many individuals choose to seek counseling. This can help answer questions about whether they are doing the right thing, religious reasons, etc. Some couples choose to continue this counseling into marriage to further strengthen the relationship. Couples may consider seeking financial counseling before marriage as well. Many couples can be reluctant to talk about money or worse, think that the money problems will solve themselves once the marriage starts. Issues such as debt, poor credit, spending habits (both extreme frugality and frivolous spending) are just some of the many items that should be discussed before entering marriage. They are also good discussion points if they are occurring during marriage. As many readers […]
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Is It Really Cheating?
In the past we’ve written about financial autonomy, spending a little on yourself, and balance between saving and spending. Although it been a while, we’ve also brought up health and fitness axioms from time to time – mainly through shameless self-promotions of my book (designed to cure insomnia while doubling as a doorstop). Today I wanted to stress the importance of balance in your personal finances as well as your health. One of the ways I’ve found to keep me keep balance is cheating. Cheating? It’s not as bad as it sounds. Although having a negative connotation, the concept is what can help maintain balance. Here’s how. In my book, one of the axioms I present is having a cheat day when it comes to healthy eating. What is a cheat day? A cheat day is a day you set aside (mine are usually Sundays) every week where you eat […]
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Just Getting Started
At a point in some people’s lives, they conclude they need some sort of assistance with their financial situation. This could be a recent high school or college grad determined to start off on the right track, or those in their mid to late working careers wondering if what they’re doing is the “right” way of doing things financially. In either case, the hope may be to make as few mistakes as possible along the way. When considering this situation, there are a few things to look at first, before moving on to other planning areas. In other words, think of the follow as a good foundation to have before expanding on or continuing your wealth management plan. Emergency Fund. This is the money set aside to pay for non-discretionary expenses that will not go away in the event of an emergency (loss of a job, medical, etc.). Although the […]
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Social Security for the Self-Employed
As a self-employed small business owner, you have lots of plates to keep spinning, and lots of additional costs that you never dreamed of when you were employed by someone else (if you ever were), like health insurance, for example. Another cost that you have to deal with when self-employed is Self-Employment tax. Self-Employment tax (SE tax) is essentially where you are paying both the employER and the employEE portion of the Social Security withholding tax. This means that, for 2018, you are taxed at a rate of 12.4% on your first $128,700 of income (double the rate you’d have withheld if you were employed by someone else). This doesn’t count the 2.9% that you also have to withhold for Medicare tax – which is another matter altogether. With this in mind, you might wonder if there are ways that you could reduce the Self-Employed tax…? One way might be […]
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Transitioning to a Financial Planning Career
Every once I a while I will be asked to give my opinion on some logical steps to take when pursuing a financial planning career. This post may be beneficial for individuals who are entering the financial planning profession right out of college or are looking to change careers. Some are steps to take and others are questions to ask yourself and others along the way. What is it about financial planning do/would you enjoy? It could be client-facing meetings, technology, back-office work, or a combination. And you may not know until you try your hand at several things. Ask some current planners or even your own. The point is to find an area that you enjoy and work to get better at it. Find the right firm. Will you work for an RIA or broker-dealer? What type of firm do you want to align with? This could mean starting […]
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Life Moves Pretty Fast…
In the classic 80’s movie, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, Ferris Bueller says, “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.” In other words, life happens. That’s why it’s important to meet with your financial planner to see if anything has changed, and if there’s anything that needs to be done to assist with those changes. The reason it’s important to meet with your planner is that he or she can ask questions and propose situations that you might not even be aware of or think about. A recent example would be how the new tax law affects your situation. Another example would be a child that is going to college, a job change, death, divorce, or 2018 being the year you plan to retire. A financial planner will be able to provide another set of eyes to your situation […]
Sterling Raskie, MSFS, CFP®, ChFC®
The latest in our Owner’s Manual series, A 401(k) Owner’s Manual, was published in January 2020 and is available on 
A Medicare Owner’s Manual, is updated with 2020 facts and figures. This manual is available on 
Social Security for the Suddenly Single can be found on Amazon at 
Sterling’s first book, Lose Weight Save Money, can be 
An IRA Owner’s Manual, 2nd Edition is available for purchase on Amazon. Click the link to choose the 
Jim’s book – A Social Security Owner’s Manual, is now available on Amazon. Click this link for the 
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”.