Money

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  Money

  The (Not-So) Quick and Easy Path to Financial Freedom

  The internet is ablaze with talk about financial freedom, or financial independence, or early retirement. These terms are synonymous, and represent the same idea – no longer needing labor income because you have enough passive income to cover all of your monthly expenses.

  Achieving financial independence is a major goal for my wife, Vanessa, and I. It might even be our only financial goal, because it encompasses so many other aspects of personal finance. To get there, we have to continue growing our income, managing our expenses, and investing the surplus savings. Most small financial decisions move us closer or further away from that primary goal.

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  Money

  Five Ways We Create Financial Peace of Mind in Our House

  My husband, Mal, and I aren’t financial experts by any means, but we’re pretty good with our money. Mal is a successful teacher, and I’ve been fortunate enough to form an amazing career by having Carrots ‘N’ Cake. We definitely consider ourselves lucky.

  But, a big part of why we live a good life is because we make decisions to ensure peace of mind in our household. Part of that is making sure we are on the right financial path.

  Mal and I work together as a team to manage our money. We have similar views on our finances, so we’re both involved in the decision-making process and sharing this responsibility definitely makes us stronger as a couple.

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  Money

  Saving: A Love Story

  I’ve always been a saver.

  As a child, my parents instilled the importance of setting goals and working toward them, both financial and otherwise. Even before having big, long-term financial goals, I remember as a kid diligently stashing away my allowance and babysitting money for months to buy a new Gameboy TM (the height of technology!) – then $100.

  Having a target in mind is something that helps keep me motivated and on track to this day.

  That said, when I got my first job after college, I remember confidently assuring my father that I’d start saving in my 401(k) once I hit 40. That job was as a financial advisor – adding significantly to the irony. My father simply shook his head and reminded me gently of the power of compound interest.

  While this story is fairly embarrassing it’s a snapshot of how differently people think about money at different ages and how much your experiences change the way you will view saving.

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  The Credit Score Mambo – Part 2

  Credit scores are with you for life no matter your relationship status. There’s no merging of credit scores after marriage like you may do with a bank account. But, your partner’s money habits can still have an impact on your score; and divorce has a nasty habit of bringing a once powerful score to ruins.

  This doesn’t have to be the case though, which is why it’s important to always have open communication with your loved one about money as well as continue to build and maintain your credit score no matter your relationship status.

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  Money

  The Credit Score Mambo – Part 1

  Credit scores get all the buzz. You want to know what your score is, who looks at it, how to improve or maintain it, and how a low score can impact your financial life or even career. The credit score and its almighty but less popular big brother, the credit report, are how lenders, landlords and even employers can make judgements about your ability to pay back borrowed funds, make on-time payments and even if you’re responsible. Think of these two like your college GPA and transcript for the real world – which is why it’s important you know exactly how to decode what they mean, how to make improvements and how you stack up.

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  Money

  Could You Find $400 For An Emergency?

  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?

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  Money

  Should You Make Money Off Your Emergency Fund?

  I just checked in on my $5,000 emergency fund and saw my monthly interest payment—a whopping $3.13. It’s not going to save me from financial ruin exactly, but as my grandfather would say, I guess it’s better than a stick in the eye.

  Normally, as a financial planner, I would encourage you not to let a little number like that keep you up at night. Your emergency fund is the one place where it’s more important to preserve your cash (in case of an emergency, duh) rather than try to grow it. There are 401ks, Roth IRAs, and brokerage accounts for that.

  However, there’s been a lot of buzz lately about “making money off your emergency fund,” so let’s explore this further.

  What are your options, and what’s the risk associated with them?

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  Money

  Disassembling The Financial Puzzle After My Separation

  Recently, my husband and I decided to separate after fourteen years together, eight of them as a married couple. Matt and I met at 18 years old and immediately fell for each other in our freshman year of college. We never looked back because we knew we’d make great life partners. And, we have been great life partners for the half of our lives we’ve been together.

  But, we’ve started down different paths, which has made us both question and yearn for our identity as individuals. This decision has been bittersweet for us both, but I’m trying to be as optimistic as possible about the future.

  Just our life together took many years to create and build, there are now lots of puzzle pieces that need to come apart. The obvious ones are things like finding a new place for Matt to live, figuring out a schedule to each spend time with our three-year-old, and separating our joint bank accounts.

  Now that some of the dust has settled, we’re starting to think about additional, long-term details that need sorting out as we move forward with our lives as individuals.

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  Money Decisions to Make Once You Tie the Knot

  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.

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  Money

  Achieving the Dream of Financial Independence

  In April 2014, my husband and I made the radical decision to save enough money to quit our conventional 9-to-5 existence and move to a homestead in the woods of Vermont.

  This dream stems from our shared love of hiking and the outdoors. We’re happiest when we’re in nature and want the ability to do that every day. The plan is to accomplish this dream by fall 2017.

  Up until that watershed decision, we’d followed a fairly standard path: we went to college, secured jobs, got married, traveled, bought a home, and adopted a dog. We were living ‘the American Dream.’

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