Having a budget can be an integral part of ensuring your financial success. And it doesn’t have to be a burden, it can turn into a fun process!
goals
Foresight from Experience in Planning
We can make a difference in our own lives if we make a simple change in our outlook. If we changed from a hindsight to a foresight perspective, many things about our society could improve dramatically. This foresight can help with retirement planning, marriage, and any major event in our lives. I don’t mean that we should disregard history – of course not. On the contrary, we need to use history to provide us with foresight into the potential outcomes of our choices. The experiences we’ve encountered (and our friends/families/acquaintances have experienced) can help us to predict the outcome of various choices and decisions that we make in the future. Consider these factors: The divorce rate in the U.S. has been high for a very long time, causing a great deal of heartache and expense, not only for the couple but for family and friends as well. And one of […]
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Forget Your New Year’s Resolutions?
Six months ago I wrote a price regarding New Year’s resolutions. I’d like to follow up to ask whether or not readers have followed through and are making good on the promises they made at the beginning of the year. If you find yourself as one of the individuals that has put together a plan of action and you’re moving forward – good for you! If not, what happened? Understandably, many individuals renege on their promises made at the beginning of the year. Many factors can be the culprit. From not having enough time, not making goals a priority or simply lacking a plan of action, many folks struggle to make their resolutions a reality. So how do we get back on track? Or better yet, how do we even start? The good news is that while making good on the resolutions does take work, the plan of action is […]
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Focus on the Things You Can Control
Left a good job in the city, workin’ for the man every night and day. But I never lost one minute of sleepin’ worryin’ ’bout the way things might have been. — John Fogerty Sometimes the answer to our stresses in life is to get back to basics and figure out what’s important to us, as well as what things we can control in our life. In the song quoted above, Fogerty’s writing was most likely tempered by his recent discharge from the Army Reserve (1967), after which the protagonist explores an awakening to a simpler side of life, and what turns out to be important to him. We are often faced with similar situations – maybe we’ve been laid off or some financial calamity strikes us, and from that perspective we often discover what’s really important to us. Other times we just come to realize that our life seems out of control, and […]
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Without Action, Resolutions Don’t Matter
Given the start of the New Year it seems almost cliché to write a blog post about resolutions to make for 2016. While making resolutions is not a bad thing, I thought I’d spend some time talking about an arguably more important aspect to resolutions; and that is taking action. To help make some sense with the article I thought I’d share a personal experience. When I was in college I was considerably overweight. Between my junior and senior year I lost quite a bit of weight – about 75 pounds. I was never overweight growing up; I had just let poor eating habits and a sedentary lifestyle get the best of me. After the weight came off, several friends and family members asked me what I did and what my secret was. Really, there was no secret. It was simply eating less and exercising more. However, I became infatuated […]
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The Most Important Factor in Retirement Saving
We’ve all been there: making decisions about the ol’ retirement savings account. It doesn’t matter if it is a Roth IRA, a traditional IRA, a 401(k), or a deferred comp plan, there are many different decisions that you need to make. It can be overwhelming, until you step back and realize that there are actually only three primary decisions to make about retirement savings: How much to contribute How to allocate between asset classes (stocks and bonds; as well as within the sub-classes like large-cap, mid-cap & small-cap stocks; corporate bonds, government bonds, etc.) Which funds/investments to choose
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Are YOU ready for retirement?
In this time of disappearing pensions, corporate downsizing, and high unemployment it becomes a great concern that many folks are still not saving enough for retirement. This may be due to a failure to realistically assess future costs or because we’re spending too much without saving – which is a hallmark of the baby-boom generation. Granted, there are plenty of good reasons why spending is out of control – with healthcare costs increasing all the time, for example. But I suspect that much more of the blame for our low savings balances is due to poor savings habits in the first place.
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Make SMART Goals as You Plan
Goal planning is the real “meat” of financial planning. That is to say, once you’ve covered the issues of organizing your information, developing and improving your net worth, and providing for the safety issues, it is now time to consider exactly what you would like to do with your money and your life. This is a very personal set of decisions – no one person makes the same choices. Perhaps you’d like to open your own business, and become your own boss. Maybe all you’d like to do is to finish working after 30 years and spend your time playing with your grandchildren. Or maybe you’ve finished up college and now you’re beginning to earn some money, and so you’re planning on starting a family and buying a home. Setting your goals is very important as you begin a savings and investing plan, because without a goal in mind, it […]
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How Much Do I Need to Save: Part II
Last week I gave some general indications on how much someone needed to save. We used general percents and some basic numbers but this week I want to actually put those numbers to work. For example – let’s say we have a 30 year old couple that says they would like to have $3,000,000 saved at retirement (assume their both the same age and will both retire at 65). We’ll also assume that they have not started saving yet. Using a 5% compounded annual rate of return this couple would need to save about $2,640 per month for 35 years in order to hit their goal. If we assume they’ve amassed $50,000 by age 30, then they only need to save $2,388 per month. If we use the $2,388 as our savings made at 10% that means our annual income for the couple is about $286,560. Using the same amount […]
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Goals for 2014
Goals setting and resolutions are among the top things on peoples’ minds when they start the New Year. And rightfully so. A new year signals a fresh, start a new beginning, a clean slate. Feeling refreshed and ready, most people start on their resolutions with the best of intentions – for about a week or two. Then they either give up, forget, fall back onto the same habits and routines that they promised they’d get out of the year before. It’s great to have resolutions – but they must be accompanied by resolve. What is resolve? Resolve, according to Merriam-Webster’s dictionary is to make a definite and serious decision to do something. This means planning ahead, expecting obstacles and figuring out ways to push through and achieve your goals. I recommend writing your goals or resolutions down. Here’s how: To begin write out your financial, fitness, work, eating, etc. goals […]
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New Year’s Resolutions You Can Keep
This time of year it’s cliché to make resolutions for the coming year. Whether it’s to lose weight, stop a bad habit, or begin saving for retirement, many of us set these goals at the beginning of the new year. And then three weeks into the new year, we’ve left that goal astern – having changed nothing at all. The problem is in how we set goals for ourselves. For example, we might make the bold statement that we want to lose weight. Often, that’s all there is to our resolution – but there’s much more to setting a goal than making a statement about it. There has to be a plan, and some specifics around the goal. If the resolution is to lose weight, first of all you need to put some specifics around that goal: I want to lose fifteen pounds in 2014. Now, how are you going […]
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A Stable Pyramid
One of the basic fundamentals regarding financial planning and saving money revolves around what is known as the financial planning pyramid. You may hear other names such as the wealth management pyramid, the financial house, etc. You may also see different stages or “building blocks” added here or there, but I’ve broken it down for the purpose of this book to three basic levels for easier understanding. The first level is where we see risk management. This is the foundation of your plan. It’s important to have a strong base to build off of, otherwise the slightest of breezes or tremors can send it toppling. Risk management can be simply seen as your insurance – and this can range from your auto, home, renters, life, health, disability, and umbrella insurance, to your will, emergency fund, and debt management. The reason why insurance is the base is due to the fact […]
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The Crystal Ball
Every so often we get asked by our clients or prospective clients which direction the market is going to go. This is always and entertaining question to get – and some of our “regulars” already know the answer. Having a bit of a sense of humor (albeit dry sometimes) I’ll joke with clients and tell them that the day they handed out crystal balls in my investment class, it was the one time I called in sick – and you only get one chance at the coveted crystal ball. Thus, I forever lost the opportunity to predict the future of the markets. Darn. Inevitably, clients laugh and understand the joke – and take away the underlying theme of the jocularity – that we can’t predict the future, especially in securities markets. But this doesn’t mean we can’t plan ahead. So why do we invest? Why do we save for retirement? […]
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Why You Need an Emergency Fund
You may or may not have heard that it’s wise to have an emergency fund. Even if you’ve heard it, you may not be aware of what it means and why you should have one – and more importantly why you need one. An emergency fund is just that. It’s money set aside for a rainy day, an unexpected bump in the road, or for a real emergency or an expense that you haven’t specifically planned for. Examples of those unexpected expenses (borderline redundant – I know) include a car accident, disability, storm damage to your home, losing a job, being a victim of theft, etc. So what makes up an emergency fund? Generally, a good place to start is to have a goal of at least 3 to 6 months of non-discretionary living expenses put away in a relatively liquid account such as a savings, checking or money market […]
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Why Designations Matter
Throughout my career I have had the occasion to talk with several financial advisors, planners, insurance agents, brokers, and other industry professionals about some of the reasons why people choose to pursue or not to pursue designations. I have heard differing views on the topic and thought I’d share some of my insights as to why I chose and still choose to pursue designations and degrees. Before I do, let me start by talking about some of the reasons why the advisors I have spoken to decide not to earn a designation. More often than not, the typical answers that I receive are not having enough time, not sure which designation to pursue, lack of funding to afford the designation, and lack of support on earning the designation – either from their employer or family. On the latter two points, some companies may not be able to “support” the designation […]
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Following Up on the 1% More Initiative
As a followup to the 1% More initiative that we had going on in November, I was recently interviewed by one of the participants, Steve Stewart, who blogs over at Money Plan SOS. Steve recorded the whole thing on a Money Plan SOS podcast, which you can listen to by clicking the link. He also has a written summary of our conversation for your reading pleasure. Thanks go out to Steve, and all of the other folks who took time to write and record posts in support of the “1% More” initiative! We reached something on the order of 170,000 blog readers, over 10,000 Twitter followers, and many, many other readers. Hopefully we have made a dent in the problem!
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”.