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
When you stop working and have to start withdrawing money from your retirement accounts, you have to decide the best way to withdraw money from different accounts. Do you take money out of your tax-free accounts like Roth IRA and Roth 401(k) first? Or do you withdraw from your tax-deferred accounts like Traditional IRA and … Read more
In How Much Money Do You Need to Retire, I mentioned using the 80% rule to calculate retirement needs. You may have heard this rule before; here is a variation of it: You need 80% of your pre-retirement income during your retirement. Where Did the 80% Number Come From? The theory behind the 80% number is that … Read more
An important factor in achieving financial success is setting good goals that you can work toward. Like traveling, you can get to where you want quicker if you know where you are going instead of wandering about aimlessly. However, you can’t just say that your goal is to retire rich someday. For a goal to … Read more
Do you want to be able to save more money for your financial goals? Today, I want to show you how to make saving and investing less complicated by automating your finances, and share with you how I saved my first $250,000. I hope this doesn’t come off as bragging, but rather to share some … Read more
One of the ways that you can track your financial progress is to check your net worth periodically. Your net worth is a look at one moment in time as far as your finances are concerned. It provides you with a picture of what your overall financial position is right now. Net worth offers you the … Read more
Are you saving enough for your retirement? How are you comparing to other Americans? In this article, we will be looking at average retirement savings by age group in the United States. This article is using the information found in the Economic Policy Institute’s The State of American Retirement article, which based their information on … Read more
You know you need to have some money set aside for life’s emergencies, but how much is the right amount? Should you have a separate fund for your car, for unemployment, and for medical problems? At the end of the day having some sort of emergency fund, specific or not, is better than having none at … Read more
Most people think about financial freedom as a point in time when you can fully cover your living expenses with non-job income. This usually involves saving and investing a significant amount of money so that a small percentage could be safely withdrawn to cover living expenses each year. To many people, this is just hard … Read more
Homeownership is the ultimate American Dream. If you’re going to buy a home, though, you will likely need a down payment — especially if you want the best mortgage rate. For those trying to make a 10% or 20% down payment on a home, coming up with tens of thousands of dollars can be a … Read more
The easiest way to get started saving for retirement is to use your employer’s 401(k) plan. A 401(k) is a retirement savings plan sponsored by your employer. It lets you save and invest a portion of your paycheck before income taxes are taken out. The specific rules and investment options vary from plan to plan, … Read more