Financial Planning is a broad topic that spans your entire financial life.
These articles cover your early finances, saving for retirement, saving for life events, Social Security, and finally estate planning.
Additionally, check out related articles in these sections: banking, investing, real estate, and risk management
How close are you to financial independence? What if I tell you that you can calculate this number down to a reasonably precise percentage. Regardless of where you stand financially, knowing where you are is a great way to help you move closer toward your goal of financial independence. Like measuring distance or time, knowing … Read more
When planning for retirement there’s an overwhelming tendency to focus on the financial side, and as well as should be. Without a solid tax-deferred retirement plan, there would be no retirement for most people. But there’s also a non-financial side of retirement that we need to be concerned with too. If we concern ourselves strictly … Read more
There is a lot of talk about the looming recession, or maybe even a depression, that is due any day now. If your financial situation is not that good, it is time to give it a tune-up in the event of an economic slowdown. Based on my experience from the previous recessions and stock market … Read more
There are a lot of sites that help you determine how much you need to save for retirement, but I have never been comfortable with them because they usually don’t share the logic behind their calculations. Also, to really under what you need to save for your retirement, there are critical three numbers you need … Read more
So you would like to retire early? Achieving financial independence and retire early is a great financial goal — aka, the FIRE movement. To get started, you want to make sure you have a solid financial foundation in place — e.g., get rid of your debt, build your savings, start your savings, etc. Ultimately, the … Read more
In the United States, it is quite common for individuals to leave it up to their employers to kick start the retirement planning efforts of the individual by enrolling them in a 401(k) or other employer-sponsored retirement plans. However, there are many plans beyond your standard 401(k) plan that could potentially do a better job … Read more
According to the IRS, the combined total contribution you can make to all of your 401(k) plans (including traditional 401(k), Roth 401(k), and individual 401(k) plans) in 2020 increases by $500 to $19,500. The catch-up contribution limit also increases from $6,000 to $6,500. However, you may be limited by what your employer allows you to … Read more
A health savings account (HSA) is a tax-advantaged savings account that you can use for medical expenses. You can take advantage of an HSA when you choose a qualifying health insurance plan; typically a high deductible health plan (HDHP). Recently, our employer switched to an HDHP that offers lower monthly premiums in exchange for a … Read more
The 4% Safe Withdrawal Rate (SWR) was first introduced by William Bengen in 1994 and later supported by the Trinity Study in 1998. The rule basically states that when you hit retirement age, you can withdraw 4% of your total retirement savings initially. Each year, you increase the amount by the inflation rate. Assuming you … Read more
Why would you give the government an extra cut out of your retirement nest egg if you didn’t have to? We all work too hard and save too diligently to just willingly give the IRS a bigger piece of our retirement pie. If you ever end up paying an early withdrawal penalty for taking funds … Read more