Category: Saving & Investing

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Saving & Investing

Series I Savings Bonds: Save Money and Guard Against Inflation

On Thursday, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics announced that the Consumer Price Index (CPI), a market basket of item prices including food, energy, and housing costs, rose by 5% over the past year. The report showed the biggest CPI gain since August 2008. Here is the inflation I’ve been talking about since October! And with the Fed describing the inflation as only transitory, that means that the interest on money you’re stowing away in savings accounts won’t keep up with inflation. Enter the Series I Savings Bond.

Considering the low interest rates on most savings vehicles, Series I Savings Bonds are a great way to save money while guarding against inflation.

Often flying under the radar these days and almost forgotten about in the 21st century is a really good old friend that I grew up with as a child: the U.S. Savings Bond. They were originally developed as encouragement to save (called the “baby bonds”) in 1935 during FDR’s first term during the Great Depression. And they eventually evolved into the E bonds that helped finance and pay for World War II back in the 1940’s (War Bonds).

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Retirement, Saving & Investing

What Do You Have in Common with a Squirrel?

Does the title here sound a bit odd to you? I mean, what do we have in common with squirrels? You see them all the time around here in spring and summer but almost never at this time of the year. They’re off keeping warm and relaxing, getting ready for spring I guess. And that’s my point here.

The squirrel has to prepare long in advance of winter to survive. Heed this lesson about preparing for retirement, and start right away!

There isn’t much squirrel activity now that winter has truly set in. Over the last several months, like just about every squirrel, the ones in my neighborhood got ready for the long winter ahead. This past week we just had a 20+ inch snowstorm and a well prepared squirrel can pretty much feel good if he did what we was supposed to do.

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Personal Finance, Saving & Investing

Can You Election-Proof Your Finances?

No matter who wins the presidential election this year, or in future years, the outlook for continued growth and innovation long term remains a positive. There’s no reason to believe that even in a pandemic world that we have today that progress and innovation are simply just going to stop because one candidate or another is elected and 2020 isn’t going to start a new trend in that regard. Financial growth is going to happen for some (or even many) and you want to be in that number when it does. The question is: how? How can you election-proof your finances?

If you want to election-proof your finances, you need to look at history to be your guide. From there, we can make some general observations.

Election-Proof Your Finances?

There is often widespread uncertainty before a presidential election, and that extends to worrying about your finances. To election-proof your finances is to ensure that you will be improving your monetary situation no matter who wins. Now I don’t know your particular situation, and I’m not providing advice, but I can make some general observations as to how it can be achieved.

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Retirement, Saving & Investing

P.R.O.T.E.C.T. Yourself and Your Money in Retirement

Now that I am well into the retirement mode—having actually retired back in 2013 and started collecting my Social Security—it is way easier to look back and see what I did in planning and executing my journey. 2013 may seem like eons ago, but in reality it’s just a flash in my mind and that’s the way time seems to go for all of us. One day you’re 35 and retirement seems like it will never get here and in a flash you’re 60-something and you need to have all your ducks lined up and a real retirement plan in place. That’s where the little reminder I came up with comes into play: P.R.O.T.E.C.T yourself, or Plan Retirement Options To Ensure Cash Tranche.

When it comes to your retirement plan, it's important to P.R.O.T.E.C.T. yourself - Plan Retirement Options To Ensure Cash Tranche.

P is for Plan

When the word “plan” comes up in any conversation, it requires that you do something. You means you and not someone else who may have a plan and you just may be a part of the fringe of that. For example, when it comes to your future and retirement, if your family has built wealth and you are planning to inherit some of it to fund your expenses and even your retirement…don’t count on it. While that may qualify technically as a plan, it is a terrible one!

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Retirement, Saving & Investing

How to Start Investing Without a Lot of Money

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We all hope and aspire to be able to save and grow our money. It’s not just a good idea. It may be fun to do and a challenge, but it is very important to save money for the future, target “numero uno”: retirement! But right now, even trying to find a high-interest savings account online has become practically impossible and if you do find any, you can’t earn enough interest to keep up with inflation. That’s where investing comes in. You may have put off investing because you didn’t have much in the way of finances, but I’m here to tell you to how to start investing without a lot of money.

Many people put off investing because they think it's a big commitment of funds. But you can learn how to start investing with only a small amount of money.

Investing Your Money Has Become a Real “Go To” Plan

You may think that investing is only for wealthy people. Or that you just don’t even know the most fundamental thing about investing and are simply frightened at the thought of it. Or you may have just put off investing forever. If you did that because you didn’t have much money left over for investing, then I have very good news for you. It doesn’t take much money to get started with investing!

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Retirement, Saving & Investing

Investing Money Is Just Like Cooking Barbecue

It’s the height of summer here in New Jersey and since we aren’t dining out like we do normally this year, it’s a perfect time to fire up the grill and do some real barbecuing, isn’t it? Hopefully you can do that and well, as strange as it may seem, I find that barbecuing is a lot like investing basics! What?

Many people don't know a lot about investing, and so they're afraid to start. But investing basics are like making good barbecue, so let's get cooking!

Yes, you read that right. Before you write me off as crazy, follow along and I’ll explain how a good basic investing strategy is like cooking good barbecue (with the disclaimer that I’m neither a barbecue nor an investment expert). Many people don’t know a lot about investing, and so they’re afraid to start. This can have a significant impact on your retirement savings and the growth of your wealth. Learning the basics of investing isn’t that difficult, and in fact, it really is a lot like cooking barbecue!

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Frugality, Saving & Investing

10 “E-Z Ways to Save Money” Tips

We all understand and get that saving money can seem impossible sometimes. It’s not even worth pretending that everyone has the innate ability to save money, but that’s likely the reason the headline above drew you in, isn’t it?

If you're looking for E-Z ways to save money, I have ten tips to help you get started without a lot of work. Check it out and get started today!

While saving money may not come easy to everyone, it’s something that anyone can try to do. The idea is that as long as you actually try, there’s a chance. But it’s not all about some drastic cutting back on everything you have and want and it’s not some secret scientific formula that I’m planning to sell to you that will make me rich. It actually is way more subtle than that and that’s why I have called it E-Z. So here are my best E-Z ways and save money tips to get you started!

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Retirement, Saving & Investing

Safe Investments for the Retirement Mindset

The closer you get to your retirement, the fewer risks you should be taking with your money and investments. That’s just good common sense, because you can’t find yourself after you stop working “losing” value in your nest egg or you will be in for real trouble. But it isn’t as easy as it sounds, because while you are looking for something that’s really “safe” and carry at most minimal risk, you are also looking for something with some kind of growth so you can keep ahead of inflation at the very least. So how do you find safe investments when you are in the retirement mindset?

As your approach retirement, it's important to have safe investments that will last as well as some growth. Here are some safer investments to consider.

Diversify Your Investments

The best investment advice for anyone, retiree or not quite there yet, is to diversify. That’s because it is a way to avoid putting all of your eggs into just one basket and gives you a hedge or safety net on exactly what happens in a typical market cycle.

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