Category Archives: Saving

Health Insurance, Insurance, Investing, IRAs/401(k)s, Retirement, Saving, Stocks/Bonds/ETFs · October 7, 2015

Open Enrollment Season: 4 MUST-DO’s

Please don’t keep your health insurance on autopilot. I know it’s tempting just to ignore the annual “open enrollment” communications from your employer to review your choices, and just stick with the plan you have.

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Health Insurance, Insurance, Investing, Retirement, Saving · September 30, 2015

Health Insurance: 3 Reasons You Should Pick the HSA Option

About half of large employers now offer a high-deductible health insurance plan (HDHP). I know the mere mention of “high deductible” might send your blood pressure skyward, but please listen to me. For many of you, a HDHP may be…

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Credit Cards, Student Loans · September 16, 2015

3 Rules for Doling Out Allowances

Parents, we have a problem. So many of you make a mess out of allowances. You reward the wrong thing, and totally miss out on the big picture: beginning to teach your child about the value of money.

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Debt, Saving, Student Loans · September 2, 2015

Five Easy Moves to Save At Least $100 a Month

I’ve spent a lot of time poring over the finances of families who come to me for help. No matter what problem they are trying to fix, a universal step in my review is to go through their monthly spending…

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Credit Cards, Saving · August 5, 2015

How Grandparents Can Make the Most of a Grandchild’s Summer Job

So often grandparents come up to me and ask how they can best help their grandchildren get a leg up. My favorite move is to gift a grandchild money to open a Roth IRA.

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Annuities, Retirement, Saving · July 29, 2015

A Message for Husbands: Your Wife Should Drive the Retirement Planning

One of the most common things I hear from many couples is that the husband likes investing and planning, and thus wives are all too happy to let him handle the retirement strategizing. Big mistake. Not because I am doubting…

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Budgeting, Emergency Funds, Saving · July 22, 2015

Emergency Fund 101 – How Much Should You Have Saved?

It makes me so sad to read reports that many households don’t have even $1,000 set aside to cover an unexpected expense. What’s so sad is that I know that must cause such stress.

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Debt, IRAs/401(k)s, Retirement, Saving · July 15, 2015

The Biggest Retirement Planning Mistake

A recent report that studied the 401(k) savings habits of millions of workers found that one in four of you are not contributing enough to your account to qualify for your employer’s maximum match. The average annual amount of money…

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Home Loans, IRAs/401(k)s, Retirement, Saving · July 8, 2015

Why You Should Seriously Consider a Roth 401(k)

You know I love, love, love Roth IRAs. One of the prime reasons being that in retirement you will not owe a penny of tax on your withdrawals. That’s quite different from a Traditional IRA where every penny will be…

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