Smith Business and Finance

Contribute the Maximum

401K plans and IRAs offer the best opportunities to take advantage of tax-deferred savings and contributions from your employer. If you’re working, ideally you should contribute the full amount to your 401K plan that you can. But at the very least, contribute up to the match offered by your employer.

An IRA provides tax efficiency to set aside money for retirement. For example, by contributing to a Roth IRA (just one type of IRA), you don’t pay income tax when you withdraw the money (including gains, dividends and interest) assuming you are age 59- and the account has been open for five years. If your annual income is less than $95,000 for a single taxpayer or $150,000 for married couples filing jointly, you can contribute to a Roth IRA.

Develop a Support Network

This is the age of information. Most likely, you may have a cell phone, voice mail, pager and a handheld computer. You prefer to learn through conversation and communities rather than reading text books and reports. The same goes for financial planning. ‘Xers’ are much more willing to talk about their financial situation than their grandparents or even, parents. Embrace this new freedom. Schuldt recommends creating a community, either online or an old-fashioned investment club, and learn from each other. Whether you pool your money and start investing in the stock market or share investment tips and advice, communities offer a fun, easy way to get interested in your financial future. Or go to IHateFinancialPlanning.com to plug into a growing community of people who share a similar hatred for financial planning.

Keep Dreaming

What is that you really want? Home ownership? Early retirement? Financial independence? It’s important to understand your financial goals and to realize that your actions today either bring you one step closer to — or pull you one step back from — your goals. If you plan to buy a home in five to ten years, are your actions today helping or damaging your credit rating? Not only do you need a down payment to buy a house, you need an established credit history and a record of on-time payments.

The bottom line for ‘Xers’ is that you should ignore the marketing messages geared towards cynical, unmotivated slackers. It’s not too early to start planning for your future and saving for retirement, says Schuldt. Consider the big picture. The decisions you make today about your career, education, debt and retirement will stick with you and shape your future. So, invest in yourself. Start small. And ignore the stereotypes.

(ARA) – So, you were born between 1965 and 1978. Are you tired of the Generation X label and being portrayed by the media as a cynical, Xtreme sports-loving, body-piercing slacker? If you’re one of the 76 million Americans that are considered to be ‘Xers,’ you may see yourself more as an independent, career-minded, technologically savvy, young adult. As someone between the age of 22 and 35, ‘Xers’ most likely tune out the thousands of marketers with retirement messages geared towards ‘boomers.’ Insurance providers, investment companies and financial planners are virtually ignoring the millions of Americans considered to be ‘Xers.’ Meanwhile this misunderstood group continues to buy homes and select mortgage companies and retirement plans with little attention and relevant advice.

So, are boomers the only generation that should be concerned about their future? Absolutely not. Planning for your future can be tough for anyone, no matter what his or her age. But individuals between the ages of 22 and 35 need to recognize the important opportunity they have of starting early and understanding the basics, according to Randy Schuldt, vice president with IHateFinancialPlanning.com, a new Web site geared to the more than 75 percent of Americans who hate financial planning.

Schuldt offers some additional financial planning tips for Generation Xers:

Think Retirement

According to the 1990 U.S. census, the average American worker has only saved $1000 towards retirement. Pretty sad, isn’t it? To make matters worse, the average monthly Social Security benefit for a retired worker in 2000 was $804 (Source: U.S. Social Security Administration). You’ve heard it before, the sooner you start saving for your future, the better. So where do you start? First of all, just start. Consider putting away a little at a time — $25 or $50 a month – in a mutual fund or 401(K) account. If you’re 25 years old and put $25 away each month into an account earning 8.0 percent, you will have saved $58,099 by retirement at age 60. Compare this amount to the $14,940 you would save by starting when you’re 40.

Develop a Financial Plan

Whether you’re graduating from college, getting married or having a baby, you need to set specific goals (home ownership, vacation property, college education, retirement, etc.) and develop a financial plan for the future. To get started, consider meeting with a financial professional. A financial professional can help you get off on the right foot, by helping you develop a long-term financial plan that will make your hard earned money work harder for you.

Explore Life Insurance

If you’re still living the ‘Friends’ lifestyle and spend most of your time at coffee shops like Monica, Joey, Phoebe, Chandler, Ross and Rachel, you may not need to think about life insurance just yet. However, ‘Xers’ do settle down, get married and start families. If you have dependents (a spouse, children or aging parents) you need life insurance. The good news is that many employers offer life insurance as an employee benefit. But this may not be enough. First, talk to your benefits or human resources manager to learn more about their offerings and how to enroll. Then, see an insurance agent who offers insurance from major providers to determine if you may need more.

Deal with Debt

‘Debt is one of the biggest financial problems facing young adults,’ says Chris Newell, principal of Newell Financial Corp. in Little Rock, Ark. When it comes to paying off debt, Newell says to start high. Rather than concentrating on paying down a little of each credit card balance, find out the interest rate for each card — it should say on the monthly statement — and pay down the cards with the highest debt and interest rates.

‘First, make a pledge, ‘no more additional credit card debt,” Newell says. ‘Then, start paying off the highest debt cards. As soon as one card is eliminated, continue the same payments on the other cards. Never reduce this monthly debt payment amount until they are all paid off. You will have to be disciplined and pay substantially more each month than the minimum balance.’

How that is some people can retire at 50? Or not lose their shirt when there’s a stock market “crash”?

Why are some people able to earn high incomes or even have “multiple streams of income?

How come some people retire to a life of luxury and world travel, while others barely have enough to feed and house themselves?

Of course, one part of it the answer is that some people are more intelligent and industrious than others. No matter what anyone says, we are not all the same. We may have been created equal, but no one has ever guaranteed us equality of results. That depends on our own efforts.

Another part of the answer is that some people consider the risks they will face and do something before  they occur to mitigate the damages. One obvious way of doing this is by buying the proper kinds and amount of insurance to protect your home, health and life – if you have an income stream to protect.

Less obvious, but still a very helpful plan is to become an expert at whatever you choose to do  –  to make yourself indispensable to your employer.

If you work for yourself, you want to be the best at whatever it is you’re doing, from practicing medicine to baking bread. You also have to have the will to persevere and work long hours at making yourself a success.

Yet another part of the answer is having a plan. Some people get up in the morning and let events carry them along through their day. Others plan what they will do with their life and stick to it.

They will learn about investments and how to diversify, so that when one asset goes down another holds its own or goes up. Or they will hire financial profesionals to do the work for them.

They save as much money as possible, using every tax sheltered vehicle allowed, including 401-K’s, IRA’s, Health Savings Plans and 529 educational savings plans. And then they will invest even more in taxable accounts.

They live well within their means. Some like Warren Buffet, one of the world’s richest men, lives well under theirs. They will use credit judiciously or not at all.

Successful people will invest in businesses, rental real estate or work part time, while maintaining their full time job  just so they have many streams of income. If one is lost, their world does not come to an end.

Many people play the lottery and hope they will strike it rich. The sad fact is that many think this is the only way get rich. But anybody with the will can find the way.

Our public libraries are filled with books on how to invest, how to insure yourself, how to set up a financial plan or how to open and run a business.

Many employers have tuition reimbursement plans – they will pay your way if you want to better yourself. Or community colleges offer free adult education courses to help you learn new skills or improve on the old.

The internet now makes it easy to set up an online business while you continue with your day job.

The bottom line is you have to rely on yourself to earn and save as much as possible. If you do you can be one of the “lucky” ones who retire young with lots of money to spend.

If you don’t you’ll be living hand to mouth on your Social Security check.

The choice is yours.

Do you run out of money before you run out of month?  Do you wonder where your money goes each month?  Do you struggle to find money to invest for retirement, emergencies and other financial goals?  Here are 10 tips to cut your spending and stretch your dollar to the max:

1.  Consider dropping your home telephone line.  Your cell phone is probably all you really need, and most likely it has free long distance.  You could save $30 or more per month by dropping your “land line”.

2.  Cut back on trips to Starbucks or other premium coffee shops.  Often called the “latte factor”, spending several dollars per day on luxuries like premium coffee can really add up.  For example, if you spend $4 for a cappuccino five times a week for 50 weeks out of the year (you’re on vacation the other two weeks), you would spend $1,000 in a year.  Try treating your trip to Starbucks as a treat instead of a habit.  You’ll save money and probably lose weight too!

3.  Pay your mortgage payment bi-weekly instead of monthly.  You’ll pay less interest and pay off your mortgage faster.

4.  Carry cash instead of credit cards.  Psychologically it’s harder to spend cash than it is to use the credit card.  You’ll spend less and save on interest charges.

5.  Use the “envelope system” for groceries, dining out, entertainment, and other discretionary spending categories.  This will help you track how much you spend in these categories as well as prioritizing your spending.

6.  Raise the deductible on your homeowners and auto insurance policies.  It’s not wise to file claims for small losses anyway (insurance companies love to raise rates after you file a claim), so a higher deductible will save you money now and in the future.

7.  Buy regular gas instead of premium.  Most cars don’t need premium gasoline.  Also, take public transportation if it’s available in your area.  Take advantage of “park and ride” and carpooling options.

8.  Plan your purchases to avoid impulse buying.  Take a list with you to the grocery store and stick with it.  Studies show that impulse buying can add $10-50 to your grocery bill – ouch!

9.  Go to the library instead of the bookstore.  If you’re an avid reader, give yourself a book budget for books that you will want to keep, and go to the library for everything else.

10.  Take a vacation at home.  Check out all the local sites and happenings.  You’ll rediscover your hometown and save on travel and hotel costs.

These are just a handful of ways you can cut spending and stretch your dollars, but if you follow these tips you’ll discover you have more money at the end of each month to apply to other financial goals, such as saving for college, retirement or just for a rainy day.

None of us have the ability to foresee the future or predict the hurdles which lie ahead of us. This makes building an emergency fund a financial priority. Building an emergency fund is healthy for your financial well being, since you’re rarely given advance notice of a setback or an accident which will keep you out of work for an extended period. It is also a safety net that can save you from bankruptcy or severe financial hardships in the event of an unexpected change in your income or expenses.

Housing a small rainy day fund should be a vital part of an individual’s financial goals. This is of high importance if you don’t already have readily available funds in your account for covering any unanticipated expenses. They provide financial security because they give you funds to fall back on if you become ill, or if you or your spouse loses your job, you incur large medical bills, or have an unexpected large bill such as a major car or home repair. You do not want to end up in a situation where you have to buy daily necessities on credit and end up payments on groceries you bought two years back on credit, with a further 10-18% interest on it.

Saving your money in an small account for emergencies is definitely a better alternative to taking a loan or cashing in your long-term investments. If you take a loan, there is the additional burden of paying interest. Encashment of your investments before maturity means not only will you lose out the interest, but also some part of the original investment. This will also set you back significantly in your overall financial plan.

Success at building an emergency fund depends on consistency of saving money on a regular basis, and resisting the urge to dip into this rainy day fund for non-emergencies. This money should be kept separate from the general savings account. Otherwise you will be tempted to dip into these monies even if you simply run over your budget at a certain point. A substantial part of this emergency fund account should be invested in low risk funds. This ensures that your investment does not lose its value in case you need the money. Also, it should be extremely liquid, to give you access to the cash easily and quickly if you need it.

The size of the special savings account will depend on your personal situation. People often keep three to six months’ salary in the reserve. But you will have to decide on an appropriate amount based factors such as your dependants and fixed monthly expenses.

If you are single with no obligations, and have a reliable support system of friends or relatives during a financial crisis, you might not need a substantial amount stashed in this fund. This is opposed to someone who needs to pay nursing costs for his aging parents and supporting a young family. The more people you support, the more likely you are to have unexpected or unplanned costs.

While making a decision about an emergency fund, you should also take into account the degree of difficulty you’d have in finding a new job if you lost the present one. In case of a two-income household, the contribution of both parties should be weighed while calculating how much you should keep aside.

You may not be able to gather your emergency fund money together at once. Treat it as a financial goal and add to the kitty over time. If you get a tax refund, put it in your special rainy day account. Maybe a part of the bonus at work!