In a recent article published by The Atlantic, The Secret Shame of the Middle-Class Americans, an alarming statistic emerged from a Federal Reserve Board survey conducted in 2013. Forty-seven percent of those surveyed said they could not come up with $400 to pay for an emergency. In order to do so, they’d need to borrow money or sell items they own.
Why aren’t we saving enough money to cover even the smallest emergencies?
There are a million and one decisions to make once you decide to get married. And, with wedding season upon us, I’m getting a lot of questions from clients on how to financially prepare for a future together.
When you get married, you want to start your shared life together on the right financial foot. (As an aside, that’s not by maxing out your budget or depleting savings on a wedding.) Most people are so involved with wedding planning that they put off having necessary money conversations that always arise after you tie the knot. If I’m honest, even as a financial planner, I still had some money fears after saying “I Do.”
Based on my years working as a financial planner (AKA a marriage financial therapist) and personal experience, there are six major money decisions you must make in order to set you and your spouse up for financial success.
It’s the New Year, and you’re focused on at least attempting to honor all those resolutions you set just a few days ago. Things like losing weight, joining a gym, saving more money and finally taking that trip to some exotic location probably top the list.
Assuming you’ve already purchased life insurance to protect your family’s finances, there’s one more item that should be added to your “Must Do in 2016” list, and it’s creating a will.
“Do I really need a will?” is one of the most common questions I get asked as a financial planner. I argue that most everyone should have a will, but it’s especially necessary if you have kids, significant assets and are married.
Whether you truly understand what a will does, we all know that it’s an important document that includes really important decisions. The reality of life is that you can’t predict when something might happen to you and since you’ve spent your entire life collecting things and building assets, it doesn’t make sense that you wouldn’t have a will in place to determine how they should be handled.
Following up from our first article where we Addressed Your Financial Fears, there was a theme in a lot of your questions about retirement. You’re worried about retirement, and rightfully so. If you are under the age of 40, chances are your life expectancy could be well into your 90s if not 100s, which means you could spend 30+ years in retirement. You need to make sure that your money doesn’t expire before you do, which is a tough task in today’s economy.
Don’t be upset if your 401(k) balance doesn’t have a ton of zeros after it. You guys had some thoughtful questions about retirement that will help set you all on the right path for retirement saving.
A couple of weeks ago I shared my financial fears in marriage and some tips and tricks I’ve used over the years to overcome them. I love doing posts like this because not only do I get to share the fact that I, too, have financial fears but it gives me an opportunity to find out if all of us have similar concerns. Spoiler alert: we do!
I’d be lying if I said I didn’t have a few after the bliss of the wedding day wore off and reality was upon us. Although many fears come and go, I’ve faced three major fears in marriage that I’m sure many of you can relate to. Rest easy, though, because there are solutions.