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Traditionally, women have been the caretakers of both the older and younger generations of their families. But providing care for family members is becoming increasingly difficult, as doing so may require a leave of absence from work and drain one’s bank account.
Such income disruptions greatly affect a woman’s ability to save money, plan for retirement, and maintain financial security. In addition, older married women often provide care for their elderly husbands.
But who will help you when you require assistance? Even though younger family members may be more than willing to help, the costs of health care often exceed the amount of disposable income available to the average family. Perhaps, women and their family members need to look toward the future and start the planning process.
Every woman needs to balance her financial past with her financial future. By addressing the management of your personal finances as soon as possible, you can avoid disputes and build financial independence.
Here are a few things to think about as you start your financial planning process:
It may be necessary to periodically review these arrangements, as needs and circumstances change. You may also wish to consider consulting a qualified financial professional with experience in concerns facing today’s women.
Many millennial households are on their way to building substantial wealth. They are saving 20% or more of their paychecks, investing in 401(k) accounts, and keeping their debt levels low. But others, even those with good educations and solid careers, are making financial mistakes. And some are making them over and over, digging a hole from which it may take years to climb out.
Millennials can help themselves over the long term by avoiding several key errors. As a wealth adviser by trade, and more importantly, as someone actually of this generation who has personally gone toe to toe with many of the financial challenges often faced by millennials today, here are the 10 most common millennial money mistakes I’ve witnessed:
Mistake No. 1:
Failing to Consider the Financial Consequences of Student Loans
Many people want to attend a prestigious university or earn a specific degree, but will this decision enable you to earn enough money to justify the expense? Too many people sign up for mounds of student debt without considering the financial magnitude of their monthly debt payments and the length of those payments versus their expected incomes.
Anyone considering a second degree, a master’s degree, or a doctorate should determine before borrowing money if the new degree will generate enough additional earnings to justify the expense.
Mistake No. 2:
Postponing Saving
People with just a little money left over after paying their bills can fall into the trap of saying that they will start to save just as soon as they can. This thinking is dangerous because as we grow older, our lives often become more expensive.
To get ahead financially, you don’t need to live within your means; you need to live beneath your means. When you get a bonus, a raise or a promotion, take advantage of the additional income and at least partially increase your savings — not just your lifestyle. Finding a way to save a little each month is really how to get ahead and make financial progress toward your goals.
Mistake No. 3:
Ignoring the Financial Consequences
of an Expensive Wedding
Sure, it may very well be one of the most important days of anyone’s life, but it’s also critical to make sure that you are not saying “I do” to unnecessary financial distress.
Anything with the word “wedding” in front of it is expensive, whether it’s cakes, flowers, photographers, coordinators, destinations or venues. Between parents, friends and social media, many millennials feel pressure to deliver on their big day, but there can be a very real and impactful financial trade-off between cake and punch and buffet and open bar. Think beyond Day 1. Days 2 and forward of a marriage are important, too!
Mistake No. 4:
Having an Inadequate or Nonexistent
'Rainy Day Fund'
Returning from the mountains after one of our first vacations as a married couple, my wife and I learned how critical having a “rainy day fund” is firsthand! The rolling foothills proved too much for my beloved Jeep, and had we not set aside some cash in a savings account for emergencies we would have been in a real financial pickle trying to decide between taking on debt to get some new wheels, asking her father and mother for help, or talking to mine.
To make sure you don’t have to face choosing between one of those less-than-ideal options, one of the first steps to building a solid financial foundation is to save three to six months’ worth of your monthly living expenses in cash in a “rainy day fund,” so life’s curveballs won’t derail your finances. And there will be curveballs!
Mistake No. 5:
Having Too Many Credit Cards
You’re at the checkout line and there’s allegedly a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to save $25 or 10% on your initial purchase if you’ll just take a few minutes and open a store credit card. Sound familiar? We all face these temptations, and despite the short-term financial benefits or savings by opening a new line of credit, you should almost always just say no!
Buying with credit is a good way to earn points and rewards, and it offers additional fraud/identity theft protection versus using a debit card, but credit cards also require personal restraint and consistently paying off the entire balance month after month to be utilized effectively.
Mistake No. 6:
Buying Too Much Car
Even after careful research and knowing how much you can afford, once you take a test drive it’s easy to crave the better model with the premium wheels and entertainment package. But don’t; only get the car you need. Additional money spent on a slightly nicer ride could be used to establish a rainy day fund or boost your savings for retirement. Plus, a car is a depreciating asset — the value drops as soon as you leave the dealership.
Mistake No. 7:
Buying Too Much House Too Soon
Buying a home before you can handle the financial responsibilities can quickly strain your finances. The goal for millennials should be to buy a house that meets your needs and helps build equity, not the dream house you want to retire to. For many first-time homeowners, the monthly mortgage payments and costs of maintenance, utilities and real estate taxes can be overwhelming.
As you are furnishing a house it’s also important to go at a reasonable pace and decorate at an affordable level. Buying a bunch of furniture or fancy accent items all at once can torpedo your cash or create recurring credit card debt. A new house doesn’t have to be a finished product overnight, and your first house doesn’t have to be your dream house!
Mistake No. 8:
Not Saving Enough for Retirement
Many millennials realize that the retirement planning game has changed and will likely continue to do so. Pensions are headed the way of the dinosaur. Regardless of your politics, most everyone agrees Social Security benefits may not look like what they do today once it’s time for millennials to collect. That means what your retirement looks like may be pretty much up to you!
In order to build up an adequate nest egg capable of sustaining your desired lifestyle in retirement and to fund all those trips on the bucket list and the place on the beach, you need to start saving now. Make certain you are taking full advantage of any matching contributions your employer offers to your retirement plan, but also work toward contributing even more to your 401(k), to your IRA, and to a taxable brokerage account. The longer your invested money has a chance to grow and compound, the larger your nest egg will likely be, and that can mean a nicer (and sooner) retirement.
Mistake No. 9:
Children, But No Wills
Married couples should have a will, and those with children should definitely have one. A will helps make sure that your final wishes will be fulfilled and names the guardian of your children. As a proud father of two young kids, I can attest that even though it is probably the last thing you want to think about between sleepless nights and sippy cups, updating your estate plan needs to be done.
Mistake No. 10:
Putting Your Career First
Many people I know love what they do for a living and they are really good at it. Others are burning their candle at both ends trying to hit that next sales goal or fast track that next promotion. This may surprise you coming from a wealth adviser, but I can attest that money isn’t everything.
As the famous saying goes, “Nobody on their deathbed has ever said they wish they had spent more time in the office.” It is noble to work hard and have a fulfilling and successful career, but make sure you aren’t always putting your job ahead of your life, your health, your family and your friends. If you do, you may end up having a lot of money and being near the top of the org chart, but yet still very poor at the same time.
A quick look at the average monthly return following January, upside and downside captures, Market timing, fund flows and the historic bounce back in small cap stocks.
Do you and your spouse argue with one another over spending? You’re not alone: In fact, according to a survey conducted by Artemis Strategy Group:
So, just in time for Valentine’s Day, let’s see how one couple with severe financial differences resolved their conflicts (the names aren’t real of course).
Susanna and Jason, both 53 and married 27 years, have a 16-year old daughter. Susanna and Jason constantly locked horns about money and sometimes caught their daughter in the crossfire.
Susanna said she had a happy childhood, although her family was stretched financially. The kitchen was stocked paycheck to paycheck, and she grew up wearing hand-me-downs from cousins. But the atmosphere at home was good.
She scrimped and saved through her teen years, but to this day feels guilty if she splurges on anything. She financed college with loans and her own savings. In short, Susanna equates hard work with money.
Jason grew up more comfortably. He always had a generous allowance, traveled frequently with his family, ate out often and got a new car when he turned 16. His parents paid for his college and law school, leaving him debt-free.
His life wasn’t harmonious, though his parents used money and gifts to vie for Jason’s affection. His parents quarreled often about this and other financial issues. Fights intensified over the years, and his parents divorced after Jason graduated from college. Jason now equates money with conflict between his parents.
Like any couple, Susanna and Jason carried emotional baggage into the relationship. While they’re financially comfortable, the atmosphere when it comes to finances in their home is tense. Marriage counseling hasn’t helped.
Susanna and Jason are both deliberate and results-driven people and they requested concrete – but prudent – financial steps to reduce conflict and avoid a costly knock-down fight and divorce. Both knew the financial cost of divorce – Jason’s mother fared poorly financially after his parents split – and neither wanted to go down this path. Yet, they knew that money was often a root cause of divorce.
Here are some planning areas that helped this couple reduce financial conflict at home:
Susanna worried about retirement, and believed that she and Jason needed to work into their late 60s. Jason wanted to retire sooner and travel more, yet Susanna maintained that they couldn’t afford it.
After reviewing financial goals, reallocating assets and putting together a Social Security strategy to maximize benefits, their financial plan convinced even skeptical Susanna that they potentially could retire as early as 63. Provided they met regularly with their financial advisor to retest this and other plan assumptions.
Susanna hasn’t given up the idea of working past 63, but the couple no longer argues about retirement dates.
The couple set up separate accounts linked to each of their salaries, aiming to control personal spending and retain a degree of independence. They retain a joint checking account and automatically transfer funds each month to cover combined expenses, such as household costs and insurance.
This reduced squabbles about seemingly trivial expenses that used to explode into major confrontations.
Susanna, risk-averse, structures and manages her individual retirement account accordingly. Jason’s IRA was also restructured so that the couple’s joint investments reflect each’s relative appetite for risk.
These approaches combine to form a target portfolio that can carry them into retirement – together.
Susanna and Jason couldn’t agree about how much to fund their daughter’s college expenses. After financial planning analysis, they agreed to compromise: Fund 60% of college expenses, and leave open the option of assuming their daughter’s loans after her graduation and pending an assessment of everyone’s financial situation then.
Susanna and Jason have not completely eliminated their money differences and they still have debates over how to deal with finances and other issues. Still, they’re doing better and remain married – which for many couples can be one of good money management’s bigger payoffs.
And maybe the best Valentine’s Day gift they could give one another.
The January Effect is a pattern exhibited by stocks in the last few trading days of December and the first few weeks of January. During this period, particularly starting in January, the theory is that stocks tend to rise.
In simple terms, the January Effect is a consequence of:
Because so many of these stocks were sold in late December, they will be – in theory – available at a discount in early January. Another purported cause of the January Effect is the payment of year-end employee bonuses (less likely in 2020), which employees invest in the stock market. As a result, investors with more money end up buying cheaper stocks, making the market more active and driving up prices.
The January Effect is notjust a Wall Street myth as several prominent studies have confirmed its existence. One study of historical data from 1904 through 1974 discovered that the average return during January was five times larger than the average return for other months.
Another study by the investment firm Salomon Smith Barney (no longer in existence by the way) showed that small cap stocks (as represented by companies in the Russell 2000) outperformed large cap stocks (as represented by companies in the Russell 1000) by 0.8% in January, but lagged large caps for the rest of the year.
Further, consider this:
In recent years, the January Effect has become less pronounced. As a result, it is a less effective way for investors to take advantage of the market. Once investors, economists and traders spot, analyze, and confirm the existence of a trend, it tends to become less pronounced.
Investors “price in” the trend, adjusting their investment strategies to take trends (like the January Effect) into account. Another reason that the January Effect is less important is that many people now use tax-sheltered retirement plans, like IRAs and 401(k) plans. When investments are tax-sheltered, there is no special reason to sell a stock for the purpose of deducting stock losses.
Many investors and analysts have tried to use the January Effect for predictive value. However, there are different questions about predictions.
Surprisingly, according to Stock Trader’s Almanac, going back to 1950, that metric ofJanuary’s monthly performance predicting the year has worked about 87% of the time.
But if you take out the years from 1950-1962, the January metric worked about as well as a monkey making a coin toss. From 1962 to 2020, a below-par January accurately predicts a bad year 55% of the time.
As these numbers show, the January Effect is simply not a very good predictor of annual stock market performance. Of course, the S&P 500 has risen about 8.19% on average (including dividends) from 2000 through 2020.
As a result, omens in January are unlikely to predict the entire year.
It’s easy to lose or misplace money. But unlike finding $20 in an old jacket, what if a bank or investment account containing thousands goes untouched for years because you forgot about it or never told anyone it existed?
For various financial accounts, holdings, investments, loans, tax returns, and other arrangements, you need to gather account information and relevant contacts. If you’re wondering why it’s worth taking the time to get all this info in one place, just think of the people you love. By organizing your financial and legal documents, if something happens to you your family can more easily:
First, you need to determine all the types of accounts you have. Here’s a comprehensive list to get you started:
After you’ve identified all the accounts you have, here’s the information you need to gather for each. Tip: The details for each account or asset may vary, so just pointing a person you trust in the right direction -- like giving them the name of your financial advisor -- will be super helpful.
Type of Credit Card: Visa | MasterCard | American Express | Discover | Diner’s Club | JCB | Store/Gas Card | Other
How do you prepare your taxes? (You could answer this question out loud but that won't really do anything. Except maybe scare the cat. So keep track of it.)
Share the name and contact info of this professional.
What software/service do you use? How do you login to this account?
No Matter What: Tell someone you trust where you keep your past tax returns! If something happens to you, these are an ideal financial blueprint for people in your life to understand your estate.
Keeping important documents (deed to your house, insurance policies) and valuable items (heirlooms, jewelry) extra safe is smart. Not giving someone access in case something happens to you can turn into a long detour through the courts.
This is especially troubling if you kept your Will or other important documents your family might need in a safe deposit box. Solution: Check with the bank where you’re renting a box and name a designee or whatever they might refer to this person as.
Now, onto the details to share:
Don’t let any loans your family and loved ones are unaware of sneak up on them. Keep track of the following info and once the loan is paid off feel free to mark it “PAID” and celebrate.
Type of Loan: Line of Credit | Personal Loan | Student Loan | Other
Make sure all of the stuff listed above is neatly organized, updated, and shared.
Cleaning up personal finances remains one of the top resolutions every New Year. But we all know what happens to most such self-promises, so here’s a month-by-month to-do list to cultivate better financial health.
January: Organize paperwork. This obvious starting point eludes many. Are your financial documents organized, in paper or virtually, so information is at your fingertips? Your heirs will be eternally thankful if you unexpectedly die or are incapacitated.
February: Consolidate investments. Trim your number of accounts and consolidate all your dormant 401(k)s into individual retirement accounts. Spreading your assets across various brokerage accounts is not smart diversification – it’s a recipe for confusion.
March: Follow the money. If you’re still working and too busy with your life, you may have a poor sense of your personal cash flow, the money that comes in and where you spend it. You can’t establish how much you save or spend without knowing where you are right now.
April: Tax smarts. It’s better to owe your state and the federal government instead of overpaying throughout the year.
Did you fund an IRA for your spouse, max out funding on your defined contribution plan at work or fund your Roth IRA by the April 15th deadline? Did you track your losses on your taxable accounts, such as individual and joint investment accounts, bank accounts and money market mutual funds, to name a few? These moves can qualify you for tax credits.
May: Investment smarts. How much do your investments cost you? Do you know what your insurance agent, 401(k) plan or financial advisor charges? How about the underlying expenses you pay to buy mutual funds or exchange-traded funds?
Are your investments allocated wisely to minimize taxes? For example, do you hold real estate investment trusts in your tax-deferred account? Municipal bonds in your taxable account? How much risk do you take?
June: What are you worth and why it matters. You can calculate your net worth (all your assets, such as your home and retirement funds, minus all your liabilities, such as your mortgage and credit card debt) many ways. A sophisticated net-worth calculation projects factors of asset growth such as rates of investments’ returns and risk and your rate of saving and liabilities to the end of your life.
Your goal: Minimize the risk of outliving your assets.
July: Insure against risk. Insurance keeps you financially whole if disaster strikes. To cite two examples of policies to review, did you outlive your 20-year term life insurance? If so, you’re a winner because you remain alive yet you need to consider more coverage.
Have you considered long-term care insurance, especially if you’re a woman with a longer life expectancy than a man? This coverage helps with costs of basic daily needs over an extended time.
August: Retirement planning. This planning starts in your 20s and does not end when you retire. If you’re employed, know when you can afford to retire (assuming you’re not laid off).
Are you aware of all strategies to maximize Social Security payouts? If retired, are you withdrawing from your accounts in the correct order? (Start with your taxable holdings, then move on to tax-deferred and then untaxed.) Calculating optimal distributions from IRAs and other taxable income sources annually can trim your taxes.
September: Preparing for the inevitable. Engage an estate attorney. If you die without a will, your state of residency distributes your assets with no input from you.
If your estate documents are older than about seven years, refresh them. Everyone needs such estate documents as wills, living wills, medical health-care directives and powers of attorney to stipulate your wishes if you become unable to decide matters yourself.
You especially need these papers if you or your spouse, or both, are uncomfortable with financial matters and your children are younger than legal age.
Also, draw up or re-examine these documents if:
October: Gift wisely. You can give back in many ways to organizations and people you care about with donations of appreciated securities or with payments on college loans or new mortgages. The Internal Revenue Service offers several guidelines on gifting.
Your greatest gift may be taking care of yourself so you don’t eventually become a financial burden to your adult children.
November and December: Reality check. If you followed these steps, you’re in the minority of individuals with the tenacity to tackle financial planning.
But you still should engage a professional advisor to check your assumptions. Be realistic about what you can accomplish on your own.
It’s important to get your finances right and keep them right all year.
Sometimes, when most people believe the same thing, a big change is on the way. That thinking is known as contrarian. The housing market may be primed to give us a big lesson in contrarianism. If so, that’s not-so-good news for homeowners and real estate investors.
Contrarian theories abound concerning the herd mentality of investors. You could argue it was as much of a death note for the market as for an athlete featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated.
We are not too terribly worried when we see only one article of this nature. But when the topic appears in many news articles, it is a potential red flag, although not a guarantee that anything will happen. The psychology of the cover curse is that, by the time something is the conventional wisdom and graces magazine covers, it has peaked.
The same contrarian thinking could be applied to the housing market, which by all accounts is sizzling in 2020.
According to the National Association of Realtors, existing-home sales grew for the fourth consecutive month in September as each major region saw month-over-month and year-over-year gains, with the Northeast seeing the biggest jumps.
Here are a few highlights:
The highlights above paint a robust picture of today’s housing market and whether we’re headed for – or are already in the midst of – a bubble is really anyone’s guess. Unfortunately, we usually don’t see a bubble until it has already popped.
But consider some of the other statistics from the NAR:
Remember the “Location, Location, Location” mantra preached by realtors everywhere? Well, look at what the four major regions in the U.S. have experienced:
While home prices continue to soar, interest rates are at historical lows and inventory is tight, remember when someone says: “this time it’s different.”
Because nothing goes up forever.
After his grandfather died more than a decade ago, Lamarr Couser and his family were caught by surprise when the funeral director asked whether the World War II veteran was covered by a life insurance policy from the Department of Veterans Affairs.
Couser, who is himself a U.S. Navy veteran and former National Guardsman, wasn't aware of the VA life insurance, a $10,000 policy for disabled veterans who might otherwise be denied private coverage, nor had he yet applied for it. His grandfather didn't have it, either. "I was shocked," he says. "It must be one of the best-kept secrets there is."
Indeed. The insurance is just one of several substantial benefits for many veterans and their families--from insurance to caregiving--that you may never have heard of. Consider Aid and Attendance, a tax-free benefit that helps cover an eligible veteran's costs for caregivers, nursing homes or assisted living--in some cases, to the tune of nearly $2,000 a month.
Many vets may also be unaware that the VA recently made it easier for veterans to get hearing aids, says Louis Celli, director of Veterans Affairs and Rehabilitation for the American Legion. No longer does a vet need a physician's referral to get an appointment with a hearing specialist. He or she can simply schedule an appointment. VA insurance covers the cost; Medicare typically doesn't.
And in March, the VA said it will recognize eight diseases linked to contaminated water at Camp Lejeune, N.C., and cover claims for veterans suffering from those ailments who served there at least 30 days between August 1, 1953, and December 31, 1987.
"There's a whole framework of resources out there," says Joseph Montanaro, a financial planner with USAA's military affairs advocacy group. Don't assume you're not eligible, he says. And recognize that spouses and dependents may qualify, too.
Montanaro's family learned that lesson when his father died of a service-related lung disease. They were surprised to discover their stepmother qualified for Dependency and Indemnity Compensation, a monthly tax-free payment for surviving spouses and dependents that can total more than $1,200, Montanaro says.
It's not just career military vets who can qualify for benefits. In general, veterans who served before 1980 need only have 90 days or more of active duty and a discharge other than dishonorable to qualify for many benefits. Veterans who served after 1980 must have served 24 continuous months of active duty or the full period for which they were called to active duty.
Ignore the common myth that you have to be disabled to use VA health care. You can check your eligibility at www.vets.gov/healthcare/eligibity. Co-pays may be required, depending on income and other factors.
Seek help from veterans' groups such as the American Legion, the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW), the Disabled American Veterans (DAV) and the Vietnam Veterans of America (VVA). Through those organizations' websites, you can find a veteran service officer in your area who can point you toward benefits you might be eligible for, help you apply and assist in appeals. Their services are free.
As a first step, be sure to fill out an intent to file form covering the specific benefit you seek, says Kaylin Gilkey, community engagement manager for Veteran-Aid.org, an advocacy group. It may take months for your claim to be approved, but your benefits will be retroactive to the date you filed the form. That could mean thousands of dollars in reimbursements, she says. If a veteran dies while a claim is outstanding, it can be pursued by a surviving spouse or dependents, says Michael Figlioli, deputy director of the VFW National Veterans Service.
Spouses and dependents of a permanently and totally disabled vet can qualify for health insurance through the VA's Civilian Health and Medical Program, or CHAMPVA. "It can be a huge savings, for you and your family," says Chad Moos, the DAV's deputy national service director. "But some veterans have gone years and years without even realizing their dependents are eligible." There are no premiums for CHAMPVA health and prescription coverage. Those on CHAMPVA can also sign up for Medicare Part D, which does have premium costs; Medicare is always the primary payer.
For veterans who need more help at home, there's a "hidden benefit" known as the Veteran-Directed Care Program, says Adrian Atizado, DAV's deputy national legislative director. It allows certain disabled veterans to hire family and friends to help with daily living tasks, such as doing the laundry or helping with breakfast. The VA provides you or your financial counselor as much as $2,000 a month, on average, to pay caregivers and aides you choose. The program is available through VA Medical Centers in at least 35 states.
Vietnam War vets who may have been exposed to Agent Orange, a herbicide used during the war, are eligible for a range of compensation and health care benefits. To qualify, you need to prove that you had "boots on the ground" in Vietnam, even briefly, between January 9, 1962, and May 7, 1975. You also need to show that you have a current diagnosis of one of the disabilities recognized by the VA as linked to the exposure, such as diabetes mellitus Type 2 or ischemic heart disease. Vets exposed to Agent Orange aboard ships, on aircraft and in other locations can also qualify.
If you meet the requirements for Agent Orange-related benefits, you may obtain disability compensation benefits and access to other health services more quickly, says Kelsey Yoon, director of veterans benefits for the VVA. And children of veterans exposed to Agent Orange who were born with spina bifida and certain other birth defects may also qualify for benefits, including compensation, health care and vocational training. "Older vets especially worry about who is going to take care of their kids when they're gone," Yoon says. "This is one of the most unknown benefits."
For long-term care, the Aid and Attendance benefit is aimed at helping older veterans and their spouses when they can no longer handle daily living tasks, such as dressing and showering, on their own, says Veteran-Aid's Gilkey. To qualify, you usually need to be paying for some kind of care, have roughly $80,000 or less in assets (excluding one home and one vehicle) and have served at least one day during wartime while on active duty. The $80,000 figure is a rough estimate, Veteran-Aid notes, and you can sometimes qualify above that limit. A single veteran can receive as much as $1,794 a month; a surviving spouse, $1,153; and two married veterans as much as $2,846. "It's been around a long time, but it's still so little-known," Gilkey says.
Vets who have mobility problems can apply for grants available to modify a car or home. There are also state VA benefits, from exemptions for local property taxes to free fishing and hunting licenses. For details, see the State Veteran's Benefits map at Military.com, a benefits information site.
After a veteran's death, survivors may qualify for benefits such as the monthly benefit payment that Montanaro's stepmother received. You could be eligible if the veteran died in the line of duty or from a service-related cause, says Kevin Friel, assistant director of the VA's pension and fiduciary service.
The VA can help with some burial expenses, and it provides a free headstone or marker and burial flag. The VA just created a program that allows veterans to apply for burial benefits in advance, so veterans and their families can plan ahead. Go to www.cem.va.gov/pre-need to learn more.