Planning for retirement Opens a New Window. can be a challenge for Americans at a time when many are having trouble saving Opens a New Window. . Nearly half of Americans (48 percent) don’t think their retirement savings will ever reach $1 million, according to a study by Fidelity, even though more than 30 percent […]
Category: Personal Finance
Consolidate your retirement accounts carefully
If you’ve worked for multiple companies in your lifetime, you probably have accumulated several 401(k) accounts, a couple of IRAs and a brokerage account or two. As you near retirement, you might consider consolidating some of the accounts to help you organize and track your investments and perhaps save some money with fewer account fees. […]
Here’s How Much Financial Advisors Earn In Every U.S. State
The retirement of baby boomers is proving a boon for many different parts of the U.S. economy, from small businesses to big corporations, from individual products to entire sectors and industries. One example from a multitude is the occupation of personal financial advisor. With the significant advances made in digital technology in recent decades, many […]
The big money mistake women make
“Being financially literate is not a luxury; it is an obligation to yourself and your family,” says Jill Faherty Lloyd of Evercore Wealth Management. On average, women outlive men by about 5 years. Lloyd, who manages money for high net worth individuals and small business owners, says that women often become the financial decision makers […]
How to Survive the ‘Retirement Red Zone’
It’s no surprise the term “Retirement Red Zone,” coined by Prudential a few years ago, caught on so well with financial professionals and the public. Americans love sports. And we love metaphors. This one perfectly describes those critical years just before and after retirement, when savings are the most at risk. In football, the red […]
A shocking 1 in 4 millennials carry credit card debt for at least a year — here’s why they’re struggling to pay it off
Millennials are falling behind on paying off their credit card debt. Almost one in four (23 percent) of millennials say they’ve been carrying a balance on their credit cards for at least a year, according to a new poll from CreditCards.com. And about one in 10 millennials (defined here as those ages 23 to 38) […]
4 Metrics to Measure Retirement Preparedness
ASPIRING RETIREES FACE many challenges on the road to retirement. Among the top challenges is knowing how much retirement savings is enough to live comfortably. Retirement planning should not be a guessing game. To better quantify preparedness, retirement savers can use a few rule of thumb calculations to help determine whether they will have enough […]
When it makes financial sense for married couples to file their taxes separately
Are you married? Chances are you’re planning to file a joint tax return. However, that may not be the best choice. In 2016, just 5.3% of married couples chose to file separate returns, according to data from the Internal Revenue Service. That’s not surprising, given how complicated filing separate tax returns can be, said Robert […]
Fintechs help boost US personal loan surge to a record $138 billion
Americans are turning to up-and-coming fintech firms instead of traditional banking options to pile on debt. The unsecured personal loan market hit an all-time high last year, surging 17 percent year over year to $138 billion, according to data from TransUnion released Thursday. Digital-first financial technology companies were largely responsible for that momentum. “The rapid […]
34-year-old self-made millionaire: Budgets are the No. 1 thing holding you back from saving as much money as possible
By the age of 30, Grant Sabatier had earned over $1 million through a combination of reducing his spending and boosting his income. Today, at 34, Sabatier is the founder of Millennial Money and author of “Financial Freedom: A Proven Path to All the Money You Will Ever Need.” In addition to negotiating his marketing […]
You probably have not taken these savings steps — and that is why you are broke
Most Americans are not financially prepared for an emergency. And there’s a key reason why: They have not set up a dedicated account to save for emergency expenses. Furthermore, they have not set up automatic transfers from their checking account to their savings accounts. Whether or not you take those two steps can make or […]
Here’s why getting exactly zero back from the IRS might be a good thing
Forget about that gigantic refund: What you really want from the IRS is a tax balance of exactly zero and no big check. That’s because hitting zero with the taxman — that is, neither owing a balance nor receiving a refund — is an indication that you paid exactly the amount of tax liability you […]