Since age 17, I’ve read every Money Magazine, Wall Street Journal and every other sensible financial publication and book I could handle. My parents were so poor they had to sell a cow to pay each car insurance or college bill. By the time I had my first child at age 32, I was no longer struggling. I had saved 10 percent of every paycheck since my first year after college. I raised my two boys with every bit of wisdom I could muster with intentions of imparting the awesomeness of savings and compound interest to my children.
Having not yet been kicked out of any Young Professionals’ clubs, there’s a couple more decades of experience under my belt than the next generation of young professionals. As a personal investor and financial planner with over 30 years of experience, here’s some ageless wisdom for young professionals in your 20’s and 30’s.
If you are in your early 50s and just buying a home, you may be paying that mortgage in your 80s. Most financial planners believe this could lead to disaster down the road because seniors don’t usually have the income to support debt repayment in addition to monthly expenses, so they may run out of money way too soon. Yikes! You need a better plan other than being a Wal-mart greeter to pay for it. Here’s a few ways this may not destroy your retirement:
We deserve it. Everyone else gets one, why not us? My husband, who works a ‘straight’ job gets three weeks of vacation a year. My boss (me!) told myself for several years, “no vacation.” We’re too busy. We can’t afford it. Who will help our clients?
So I sat down with my boss (me!) and set her straight. I want four weeks of vacation a year. My company name is Good Life Financial and I should practice what I preach. So there!
My husband and I have started, owned, and grown four businesses in our 24 years of marriage and are starting a fifth. In that time, we have owned four homes. Although the majority of our business has been conducted outside the home, most were started at home or involved the use of our home in numerous ways. If you are a business owner or ever think you’ll be one, below are questions to think about when buying a home.
If we want next year to be better than this year (and who doesn’t), we need to develop a plan to make that happen. As business owner, business coach and financial planner I use the following wrap up/ramp up process to build my own progress and recommend these steps to my business-owner clients as well.
Welcome to February! Valentine’s Day is just around the corner. I once had a couple come into my office who wanted to do a financial plan as a Valentine’s Day present to each other. I’ve created hundreds of written financial plans for people; this couple’s plan was novel merely because of the date (pun intended) they selected.
Having a lifelong commitment to a spouse or partner necessitates creating answers to many financial questions. Commitment means taking care towards your shared goals and persistent actions that hopefully make those goals come true.
Happy New Year! We business owners want this year to be better than last year, of course! So let’s create a plan to pursue making this year more profitable, easier, and more fun. As a business owner, business coach, and financial planner, I use the following wrap up / ramp up process to build my own progress and recommend these steps to my business-owner clients as well.
A Health Savings Account (HSA) allows for tax deductible contributions into an account specifically for Health Care expenses. Typical out-of pocket medical expenses include paying for deductibles and copays. If you and your family are relatively healthy, an HSA can help build a substantial reserve for your older years where health care expenses are likely to be much greater.
We’re talking your lifetime financial plan, that is. Having completed over 384 written financial plans and calculated numerous ‘back of the napkin’ plans, each family’s lifetime financial plan for first accumulating and then distributing income (into then out-from) various investment vehicles, is unique. Collectively, however, financial plans for business owners differ fundamentally from our friends with paycheck jobs.
In this month’s article, I’ll be sharing some of the tech tools that I have found that make my life easier and faster, so that I can spend my time making my business more profitable. These tools are easy to use, and often free or inexpensive.
Most parents planning for college are familiar with the mainstream ways of saving and paying for college. These include 529 plans, Savings accounts, life insurance among other common methods. Awesomely, business owners have a few additional tools in their arsenal. Here are a few ways savvy business owners can save and pay more easily for college.
It’s hard to believe that we’re already half-way through the year! How are your business and family finances faring? Are you halfway to your goals? Right now is a great moment to do an assessment of both; while you still have time to adjust, to reach and even to exceed your business and family financial goals for the year. Here are very important areas to look through:
Since age 17, I’ve read every “Money Magazine”, “Wall Street Journal” and every other sensible financial tome I could handle. My parents were so poor they had to sell a cow to pay each car insurance or college bill. By the time I had my first child at age 32, I was no longer struggling. I had saved 10 percent of every paycheck since my first year after college. With intentions of imparting the awesomeness of savings and compound interest to my children, I raised my 2 boys with every bit of wisdom I could muster.
It’s April! By now you’re either done with your taxes or WISH you were done! That makes it a great time to plan what you might do differently so that next year is even easier to get your taxes completed on time with less stress. And you might also be able to pay less in taxes.
Spring is in the air. Warm weather is approaching. Time to clean out any sluggish parts of your business so you can create growth and possibly more profits. Here are some items you should review and improve upon every year if you want to grow your profits and your life. I know you’re busy, but if you want the life you dreamed, set up a system to build on these key areas every year. You may be happier after you cleaned up!
