Tag Archives: Personal Growth

Personal Finance: 4 Ways to Save Money and Improve Your Money Management Skills | Brian Tracy

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“Believe you’re the person you must become…”

Virtually every single person in America who is financially independent started off with nothing. But they acquired good personal finance habits, learned how to save money, and improve their money management skills, eventually becoming some of the most successful people in their communities. And anything that anyone else has done, you can probably do as well.

Save Money By Using A Long Time Perspective

To save money and become financially independent you must begin living on less than you earn even if you are deeply in debt. One of the most important guarantors of your personal finance success is called “Long time perspective.”

Take the long view.

Develop a long term attitude toward yourself and your financial future and begin thinking in terms of where you want to be in five and ten years. This long-time perspective will have an inordinate impact on your personal finance habits and money management skills in the present, and will help you save money over the years.

The starting point of financial independence is described in George Klasson’s book, The Richest Man in Babylon, as “Pay yourself first.” He says that, “A part of all you earn is yours to keep.” If you just save 10% of your gross earnings every single paycheck over the course of your working lifetime, you will become financially independent and gain personal finance success. In fact, if you saved $100 per month from the time you started work at age 20 until the time you retired at age 65, and this $100 per month earned 10% per annum return, compounded, you would be worth more than $1,100,000 when you retired, in addition to social security pensions and everything else. Major take-away from The Richest Man in Babylon are – pay yourself first, live within your means, invest your money wisely, and prepare for the future.

— Read on www.briantracy.com/blog/financial-success/personal-finance-money-management-tips-save-money/

How much money you’d have if you invested $500 a month since 2009

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CNBC calculated how much you’d have now if your investments had grown at a 4%, 6%, or 8% rate of return over the past decade.

In order to beat inflation and ensure that your savings will work for you long term, it’s crucial to invest in the stock market, whether through an employer-sponsored 401(k) plan, a traditional or Roth IRA, an individual brokerage account or somewhere else.
— Read on www.cnbc.com/2020/01/07/how-much-money-youd-have-if-you-invested-500-dollars-a-month-since-2009.html

How To Stop Living Paycheck To Paycheck – Fidelity

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Nearly 8 out of 10 workers (78%) live paycheck to paycheck, according to a new survey from CareerBuilder.com.1 That’s up from 75% last year, and it applies even to those making 6 figures: 1 in 10 workers making $100,000 or more say they live paycheck to paycheck.

“In working with many clients over the years, I have found that most people tend to spend their entire paycheck if it is available in their bank account, regardless of whether they are at a low/middle level or are highly compensated,” says Marc Kodomatsu, a financial planner in Lake Oswego, OR.

If you’re putting away adequate savings for your goals and you have a healthy emergency fund, living paycheck to paycheck isn’t necessarily a disaster. But a quarter of Americans have no money saved for an emergency, according to Bankrate, and 20% have less than 3 months of living expenses in the bank.

“The events in Houston are a stark reminder of the perils of living paycheck to paycheck,” says Thomas Balcom, a financial planner in Lauderdale-by-the-Sea, FL. “For those folks who have flood insurance, they may not have the funds available to cover their deductible or tie them over until they return to work.”

Breaking the paycheck-to-paycheck cycle takes discipline and a plan. Here’s what top financial experts recommend as the best steps toward more financial independence:
— Read on www.fidelity.com/mymoney/how-to-stop-living-paycheck-to-paycheck

Lifestyle changes to make if you want to get rich in 2020

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If you want to build more wealth in 2020, start with these five lifestyle changes endorsed by self-made millionaires.

If your’re looking to build more wealth in 2020, money won’t simply appear — you’re probably going to have to make some changes to reach your goals.

Here are five lifestyle changes that have helped self-made millionaires get to where they are today. If they worked for them, they could also work for you.
— Read on www.cnbc.com/2020/01/03/lifestyle-changes-to-make-if-you-want-to-get-rich-in-2020.html

Deciding to retire or not | 3 preretirement phases | Fidelity

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Key takeaways

  • While financial and work-related factors are the primary reasons people continue to work, nonfinancial factors like family, health, and lifestyle ultimately cause people to pull the trigger to retire.
  • Wellbeing in retirement is not just about money, or even intellectual stimulation. It’s largely about the freedom to do what you want, when you want.
  • As you enter a stage of preretirement, consider working with an advisor to help shape strategies for Social Security, health care, and cash flow in retirement.

When will you be ready to retire? Particularly if retirement is still far away, you’re probably thinking in terms of dollars—how many you will have and how long they will last. But new research finds that for many people, the decision to retire is not just about money. It’s about life, and the freedom to enjoy it.

That’s the conclusion of an extensive survey of over 10,000 pre-retirees and recent retirees. The online survey was conducted by Fidelity Investments in collaboration with the Stanford Center on Longevity and Greenwald & Associates1 and only included respondents who believed they had some control over if and when they would stop working full-time.

While financial and work-related factors are the primary reasons people continue to work, with eligibility for Medicare and Social Security as key factors, the survey also finds that it’s often nonfinancial factors like family, health, and lifestyle that ultimately cause people to pull the trigger to retire. Among retirees, 72% chose leisure as a very or somewhat strong reason to retire, 64% pointed to stress at work, and 62% cited a desire to spend more time with grandchildren.

“We’ve seen a shift in values as people near retirement,” says Eliza Badeau, Director of Thought Leadership at Fidelity. “Many people seem to desire freedom over money. It’s less about the money and more about spending time where it matters most to them,” she adds. “Most people say they look forward to the freedom that retirement brings such as spending time with their family or doing hobbies they enjoy—ultimately trading in that job stress for leisurely interests.”

Research finds that for many people, the decision to retire is not just about money. Discover 3 preretirement phases that are influencing peoples decision to retire here.

— Read on www.fidelity.com/viewpoints/retirement/time-to-retire

3 moves for catching up on retirement savings | MassMutual

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In order to have a decent shot at maintaining your standard of living in retirement, you should have six to nine times your salary tucked away in a 401(k) or other savings accounts by your mid-50s to early 60s.

“That’s as good a general rule of thumb as any, but most people don’t come close to that, and some don’t have anything saved,” said retirement expert Mary Beth Franklin, a Certified Financial Planner® and contributing editor at InvestmentNews, in an interview.

Indeed, in a 2014 national poll conducted by Bankrate, more than a quarter of survey respondents aged 50 to 64 said they had not started saving for retirement.1

Granted, it’s never too late to start saving for retirement, but let’s not sugarcoat this. “At this stage of the game, you would need to save 40 percent of your income to reach the equivalent of what you would have had, had you started saving just 10 percent of your income in your 20s,” said Liz Weston, a columnist with NerdWallet, a personal finance site.
— Read on blog.massmutual.com/post/retirement-savings-catch-up

The Beginner’s Guide to Intermittent Fasting

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The quote below from Dr. Michael Eades, who has tried intermittent fasting himself, on the difference between trying a diet and trying intermittent fasting.

“Diets are easy in the contemplation, difficult in the execution. Intermittent fasting is just the opposite — it’s difficult in the contemplation but easy in the execution.

Most of us have contemplated going on a diet. When we find a diet that appeals to us, it seems as if it will be a breeze to do. But when we get into the nitty gritty of it, it becomes tough. For example, I stay on a low–carb diet almost all the time. But if I think about going on a low–fat diet, it looks easy. I think about bagels, whole wheat bread and jelly, mashed potatoes, corn, bananas by the dozen, etc. — all of which sound appealing. But were I to embark on such a low–fat diet I would soon tire of it and wish I could have meat and eggs. So a diet is easy in contemplation, but not so easy in the long–term execution.

Intermittent fasting is hard in the contemplation, of that there is no doubt. “You go without food for 24 hours?” people would ask, incredulously when we explained what we were doing. “I could never do that.” But once started, it’s a snap. No worries about what and where to eat for one or two out of the three meals per day. It’s a great liberation. Your food expenditures plummet. And you’re not particularly hungry. … Although it’s tough to overcome the idea of going without food, once you begin the regimen, nothing could be easier.”

— Dr. Michael Eades

— Read on jamesclear.com/the-beginners-guide-to-intermittent-fasting

30 Examples of 30-Day Challenges That Will Change Your Life | Psychology Today

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You can do anything for 30 days. And you just might find that one month is enough to inspire you to change your life permanently.

When it comes to self-improvement, two of the biggest stumbling blocks people encounter are a lack of motivation to get started and a fear that a goal will be too overwhelming.

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Photo by Acharaporn Kamornboonyarush on Pexels.com

30-day challenges is a way to help people tackle both of those issues. For 30 days. People design their own challenge.

Thirty-day challenges feel doable—you can do almost anything for 30 days. You can also use a 30-day challenge as an experiment. If it enhances your life, you’ll create momentum that motivates you to create more positive change.

— Read on www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/what-mentally-strong-people-dont-do/201811/30-examples-30-day-challenges-will-change-your-life

3 reasons investors might not be benefiting from rock-bottom fund fees – MarketWatch

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There’s more to successful investing than just watching costs

The index fund fee-cutting battle reached its seemingly inevitable conclusion more than a year ago, when Fidelity Investments launched four zero-cost index funds. You can’t get any lower than zero, right? Apparently, you can. One small fund company is now effectively paying investors to own one of its index funds.

Still, the price war among financial companies has clearly moved on, with some firms eliminating brokerage commissions in 2019 or touting the high interest rate paid by their brokerage cash account. Cutting index-fund expenses is, it seems, so last year.
— Read on www.marketwatch.com/story/3-reasons-investors-arent-benefiting-from-rock-bottom-fund-fees-2019-12-18

Don’t just drift in retirement—here are 3 ways to find meaning, purpose and have an impact – MarketWatch

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“You can’t always choose the path you walk in life, but you can always choose the manner in which you walk it.”  John O’ Leary,

The author of ‘Replace Retirement’ explains how your second half of life can be invigorated and energized.
— Read on www.marketwatch.com/story/dont-just-drift-in-retirementhere-are-3-ways-to-find-meaning-purpose-and-have-an-impact-2019-12-13