You Can’t Choose The Cards, But You Can Always Play The Hand You’re Dealt

You Can’t Choose The Cards, But You Can Always Play The Hand You’re Dealt

April 27, 2020 · by The Escape Artist · in Health & Happiness · 10 Comments

There is something missing from the debate on Covid-19.

As far as I can see, most of the news and related debate involves looking for someone to blame.

China, Dominic Cummings, Donald Trump and the World Health Organisation all make excellent pantomime villains (the choice of which to blame depends largely on your political biases).

The problem with The News is not its bias. The problem is the media pretending to be unbiased. When you control the editing and publishing, you can control what gets seen, heard and discussed.

We all have our biases. As someone who writes a blog based on the idea (partly tongue-in-cheek) that we are living in a Matrix-style Prison Camp created by big corporations, big government and the Deep State, I was struck by this tweet promoting a communist regime from a globalist bureaucracy pretending to be a health charity:

World Health Organization (WHO)✔@WHO

Preliminary investigations conducted by the Chinese authorities have found no clear evidence of human-to-human transmission of the novel #coronavirus (2019-nCoV) identified in #Wuhan, #China🇨🇳.   7:18 AM - Jan 14, 2020

The Escape Artist is not above the occasional conspiracy theory or blaming politicians. But my primary focus is always getting my own shit together rather than complaining about the rest of the world like a whiney little man-*.

There are lots of amateur epidemiologists and Covid-19 commentators on the internet. Some want to blame politicians (although fewer than journalists would like). Others (usually intellectual types) see it as a puzzle to be solved and want to read endless scientific papers for intellectual stimulation. One of my friends built his own spreadsheet infection model (!).

What’s missing from the debate is the idea of personal responsibility and what actions we can take to maximise our own health. The News has zero interest in helping you. If you die, well that’s great material for tomorrow’s story. If (like me) you are also young and good-looking, well that’s even better for clicks and ratings.

I just went on the BBC News website and there’s plenty of wallowing in death victim stories but, other than repeating the stay home mantra, no actionable advice on how not to die of Covid-19. This is odd because, as far as I can see, our chances of getting exposed at some point are very high (I’m working on the assumption I’ll get it) and yet if you’re healthy your odds of dying from it seem to be very small. Apparently, most healthy people will be asymptomatic: they won’t even know they had it.

A lot of people have died with the disease. But as far as I can see only a very small % of people have died from it. Its the co-morbidities that kill you (obesity, cancer, stroke, pneumonia, etc etc). Coronavirus is the proverbial straw that breaks the camel’s back.

The uncomfortable truth is that we were in a self-inflicted Wall-E style health crisis before the current pandemic. We suffer the diseases of abundance and sedentary lifestyles like never before.

The question should be: how much responsibility do we have for our own health? Your health should be your top priority. If you really had to choose between your health and money (you shouldn’t, they are complementary) I suggest you choose your health.

If I believe in helping my readers (I do) the question is what can we do not to die of coronavirus? As someone smart once said:

When you want to help people, you tell them the truth. When you want to help yourself, you tell them what they want to hear   Thomas Sowell

To continue reading, please go to the original article here:

https://theescapeartist.me/2020/04/27/you-cant-choose-the-cards-but-you-can-always-play-the-hand-youre-dealt/

Staying Calm When Facing Financial Uncertainty

Staying Calm When Facing Financial Uncertainty

Calming Your Nerves When Facing Your Own Financial Uncertainty

March 30, 2020

The reality is that we all need money to live. We have rent to pay, loans to pay back, and food to buy.

So when our source of income is threatened by some unforeseen circumstance, it’s easy to feel a rush of nerves. It’s a scary situation. But there are steps we can take to help us calm our nerves when faced with financial uncertainty. And by taking these steps we can start to feel confident in our finances and relieve some of our anxiety.

This is exactly what I did recently when feeling overwhelmed with all of the recent what-ifs of life. I sat down, opened my budget, ran some numbers, and laid out some contingency plans. Doing this simple exercise helped put my mind at ease. It gave me a sense of relief while also giving me the information I would need to make future financial decisions.   Knowledge is power.  If you are feeling nervous about your potential financial future, here are a few steps you can take to ease your nerves.

Create A Bare-Bones Budget

A bare-bones budget consists of only the expenses you absolutely need. All of the “fluff” you are accustomed to will be cut out. After you remove the fluff, you will end up with the amount of money that is needed for you to pay your bills and buy life’s necessities. Your bare-bones budget would include things such as:

Rent/Mortgage

Groceries including Pet Food

Household Goods

Loan Repayments

Utilities

Insurance Premiums

Car Maintenance/ Fuel/ Transportation Costs

The goal of this step is not for you to start living on this bare-bones budget. It’s purely an exercise that allows you to determine what your spending would look like if you eliminated all of your “wants”.

It’s an eye-opening exercise that can shed light on how much of your spending is wants vs. needs. And if you only do one thing to help calm your nerves in times of financial uncertainty, this is the one I would suggest. Simply going through this exercise will provide you with key information you can use to help guide future money decisions.

To continue reading, please go to the original article here:

https://www.cashfortacos.com/calming-your-nerves-when-facing-your-own-financial-uncertainty/

Finding Financial Confidence To Make Smart Money Decisions

Finding Financial Confidence To Make Smart Money Decisions

Find the Financial Confidence You Need To Make Smart Money Decisions

March 10, 2020

Making financial decisions, and feeling confident about them, is no easy task.

The decisions we make for our money can have long term effects on our financial well-being. And that can be a terrifying realization.

Decisions like: How much mortgage can I afford? Is this the best price I can get on airfare? How much should I be saving? Do I invest my savings? What do I invest in? Can I quit my job? Do I have enough money to retire?

These are all tough decisions, and it’s easy to stress out about making the “right” choice. If we aren’t a financial professional, money expert, or a travel hacking guru, we may not believe we have the expertise needed to make smart money choices. And this makes feeling confident in our financial decisions hard.

 We stress about making the right decision and afterward spend way too much energy worrying about whether or not we made the optimal choice. And sometimes our fear prevents us from making a decision at all.

It’s a struggle I face all of the time. Especially since I’ve surrounded my online self with people who, in my own head, appear to be making all of the right financial decisions.

How the heck can this Food Scientist (that's me) have the knowledge needed to make smart financial choices? There are way too many “what ifs” to consider! What if I make the wrong decision?

This limiting belief, an idea about myself that constrains me in some way, has me at times convinced that I am not capably of making smart financial decisions.

And battling this limiting belief has been a challenge.

But through the years, I’ve started to build that needed confidence. And, boy, does it feel good.

With a few strategies, I’ve been able to grow confidence in the financial decisions I’ve made while feeling and being ok when they don’t work out as planned.

If your eyes glaze over and you feel paralyzed when it comes to making financial decisions, here are a few ways to help you build the financial confidence you need to make smart money decisions.

 Strategies For Building Financial Confidence

Align Your Financial Choices With Your Future Money Goals

What exactly is a smart financial choice?

It’s a money choice that aligns with your financial and life goals. 

Therefore, simply knowing your financial goals is the first step to making smart financial decisions for yourself.

1. https://www.cashfortacos.com/the-financial-confidence-to-make-smart-money-decisions/

America Finally Found The Lost City Of Gold

America Finally Found The Lost City Of Gold

Notes From The Field By Simon Black   April 23, 2020  Bahia Beach, Puerto Rico

In the early 1530s, a Spanish conquistador named Diego de Ordaz was exploring modern-day Venezuela when he first heard rumors of a nearby City of Gold.

Ordaz thought he was about to hit the jackpot. And he wasted no time ordering expeditions of the area to find this city-- what eventually became known as El Dorado.

The mission failed, and most of Ordaz’s men died. But one survivor, a crewman named Juan Martinez, claimed that he had been captured and held prisoner for 10 years in El Dorado.

Martinez told sensational tales about the city’s golden structures adorned with precious stones, and even said that the local king bathed in gold dust every morning.

Martinez also said that the people of El Dorado were all so rich with gold that no one really had to work. They had constant festivals and would often feast for seven days straight.

Europeans were instantly hooked. And more expeditions were immediately launched.

The conquistador Gonzalo Pizarro (half brother to Francisco Pizarro) was so fanatical about El Dorado’s existence that he marched thousands of people through the jungles of South America for eighteen months looking for the city.

Pizarro came up empty-handed, and most of his men died.

And yet there were still countless expeditions launched over the next several decades in search of the lost City of Gold.

Everyone desperately wanted to believe in this fairy tale-- that there was a place overflowing with money where everyone could live for free and spend their lives feasting and drinking.

Maybe this desire is hard coded in our DNA, because there still seem to be people who believe in it.

Today’s version of El Dorado is the printing press. Politicians seem to have a fanatical belief that they can conjure paper money out of thin air and pay for everything.

For instance, #RentStrike2020 is a nationwide movement in the Land of the Free to simply cancel rent.

People want months of rent and mortgage payments to be forgiven. Poof, disappeared.

And the Bolsheviks have answered their call.

Congress is now considering the Rent and Mortgage Cancellation Act which would cancel all rent and mortgage payments for the duration of the pandemic, and possibly beyond for up to a year.

And the law would be retroactive, so they’d go back in time to March 13 to cancel rent.

The government would then set up a fund for landlords and mortgage holders “allowing them to recoup their losses, so long as they agree to abide by a set of fair renting and lending practices for a period of five years.”

Some of those conditions include not raising the rent for five years, and not denying renters based on credit history, or criminal record.

This is insane. First the government will tell landlords that the contracts they signed are void. And then, if someone wants to rent your property who has a history of not paying rent, you’re not allowed to reject them.

But as long as you bend the knee to DC, they’ll print the money to pay you.

Another bill proposes to pay $2,000 per month, for the next year, to every American over the age of 16 who makes less than $130,000 per year.

This includes high school students, and people who were previously not working.

Naturally the bill doesn’t mention costs. Why bother with such a trivial detail?

But based on the number of people who qualify, the cost could easily top $4 trillion.

That’s more than the entire federal tax revenue last year! They would literally spend every penny they collected in taxes last year just for that one program.

But no one really cares anymore. There are no rules, and both the government and central bank have decided they’ll do whatever it takes during this pandemic.

What’s really remarkable is that they seem to believe all this deficit spending and money printing will produce favorable results.

If you could simply print money to become a prosperous nation, then Zimbabwe would be the wealthiest country in the world.

But that’s not how it works. Creating more money is not the same as creating value.

Value creation is difficult. It requires talented people to work hard work and produce; it cannot be conjured out of thin air by a bureaucrat.

Right now the economy is shrinking. Millions of people have lost their jobs, which means there’s a whole lot less value being created.

Yet simultaneously they’re printing more money than ever.

You don’t have to have a PhD in economics to understand the mismatch here.

But then again, politicians aren’t exactly known for their grasp of finance.

For example-- Queen Bolshevik, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, gleefully celebrated oil’s MINUS $40 price earlier this week, and predicted that the crash would prompt people to switch over to renewable energy sources.

What is this person thinking?? Ultra-cheap oil will compel people to use MORE oil, not less. Duh.

If anything she should hope for a $150 oil price and record high profits for oil companies. Renewable energy would be MUCH cheaper at that point, and people would have a big incentive to switch.

AOC clearly has no understanding of finance or economics… which is ironic because she’s one of the biggest fanatics of the printing press myth.

No one has to work. No one has to pay their rent. They government is just going to print money and send everyone a check every month.

It took nearly 500 years, but America has finally found the lost city of El Dorado. It’s called the Federal Reserve.

And just like El Dorado, its wealth is entirely mythical.

To your freedom & prosperity, Simon Black, Founder, SovereignMan.com

https://www.sovereignman.com/trends/america-finally-found-the-lost-city-of-gold-27689/ 

The Next Giant Industry In Need Of A Bailout

The Next Giant Industry In Need Of A Bailout

Notes From The Field By Simon Black  April 20, 2020  Bahia Beach, Puerto Rico

Well this is starting to become a trend.

Over the past few weeks, state governments across the Land of the Free have been feverishly proposing new legislation that will virtually guarantee the entire insurance industry is wiped out.

The root of the issue has to do with something called business interruption insurance.

Business interruption is a pretty common type of insurance that’s designed to protect business owners against a number of risks.

For example, let’s say you own a restaurant and you have a bad kitchen fire that forces you to shut down for a month. You’d most likely have a fire insurance policy to cover the direct damage of the fire. And a lot of companies would also have a business interruption policy to help them stay afloat during that one-month period while the business is closed for repairs.

But business interruption insurance has certain exclusions. It’s just like any other policy, and the insurers are very clear about what risks they do/do not cover.

A typical homeowner’s insurance policy, for example, covers your home against risks like theft, fire, and vandalism.

But most homeowner’s policies specifically exclude flooding. So any homeowner who wants to protect their homes from the risk of flood damage can purchase a separate flood insurance policy.

Many insurance plans, including business interruption policies, also tend to exclude things like damage caused by war, government action, and “acts of God”.

But again, any business that wants to insure against those risks is free to seek additional coverage.

That’s the whole idea of insurance: customers are able to pick and choose which risks they want to insure against, and which risks they’re willing to take.

It’s fair to say that most business interruption policies don’t cover a worldwide pandemic that shuttered the entire global economy.

But there’s a growing trend now where state governments are proposing new legislation that would RETROACTIVELY force insurance companies to protect their policyholders against Covid.

This is totally nuts. The state governments are the ones that forced businesses to shut down.

Now they expect the insurance companies to pay for the consequences, even though the policies specifically state that they don’t cover this type of risk.

They might as well demand pay for every other uninsured hazard. Did your house flood and you didn’t have flood insurance? Well let’s retroactively force the insurance companies to pay for that too.

Pennsylvania, New York, Illinois, New Jersey, and several other states have proposed similar legislation, or threatened regulatory action.

(This trend is also picking up steam overseas; in the UK, for example, lawsuits are already pending against insurance companies for not paying out Covid-related claims.)

And given that just about EVERY business would qualify for this retroactive Covid coverage, there’s simply no way that the insurance industry would be able to afford such an indemnity.

Think about it-- the federal government made $350 billion worth of loans available to small businesses earlier this month, and that money was 100% used up in about 2 weeks. And they just agreed on another $300 billion this morning.

So most insurance companies would be wiped out if this legislation passes… i.e. CUE THE GOVERNMENT BAILOUT of the insurance industry.

Just like airlines, hotels, hospitals, etc., the insurance company would be standing in line to suckle on that sweet taxpayer bailout teet, probably to the tune of another half-trillion dollars.

Of course, it goes without saying that the government doesn’t have the money for any this.

We’ve explored the government balance sheet many times in the past: Uncle Sam is already in the hole by MINUS $23 trillion according to the Treasury Department’s most recent financial statements.

And, over the last few years, even when the economy was incredibly strong, the federal government still managed to lose more than a trillion dollars a year.

Now that they have a real crisis to contend with, the deficit is going to swell to an unimaginable figure.

Frankly it doesn’t matter whether or not the insurance companies end up footing the bill.

If the insurance companies are forced to pay up, the government will likely bail them out. Otherwise the government will bail out businesses directly.

Either way, it’s pretty obvious the government is going to spend an unbelievable amount of money they don’t have… which means the central bank (Federal Reserve) will keep printing more money.

That’s how the system works: whenever the government wants to bail someone out, the Federal Reserve first conjures the bailout money out of thin air, and then ‘loans’ it to the Treasury Department.

Crazy, right?

The Federal Reserve has already printed trillions of dollars since this crisis started, and that may only be the warm-up round.

The longer this lasts, the more money they’re going to print… and the more they’ll end up debasing the currency.

We are obviously living in extraordinary times, and it’s perfectly reasonable to hope for the best.

But it would be irresponsible to willfully ignore what the government and central bank are doing here.

Conjuring infinite amounts of money out of thin air could have incredibly destructive consequences on the currency.

And that’s why, as I’ve written before, it’s definitely time to consider owning some real assets.

To your freedom & prosperity, Simon Black, Founder, SovereignMan.com

https://www.sovereignman.com/trends/the-next-giant-industry-in-need-of-a-bailout-27670/ 

They'll Wreck The Currency If They Have To

They'll Wreck The Currency If They Have To

Notes From The Field By Simon Black 

April 21, 2020  Bahia Beach, Puerto Rico

Nearly seven centuries ago in the mid-1300s, the first major outbreak of the Bubonic Plague forced Europeans into some of the harshest social distancing measures in history.

As Boccacio wrote in The Decameron in 1353, the hysteria was so extreme that “brother abandoned brother. . . fathers and mothers refused to see and tend their children, as if they had not been theirs.”

When people sensed the worst was over, they slowly came out of their homes.

There was no grand re-opening of the economy like some department store suddenly under new management. People remained highly mistrustful of one another, continuing to avoid even the most basic interactions with friends, family, and professional colleagues.

Commerce was slow and the economy remained depressed for years.

And just when it seemed that the situation was finally starting to improve, the plague struck again in 1360. And again in 1374.

Medieval Europeans quickly realized that if there was just a single rat left on the planet carrying the disease, then another wave of the pandemic could begin anew.

And that made it next to impossible for anything to return to normal.

Only a handful of industries flourished after the plague. People still needed to eat, so agriculture did well.

And as more people remained in relative isolation, science began to advance at a pace never seen in western Europe.

But most industries suffered immeasurably.

Commercial trade dwindled. Italy’s woolen textile industry practically ceased to exist. Many prominent banks in Europe collapsed. And there were even government debt defaults.

Today our circumstances are obviously different. The world has some of its brightest minds working to eradicate this pandemic, and they have a pretty great track record.

And while there are certainly a lot of challenges to deal with, we’re still able to produce certain goods and services, ship them across the globe, and order online for home delivery.

But there are some similarities that are difficult to ignore.

Right now most people are barricaded in their homes while policymakers wait for this virus to die off.

But that’s not how biology works.

Just like in the 1300s, if there’s even a single carrier of the coronavirus remaining, then the whole thing starts over.

That person transmits the virus to 2-3 people, those people transmit the virus to 2-3 other people, and the exponential growth curve begins again.

Lockdowns don’t kill off the virus. They just reset the clock.

I’ve been writing about this for a while: what happens if there’s a second wave of outbreaks? Do we all go on lockdown for another two months and send the economy into another tailspin?

Even when they do lift the lockdowns, countless industries will be hideously disfigured; do we really expect crowded bars, airplanes, sports stadiums, and shopping malls to return to normal?

Even something as basic as office space could take an enormous hit.

I wrote last week that big businesses could be downsizing-- permanently reducing their work forces and cutting back on office space. Even Disney acknowledged that they will reduce office space.

It’s hard to imagine that trend won’t have a major impact on the entire commercial real estate industry, from agents to construction companies to property owners, to the banks who own the mortgages.

Retail stores have been totally vanquished, and the bankruptcies are piling up; this could impact millions of workers in the retail sector and trigger a wave of defaults against the banks who loaned money to retail giants.

And you probably saw yesterday that the price of WTI crude oil crashed BELOW $0.

We’ll talk about that more in another letter... but it’s fair to say that low oil prices will force a lot of oil companies out of business.

And that will impact workers in the sector who stand to become unemployed… and, yes, the banks who loaned money to oil companies.

[According to a recent report from investment firm KBW, some banks, like Oklahoma-based BOK Financial, have more than 100% of bank equity tied up in loans to oil companies!]

I’ve been writing about this theme since the pandemic started: there will be some banks that don’t make it. They simply won’t be able to withstand the loan losses.

And it’s not just the energy sector.

Banks with loans to retail companies could take a hit. Banks with commercial real estate loans could take a hit.

And banks’ consumer loan portfolios will undoubtedly take a hit as millions of newly unemployed people stop paying their bills.

There will likely even be sovereign debt defaults, and banks will take a huge hit from those.

There’s more than $250 TRILLION worth of debt worldwide, much of it owned by banks. If even 1% of that debt goes to zero, a number of banks won’t survive.

And if you think that bank failures aren’t possible, please remember that oil prices hit MINUS $40 yesterday. Nobody thought that was possible. And yet it happened.

EVERY scenario is possible.

And this leads me to a very central idea:

I don’t know if the stock market is going to rise or fall. I don’t know what’s going to happen to oil prices.

But I have a strong suspicion that the government and central bank are going to keep working together, printing incomprehensible sums of money to bail everyone out-- especially banks.

This ‘whatever it takes’ monetary policy could come at an extremely steep price.

The last thing politicians care about right now is the value of the currency. And history tells us that inflation is almost always the preferred tool of a government in crisis.

If they have to conjure $10 trillion out of thin air to bail out the economy, they’ll do it… even if it wrecks the currency.

This is an enormous implication worth preparing for today.

To your freedom & prosperity, Simon Black, Founder, SovereignMan.com

https://www.sovereignman.com/trends/theyll-wreck-the-currency-if-they-have-to-27685/

How to Protect Yourself From Credit Card Theft

How to Protect Yourself From Credit Card Theft

By Emily Guy Birken   February 2020

Last fall, I received an email that appeared to be from my web host. The email claimed that there was a problem with my payment information and asked me to update it. I clicked on the link in the email and entered my credit card number, thinking that a recent change I'd made to my site must have caused a problem.

The next morning, I logged onto my credit card account to find two large unauthorized purchases. A scammer had successfully phished my payment information from me.

This failure of security is pretty embarrassing for a personal finance writer. I know better than to click through an email link claiming to be from my bank, credit card lender, or other financial institution. But because the email came from a source that wasn't specifically financial (and because I was thinking about the changes I had made to my website just the day before), I let myself get played.

Thankfully, because I check my credit card balance daily, the scammers didn't get away with it. However, it's better to be proactive about avoiding credit card theft so you're not stuck with the cleanup, which took me several months to complete.

Here's how you can protect yourself from credit card theft.

Protecting your physical credit card

Stealing your physical credit or debit card is in some respects the easiest way for a scammer to get their hands on your sweet, sweet money. With the actual card in hand, a scammer has all the information they need to make fraudulent purchases: the credit card number, expiration date, and the security code on the back.

That means keeping your physical cards safe is one of the best ways to protect yourself from credit card theft. Don't carry more cards than you intend to use. Having every card you own in a bulging wallet makes it more likely someone could steal one when you're not paying attention and you may not realize it's gone if you have multiple cards.

Another common place where you might be separated from your card is at a restaurant. After you've paid your bill, it can be easy to forget if you've put away your card (especially if you've been enjoying adult beverages). So make it a habit to confirm that you have your card before you leave a restaurant.

If you do find yourself missing a credit or debit card, make sure you call your bank immediately to report it lost or stolen. The faster you move to lock down the card, the less likely the scammers will be able to make fraudulent charges. Make sure you have your bank's phone number written down somewhere so you're able to contact them quickly if your card is stolen or lost.

To continue reading, please go to the original article here:

https://www.wisebread.com/how-to-protect-yourself-from-credit-card-theft

Improve Your Finances Now

Improve Your Finances Now

16 Small Steps You Can Take Now to Improve Your Finances

By Alicia Rose Hudnett   January 2019

You have all kinds of financial goals you want to achieve, but where should you begin? There are so many different aspects of money management that it can be difficult to find a starting point when trying to achieve financial success. If you're feeling lost and overwhelmed, take a deep breath.

Progress can be made in tiny, manageable steps. Here's are 16 small things you can do right now to improve your overall financial health. (See also: These 13 Numbers Are Crucial to Understanding Your Finances)

1. Create a household budget

The biggest step toward effective money management is making a household budget. You first need to figure out exactly how much money comes in each month.

Once you have that number, organize your budget in order of financial priorities: essential living expenses, contributions to retirement savings, repaying debt, and any entertainment or lifestyle costs. Having a clear picture of exactly how much is coming in and going out every month is key to reaching your financial goals.

2. Calculate your net worth

Simply put, your net worth is the total of your assets minus your debts and liabilities. You're left with a positive or negative number. If the number is positive, you're on the up and up. If the number is negative — which is especially common for young people just starting out — you'll need to keep chipping away at debt.

Remember that certain assets, like your home, count on both sides of the ledger. While you may have mortgage debt, it is secured by the resale value of your home. (See also: 10 Ways to Increase Your Net Worth This Year)

3. Review your credit reports

Your credit history determines your creditworthiness, including the interest rates you pay on loans and credit cards. It can also affect your employment opportunities and living options. Every 12 months, you can check your credit report from each of the three major credit bureaus (Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax) for free at annualcreditreport.com. It may also be a good idea to request one report from one bureau every four months, so you can keep an eye on your credit throughout the year without paying for it.

Regularly checking your credit report will help you stay on top of every account in your name and can alert you to fraudulent activity.

4. Check your credit score

To continue reading, please go to the original article here:

https://www.wisebread.com/16-small-steps-you-can-take-now-to-improve-your-finances

What to Do With a Windfall

What to Do With a Windfall

By Emily Guy Birken  January 2020

 Theoretically, a sudden windfall should reduce your financial worries. Who doesn't appreciate getting suddenly richer?

However, making good decisions with a large infusion of cash can feel overwhelming, especially if your windfall comes about because of something negative. For instance, when I received a life insurance payout after my father passed away in 2013, the money was both emotionally charged and stress-inducing, and I was terrified of making a misstep.

If you've received a windfall, taking your time and making intentional decisions about the money will serve you better in the long run. Here's how you can do that.

Take a break before making any decisions

No matter how you received your newfound wealth, you're likely to have a number of strong emotions associated with the event. And we all know that emotions and rational decisions can struggle to coexist. That's why it's a good idea to take a little time before you make any decisions whatsoever with your new money.

If the money came to you because of a negative situation, such as a death in the family, the end of a lawsuit, or the sale of a beloved business, your emotions will inevitably color your view of the money.

I personally found that I wanted Dad's insurance money to no longer be in my hands, because having it was a reminder of my loss.

Even if you have positive associations with the money (after a lucky weekend in Vegas or a surprise profit-sharing bonus from work), those fuzzy feelings may prompt you to make risky decisions to keep the good vibes coming. Letting some time pass between receiving your windfall and deciding what to do with it can help you view the money more dispassionately so you can make the best possible decisions with it.

So how long should you pause before deciding what to do? Depending on the size of the windfall, you might want to wait as long as six months (or longer) before making any decisions. This will give you time to process your emotions so that you're psychologically ready to make these big choices. (See also: Don't Make These 6 Dumb Mistakes With Your Financial Windfall)

To continue reading, please go to the original article here:

https://www.wisebread.com/what-to-do-with-a-windfall?ref=relatedbox

The 6 Best Ways to Invest Just $100 Per Month

 The 6 Best Ways to Invest Just $100 Per Month

By Holly Johnson  February 2020

 The new year is the perfect time to ditch poor financial habits and pick up some new ones. Maybe you decided that this is the year you'll finally pay off high interest credit card debt, or perhaps you're using a budget for the first time in your life. Whatever your goals are, you probably know that it will take time and perseverance to get there.

But how should you invest your money? If you have an extra $100 per month to spare, there's more than one way to build wealth and finally get ahead.

We reached out to financial advisors to find out how they would invest an extra $100 per month in the new year, and here's what they said.

1. Bump up your 401(k) contributions

Colorado financial planner Mitchell Bloom of Bloom Wealth says your workplace 401(k) is a good place to start if your employer offers one, and particularly if you can qualify for an employer match. After all, an employer match you can qualify for is the closest thing to "free money" you'll ever receive at work, so you might as well take advantage.

You can strive to boost the percentage of your 401(k) contributions in order to funnel approximately $100 more into your account each month, but you may also be able to set aside a flat $100 in funds monthly if your workplace plan allows.

Either way, money in a 401(k) plan can grow tax-free and compound over time, and you won't have to pay taxes on distributions until you reach retirement age.

Also note that if you don't have a workplace retirement plan, all isn't lost.

Instead, you may want to "consider using a low-cost advisory firm like Betterment, where they will build a fully diversified globally allocated portfolio model with fractional shares so you can achieve diversification with a small investment amount," says Bloom.

2. Save $100 per month in a Roth IRA

To continue reading, please go to the original article here:

https://www.wisebread.com/the-6-best-ways-to-invest-just-100-per-month-this-year

Thank Uncle Sam

Thank Uncle Sam

Peter Mallouk  |  April 20, 2020

TO STAVE OFF the financial impact of COVID-19, the government has unleashed an unprecedented array of stimulus programs, tax law changes and other incentives to encourage economic activity. Result: There’s a slew of financial planning opportunities that can benefit almost all of us. Here are nine of them:

1. Refinance your debts. With the Federal Reserve’s recent rate cut, interest rates are now at their lowest level since 2008. These lower rates will take time to filter through the lending system, but they’ll eventually manifest themselves as lower rates on mortgages, car loans and even credit cards.

Now is a great time to consider refinancing existing loans, especially your mortgage. Indeed, if you have enough equity in your home, you might consolidate some of your higher-cost debt with a cash-out refinancing, using proceeds from your mortgage to pay off, say, your credit card balances.

2. Fund retirement accounts early. If you’re still working, consider accelerating contributions to your IRA, as well as to your 401(k) or similar employer-sponsored retirement plan. By completing your annual contribution earlier in the year, you’ll enjoy a longer period of tax-favored growth, plus your contributions will buy stocks at prices that are well off their previous highs.

One caveat: If your 401(k) investments earn an employer match, confirm with your human resources department that changing the timing of your contributions won’t impact the match.

3. Check on your stimulus. The government is in the process of rolling out direct payments to taxpayers, with the amount received varying by income, marital status and number of dependents.

Unsure if you’ll receive a payment? This link   https://www.kiplinger.com/tool/taxes/T023-S001-stimulus-check-calculator-2020/index.php   can show you how much your payment might be. Want to get your payment faster with direct deposit or, alternatively, check on your payment’s status? Go here.  https://www.irs.gov/coronavirus/economic-impact-payments

To continue reading, please go to the original article here:

https://humbledollar.com/2020/04/thanks-uncle-sam/