financial literacy

How to sign up for Social Security Retirement Benefits

 in Financial wellness  tagged cash flow / financial literacy / retirement planning by

Congratulations, you’ve done the work to figure out when to start claiming Social Security and realized it’s sometime in the next four months.   WHEN to claim is a separate issue from how to sign up. It depends on whether you’re claiming under your spouse’s earnings, whether you’re widowed, whether you’re likely to live past 77, whether you’re still contributing to a Health Savings Account, how much you’re earning this year, and whether you’ll starve […]

Financial Literacy for Young Adults

 in Financial wellness  tagged budgeting / college planning / financial literacy / savings by (updated 332 days ago)

{I recently had the opportunity to meet with some people in their late teens to answer their questions. This is the letter I wrote them afterward.} The thing with being an adult is that you generally have to hear the same information from a couple of different directions before it starts to gel. So the stuff I talked with you about last night is once, and this email can be a second, and then when […]

What is a Roth conversion, and why should you – or shouldn’t you – do it?

 in Financial wellness  tagged financial literacy / retirement planning / tax alpha / tax planning by

Traditional IRAs and most workplace retirement plans, like 401(k)s, for example, are tax-deferred. That sounds great when you’re adding money to them: no taxes now, deferred growth, wuhoo!  But tax-deferred is NOT tax-avoided. The tax bill always comes due. The world of IRAs is super-complex, as is the world of income-tax brackets. They come together in a perfect storm of complexity. HOWEVER, there are some easier pieces to explain. Without getting into every scenario and […]

Roth Conversion
JBQuinn

How to Make Your Money Last: The Indispensable Retirement Guide by Jane Bryant Quinn

 in Book Reviews / Financial wellness  tagged annuities / book reviews / financial literacy / financial planning / recommended / retirement planning by (updated 451 days ago)

This is a book you can write after a lifetime of forming connections, reading deeply, and gaining the wisdom to integrate it all. I cannot think of a single thing I’d change in this book if I were writing it. It combines clear writing with up-to-date accurate information. I’ve read entire books on subjects she covered in a chapter and feel like she nailed it concisely. Annuities? Life Insurance? Becoming a landlord? When to start […]

Book Review: “The Money Book for Freelancers, Part-Timers, and the Self-Employed”

 in Book Reviews / Financial wellness / Tea & Taxes  tagged book reviews / cash flow / financial literacy / Self-employed / taxes by (updated 332 days ago)

A friend mentioned that I ought to read something by Bogle so I trotted down to the library to fetch one the other day.   Our library didn’t have any in stock so I ordered it through inter-library loan, but in the meantime I picked up a few books from the same section of the library shelves. So I just finished reading “The Money Book for Freelancers, Part-Timers, and the Self-Employed: the only personal finance system for people […]

Insurance for Workers

Financial Literacy for Young Adults, with book reviews!

 in CFP / Financial wellness  tagged book reviews / budgeting / cash flow / college planning / debt / financial literacy / financial wellness / savings by (updated 332 days ago)

A client asked me if I had any financial literacy suggestions for teenagers. It kicked off a reading festival! Here are my notes. Years ago I read Suze Orman’s Young Fabulous and Broke and I was underwhelmed. She seems to think that everyone is as clueless as she was and needs to have a come-to-Jesus moment and she’ll tell you how. Most people I know just want to know some facts and they’ll integrate them into their […]