When it comes to money, age won’t make someone wiser or give them confidence if there is no real-world experience backing it up; even having a career won’t. For women, the situation is particularly dire. According to the Global Financial Literacy Excellence Center’s Working Women’s Financial Capability Study, working women lag men in basic financial literacy (31% vs. 52%); the gap is more pronounced in advanced financial knowledge (12% vs. 24%). As a mother to sons, I may be all wet on Read on...
Attention, Shoppers!
It’s a great paradox of life that people will clip coupons, or drive out of their way to save $5 at a sale and yet, when it comes to their personal finances, they ignore the chance to save thousands of dollars. This opportunity is real: it is the employer-sponsored retirement plan. Participating in – or increasing contributions to – a 401(k), 403(b), 457(b), Simple IRA, SARSEP, or a Single K reduces taxable income. To quantify the value of this on a federal and state tax level let’s look at Read on...
Destination Unknown?
Imagine you’re about to set out on a road trip. You would absolutely need to have an idea of where you wanted to go – north, south, east, or west. You would have to work within the confines of how much time you had for this trip – that would determine how far you could go. Your financial goals are no different than that road trip; failing to plan means planning to fail. Even if you haven’t given retirement much thought, in terms of what it looks like and feels like, chances are Read on...
A Plan to Overcome Panic Paralysis
The first time I discovered the power of panic paralysis, my husband and I were on the verge of moving out of a one-bedroom apartment and buying our first home. We had been aggressively saving to buy our freedom from our landlord. I liked stock-pile mode: we controlled it; and it was relatively simple – we put aside as much money as we could and we were able to go at our own pace. We were building something, together. But the prospects of turning all that money over made me feel beholden Read on...