Money Lessons From a Truly Terrible Year

Money Lessons From a Truly Terrible Year

By Charlotte Cowles

What are we supposed to learn from this hellish year financially? It beats me, to be honest. To suggest that there are money lessons from 2020 implies that its events were logical or within our control, disasters we could have budgeted for. Personally, I want to throttle anyone who says the pandemic should teach people to save more in case of emergencies. Of course, it’s always helpful to have savings! But that’s maddening advice for the millions of people who didn’t and won’t be able to for a long time — and for the plenty of people who did and still ran out of money anyway.

One thing is for sure: This past year changed everyone’s outlook on their finances and their security in general. And that must have taught us something. To get a better sense of what we may glean from it, I spoke to several financial experts about what they learned in 2020 — for better or worse — and what they hope to carry forward in the future. Here’s the advice they gave.

1. Understand where your money is.

“I discovered this year that many people don’t know their numbers,” says Tiffany Aliche, author of The One Week Budget. “A lot of my friends weren’t sure whether they had private or government student loans or what the interest rate was. They didn’t know how much money was on their credit card or what that interest rate was, either. When everything is fine, that may not seem like a big deal, but when you lose your job, those details really matter.”

For me, doing a detailed inventory of my money (and my debt) was a huge part of keeping my sanity this year, especially during scary patches. Right before the pandemic hit, I paid a small fortune in vet bills trying (unsuccessfully) to keep my beloved cat alive. As a result, I decimated my savings just in time for the economy to implode.

That same month, I lost a work contract that had supplied a reliable stream of income. Then the world locked down for the foreseeable future, and I was ready to panic. So I did what I normally do to calm myself down: I drank too much wine and then (the next morning) wrote everything down. I made a spreadsheet of my expected income, my bills, and what I could pay when. Doing the math helped me realize I wasn’t quite as broke as I felt as long as I kept track of everything and stuck to the plan.

2. Figure out where to get help.

Anyone who says they got through this year under their own steam is probably lying or in denial. We all had to lean on someone — a family member who provided free child care, a landlord who offered a break on rent, a friend who gave useful financial advice. Asking for help is a humbling experience, but it also forces us to kick the tires on our support networks.

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

https://www.thecut.com/2020/12/money-lessons-from-a-truly-terrible-year.html

Left Penniless

Left Penniless

Isaac Cathey  Humble Dollar   December 31, 2020

AS A PARENT, it’s my responsibility to teach my children good financial habits. Core among these are deferring gratification, saving diligently, giving generously and making sensible spending choices. I feel it’s also important to make my children aware of financial pitfalls. Succeeding financially—and in life generally—seems to be as much about avoiding self-destructive habits as it is about cultivating good ones.  My wife and I have been homeschooling our children for the last couple of years. Our attempt at home education has been a smashing success, thanks almost entirely to my wife. While she handles the bulk of the teaching, I do occasionally step in to teach certain concepts. Recently, I was tasked with helping my five-year-old daughter understand probability.

Seeing an opportunity to turn a dry academic exercise into a valuable life lesson, I designed a game for the two of us to play. In the game, I offered my daughter the opportunity to take money from her piggybank and quickly turn it into more money. To play the game, we needed 50 cents in pennies and a die (or dice for those who aren’t sticklers for proper English usage).

The rules were simple:

To throw the die, you must pay one cent to the dealer (me).

Before throwing the die, you must guess how it will land (one through six).

If you’re wrong, there are no consequences beyond losing the initial penny paid.

If you’re right, you get five cents.

At first, my daughter was doubtful that this game would be any fun. I started her with 30 cents from her piggybank. After her first couple of throws, she’d lost a couple of cents. But before long, she guessed correctly and was rewarded accordingly. My reaction to her losses was muted—basically a subdued shrug.  I struck a sympathetic tone and reassured her that the losses were but a temporary and inconsequential setback. Meanwhile, when she won, my reaction was boisterous and jubilant.

This commotion attracted the attention of her younger siblings, who gathered around her to observe the spectacle and take part in the celebration. When her balance temporarily hit 50 cents, I pointed out that today must be her lucky day. When I asked if she wanted to stop playing, claim her winnings and go do something else, she enthusiastically responded that she wanted to keep having fun making money.

Within a few minutes, her luck predictably turned and (to borrow a phrase from John Bogle) the relentless rules of humble arithmetic took over. As her balance fell below her original 30 cents, she set the goal of breaking even so she could walk away. Ultimately, this attempt failed within minutes and she was left penniless (pun intended).

Interestingly, she asked me if she could take more money from her piggybank to try to make back her losses, but I decided it would be best to end the game and move on to the teachable moment. Here’s a summary of the lessons learned:

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

https://humbledollar.com/2020/12/left-penniless/

Top 12 Financial New Year’s Resolutions for 2021

Top 12 Financial New Year’s Resolutions for 2021

By Physicians On FIRE

Happy New Year! Yes, 2020 is over. The no good very bad year that was 2020 is no longer. Thank goodness.

Have you made your New Year’s Resolutions for 2021 yet? Mine include a dry January, avoiding COVID between now and when it’s my turn for the vaccine, and beginning to slow travel once again.  I’d like to give you some achievable financial New Year’s Resolutions to ring in the New Year. Each of these dozen items will help you improve your financial situation, and most of them are something you can accomplish, check off the list, and move on to the next one.

Top 12 Financial New Year’s Resolutions for 2021

 #1. Calculate Your Net Worth

 This is a great place to start. If you want to set financial goals for yourself, it helps to know where you’re at, first.  It’s not a complicated equation. You add up your assets, subtract your liabilities, and the result is your net worth.  People get hung up on what should and shouldn’t be included. Vehicles? Jewelry? Art? Football cards? You can get as specific as you want, but if it’s a depreciating asset and/or its value is < 1% of your net worth, I wouldn’t bother counting it.

I’ve got supposedly “valuable” football and baseball cards and other junk. Any jewelry my wife owns has more sentimental than monetary value, and that monetary value is a drop in the bucket compared to our invested assets. Our vehicles might be worth $50,000 combined, but they cost money to operate and will depreciate as we use them. I don’t count any of it when I calculate our net worth.

I do count the value of all our investment accounts and properties owned.

We’re debt-free, but if you’ve got mortgage debt, student loan debt, credit card debt, or any other debt, those go in the liabilities column.

I don’t have a pension coming, but I should receive Social Security eventually. I don’t include this in my calculation, but if you’re near retirement and your pension or Social Security appears to be a sure thing, you can find a calculator to estimate the value of that benefit as a lump sum in today’s dollars if you so choose.

I do count the value of my home and any money set aside for college (529 Plans) in my net worth, but not in my retirement assets. If you’re married with combined finances, you should be looking at your net worth as a family, as we do.

The fine details aren’t all that important. Just figure out where you stand today and monitor that number at least annually to ensure you’re headed in the right direction.

Passive Income MD asked, “Should You Track Your Net Worth?” My answer is yes.

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

https://www.physicianonfire.com/financial-new-years-resolutions/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+physicianonfire%2FgRbz+%28Physician+On+FIRE%29

Start Where You Are

Start Where You Are

by J.D. ROTH  1 January 2021 – Get Rich Slowly                 

How to Start Where You Are

Start where you are quote by Arthur AsheClearly, this is easier said than done. It's one thing for me to sit at my desk and type out pithy advice; it's another to actually deal with the situation day-to-day in real life.  But here's the thing: In order to get where I am, I had to start where I was. In order for other Get Rich Slowly readers to get where they are today, they had to start where they were.

When I say “start where you are”, I mean that you should accept that who you are and what you have today is, essentially, your starting hand. Don't beat yourself up for past mistakes. Don't blame others for getting you into this situation. These are the cards you've been dealt (even if you've dealt them to yourself), and it's now up to you to play them as best you can.

How do you do this?

First and foremost, take care of yourself. Pause. Breathe. Prioritize your physical and mental health, even if that means spending a bit of time and money. Exercise. Eat right. If you need the help of a therapist, see a therapist. Money spent on self-care is never wasted.

Next, take stock of your situation. Figure out exactly where you are starting from. Set aside a Saturday morning to perform a “financial inventory”. Ideally, you'd take the time to begin tracking your money with a program like Quicken or YNAB or Personal Capital. At the very least, calculate your net worth and list all of your debts, bills, assets, and income. You need a snapshot of your current financial situation so you know what you're working with.

Figure out where you want to go. It's great to decide that you want to change, that you want to improve your financial life, for instance. But you'll have greater success if your reason for change is specific, not nebulous. Craft a personal mission statement, and maybe use this to set up a series of smart goals to act as waypoints along the road to your destination.

If needed, restructure your life. We all suffer from “financial drift”. We become complacent and lose sight of our larger goals from time to time. When you press the reset button, when you start your financial journey, it's the perfect time to make changes, large and small. Analyze all of your spending. Cut the crap you do not need. Consider changing jobs. Ask yourself if it might make sense to move to a cheaper home — or to a cheaper city or state.

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

https://www.getrichslowly.org/start-where-you-are/

Advice for Giving Advice

Advice for Giving Advice

January 3, 2021 by Michael Batnick

What do you say when somebody asks you what they should do with their portfolio?

Here’s what you say, “Sorry, I can’t help you.”

I know that sounds oddly robotic, especially if you work in the financial services industry.

In general, people who don’t work in finance expect those who do to have an opinion on Apple, Tesla, Bitcoin, or whatever they’re asking about. So they’ll probably look at you like you have two heads if you come to them with that response. A way to soften this is to joke, “If I could see the future then I’d be happy to tell you what to do, but I cannot, so I will not.”

What’s the big deal, you might be wondering? Why not just answer somebody’s honest question? Nothing good can come from giving casual investing advice. Nothing. Especially when it comes to the future direction of an individual security. They won’t remember what you said. They’ll only remember what happens.

 There are 4 possible scenarios to the question, “Should I buy x?”

You say buy, and it goes down. You were wrong, and they’ll never forget.

You say buy, and it goes up. You were right, but they’ll forget.

You say don’t buy, and it goes down. You were right, but they’ll forget.

You say don’t buy, and it goes up. You were wrong, and they’ll never forget.

In the words of Adrian Balboa, “You can’t win!”

I recently found myself in the fourth scenario. On November 17th, with Bitcoin at $17,500, my brother-in-law texted me the following: “Hey. What do you think about buying 1 share of bitcoin?” He knows my shtick. We’ve had these discussions before. He knows that I avoid these questions at all costs. But I had to give him something. I couldn’t just not respond. Here’s what I wrote:

“I would have felt better about saying “sure, why not?” a month ago. But it’s up 40% in the last month alone, so I wouldn’t feel great about saying “yes, now is a good time to buy.” That said, no guarantees you’ll get a chance to buy it lower.”

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

https://theirrelevantinvestor.com/2021/01/03/advice-for-giving-advice/

What Should I Do With a $50k Inheritance?

What Should I Do With a $50k Inheritance?

Mark Henricks   Wed, December 30, 2020

It’s not uncommon for people to receive sizable inheritances, but it’s less common for them to make the most financially advantageous decisions about what to do with their newly acquired assets. If you inherit a significant amount, such as $50,000, a strategy for wisely handling a windfall is likely to include making a long-term plan that considers your age and goals, starts with a well-stocked emergency fund and employs tax-advantaged investments if available. Consulting with a financial advisor is a great way to develop a realistic long-term plan and lay out some strategies for reaching your goals.

Over an eight-year period, one in five American households, including older workers, got an inheritance averaging $67,000, according to a 2006 research report. But most spend the money in a few years and have little left to show. A decade after getting an inheritance, the typical heir still has just a third of the windfall, according to a Swedish study from 2016. Here’s how to make an inheritance last.

Inheritance Strategies

The first thing to do after receiving a sizable inheritance is to place the funds in a secure account, such as a bank savings account or money market fund, while you take stock.

Whether you do it on your own or with professional assistance, create a sensible plan for handling the inheritance. Start with your current circumstances. Consider your age, income, assets and debt. Factors like your personal risk profile, future obligations such as children’s college and personal goals such as business ownership come into play.

Note that inheritances are not considered income by the IRS, so you won’t have to pay taxes on the money you inherit. However, any interest or capital gains on investments you make with the funds could be subject to taxes.

Before making any long-term investments, creating a rainy-day fund is likely to be a priority. Loading a secure, easily accessed account with three to six months of basic expenses can provide peace of mind while avoiding the need to borrow or tap illiquid funds in the event of an emergency.

Reducing high-rate debt could be next. Paying off revolving credit card balances will save more on interest than most investments can ever return. Getting into the habit of settling credit card accounts in full every month will prevent taking on more high-cost debt in the future.

Specific Options

After these priorities, much of the inheritance will be invested to build wealth long term.

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

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/50k-inheritance-161412124.html     

An Incredible Year For Gold

An Incredible Year For Gold

Notes From The Field By Simon Black, Sovereign Man

 December 30, 2020  Sovereign Valley Farm, Chile

Gold has been one of the world's best performing asset classes over the past few years, and it has shined this year in particular. But while the financial gains have been impressive, I've long argued that the real reason to own gold goes far beyond making money.  As I've written before, I personally don't have much interest in trading paper money for gold, only to trade the gold for more paper money in the future.

To me, gold is like an insurance policy. You can buy insurance to protect your home, your car, and your family. You can buy 'put options' to protect your stock portfolio against major declines. You can buy credit default swaps to protect your bond portfolio against bankrupt governments.

But these are all known risks... things that we know -might- happen. We know that stocks might decline, or a house might catch fire.

But gold is like an insurance policy that covers all the true unknowns... things that we never see coming. And there were certainly a lot of those this year.

Below is an article that I wrote in early January of this year-- before Covid, riots, and the rest of the fiasco of 2020 took hold.

As I wrote:

"I know this is the time of year where people make all sorts of predictions about what’s going to happen in the year ahead.

Frankly I don’t think anyone can credibly say that they have any idea what’s going to happen in the world in 2020. And that’s why I own gold."

This statement remains absolutely true. Here is the full article:

The price of gold is up nearly $100 since Christmas, reaching around $1,575 per troy ounce as I write this letter.

This most recent price bump is due to the panic over Iran. But the gold price is up nearly 20% over the last year, so there have obviously been plenty of other factors driving the price higher before the Middle East started flaring up again.

And there will be plenty more after these tensions cool down.

Trade wars, economic crisis in China, Bolshevik nonsense in the US, Brexit woes… the world is definitely not lacking in major issues that could continue to drive gold prices higher.

Throughout history there have always been periods of relative calm and stability, followed by periods of chaos and uncertainty.

The 1960s were incredibly chaotic, for example. Riots, assassinations, war, etc. were the dominant stories of the time.

By comparison, the 1990s were relatively calm. Peace and prosperity reigned. And life was so easy that the biggest problem of the decade was Bill Clinton’s love stain.

We seem to be sliding head-first into another period of turmoil (though I would argue that we’ve been there for a few years).

Stability is gone. Trade wars, shooting wars, terror attacks… pretty much everything is back on the table now.

Bolshevik politicians are taking hold all over the world, even in places like the United States, where, only a few years ago, it would have been considered preposterous for a socialist candidate to run for President.

Now there’s more than a dozen.

Most of all, the Social Contract is breaking down; people everywhere are becoming angry and unglued. We’ve seen it in the streets in places like Hong Kong, Spain, Chile, Lebanon, France, etc. And we see it every single day in social media.

People are demanding change and revolution in everything from our basic system of economics, down to the very words we can and cannot use.

This is all part of a level of conflict and turmoil we haven’t seen in decades, and it’s possible we’re just in the early stages.

I somehow doubt that all of these woke social justice warriors will suddenly capitulate their war on gender pronouns, or that Bolshevik presidential candidates will abandon their Marxist ideology and embrace the free market.

Now, don’t get me wrong… I’m not suggesting this is the winter of our discontent. I’m incredibly optimistic about the world and it’s opportunities.

But I sure am glad that I own some gold.

It’s not the fact that the gold price is up $100 in a month, or that precious metals have performed very well as an asset class. (Silver is up 21% in the last six months alone.)

The investment benefits are a nice bonus. But the real value of gold is that it’s one of the best things to own in times of turmoil and uncertainty.

Gold is a global asset with a 5,000+ year history of value and marketability. It’s a hedge… an asset you can rely on when you can rely on little else.

In many respects it’s like a life insurance policy… with the added cherry-on-top that you don’t have to be dead to benefit from it. And your gold dealer is probably not going to give you prostate exam first.

I know this is the time of year where people make all sorts of predictions about what’s going to happen in the year ahead.

Frankly I don’t think anyone can credibly say that they have any idea what’s going to happen in the world in 2020. And that’s why I own gold.

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

https://www.sovereignman.com/articles/

10 Survival Tips for Lottery Winners

10 Survival Tips for Lottery Winners

No wonder some lottery players are dreaming big. Behemouth jackpots are being awarded, including prizes over $300 million each in the multi-state Mega Millions and Powerball lotteries. With payouts like these, winning the money is only half the game. Winners need to have — or quickly assemble — a strategy for staying sane, anonymous and in the black for the rest of their lives. Keep reading to learn what every new millionaire lottery winner should know. It’s not the usual blah, blah, blah.

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1. Stay anonymous

Recently, a lottery winner in Jamaica collected his $95 million dressed in a Darth Vader costume. The name he used: “W. Brown.” The disguise was an effort to hide his identity and also to deter theft, says Fox News. He had the right idea. When you win big, the impulse is to shout your good fortune from the rooftops. But hold back; stay anonymous, advises State Farm Insurance. Some lotteries require winners to participate in a press conference and give interviews. But, if possible, keep your big news to yourself.

Otherwise, you’re inviting a deluge of appeals for donations, as well as scammers and other predators looking to take advantage of your new wealth.

2. Find a financial adviser and an attorney

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

https://www.newsbreak.com/news/2135056510583/10-survival-tips-for-lottery-winners

5 Factors Are What Actually Matters When It Comes to Your Credit

5 Factors Are What Actually Matters When It Comes to Your Credit

by Robin Hartill, CFP® Senior Editor  Updated December 20, 2020

Five factors determine your credit score: pay history for loans and lines of credit; credit utilization; credit history length; credit mix; new credit and hard inquiries. Tina Russell/The Penny Hoarder

It’s impossible to overstate the impact your credit score has on your life. It determines everything from whether you can buy a home or rent an apartment to your credit card interest rates and how much you’ll pay for insurance.

Your credit score is basically just a three-digit number that measures how likely you are to repay your debt. Credit scores range from 300 to 850 and are based on information the three major credit bureaus — Equifax, Experian and TransUnion — have on file for you.

For simplicity’s sake, we’re going to talk about your credit score in the singular, but you actually have three credit scores — one from each of the credit bureaus.

A high score tells lenders that you’ve managed your debt well in the past, while a low credit score indicates that you have a poor history (or not much history) of managing credit.

If you want to build good credit, you need to understand the five credit factors that are used to calculate your score.

The 5 Credit Factors That Matter (and 5 Things That Don’t)

FICO, the data analytics company that calculates most credit scores, has always been hush-hush about the exact formula it uses. But it does tell us that the following five credit factors determine your score:

Payment history for loans and lines of credit: 35%

Credit utilization (i.e., how much of your total available credit you’re using): 30%

Length of credit history: 15%

Credit mix: 10%

New credit and hard inquiries: 10%

VantageScore, a newer credit scoring system, considers similar factors in calculating your score but weights them differently.

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

https://www.thepennyhoarder.com/credit-scores/credit-factors/?aff_id=319&aff_sub2=pandemic-mistakes

3 Financial Mistakes I Made

3 Financial Mistakes I Made

By MONKWEALTH

Personal Finance mistakes are not just consequences of insufficient knowledge or experience, they’re also part of human nature. We continuously miss out on opportunities or remain ignorant to factors that may improve our financial situation, but also overspend led by emotions, compulsions, or subscriptions.

This post is about the missed opportunities and potential gains due to lack of knowledge or inexperience. Many people, especially those who are not on a path to FIRE, will find themselves doing these mistakes and not being aware of it, as some of them are not intuitive or obvious right away. However, acknowledging their existence can set you years ahead, not only on your FIRE journey, but also in life. So, let’s start!

Mistake 1) Hoarding cash

This may come unexpectedly to many, especially to those who know that I’m a big advocate of reducing expenses, aggressive saving, and frugal living. And it’s true, I can confidently say that those three should be high on everyone’s priority list, regardless of lifestyle or FIRE aspirations.

However, the thing I’m trying to convey comes after reducing expenses and saving. It’s about what we do with those savings. Not doing anything, AKA hoarding, is a trap in which many disciplined and smart, but financially illiterate people fall into without realizing. And in the capitalist society you can safely interpret that as “not reaching your potential”.

You should feel the urgency to put your money to work! In most cases, not having any risk exposure is detrimental. The only exceptions are with people preparing for a biggish purchase (i.e. a house) or people older than 50 that can save enough to buy themselves a few years of early retirement before the traditional one comes.

Increasing the number on your bank account will only leave you with a pile of cash that won’t improve your life much more than a 2 year emergency fund would. Think about it! You save a portion of your salary each month and you’re really getting into it. A few years later, you end up with a non-negligible amount being slowly eroded by inflation, year by year, not earning you a cent. Even worse, at the same time it’s too small to make any significant difference in your life, such as allowing you to stop exchanging your time for money.

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

https://monkwealth.com/3-financial-mistakes-i-made/

How to Write a Will and Why You Need One (Even if You’re Young and Broke)

How to Write a Will and Why You Need One (Even if You’re Young and Broke)

by Lisa Rowan

It’s the question we usually ask our parents late one night while sitting around the kitchen table. Or we ask our siblings when they become parents for the first time.

“Do you have a will?”  Of course, if you’re facing an illness, coming up on retirement age, or have a partner or children, you should have a will.  But even if you’re young and feel invincible, you should probably have a will, tool. Life can come at you fast. So can death.   Before you go online and print a will from the same website where you got ordained to preside over weddings, check out this primer of all the estate planning-type documents you might want — and their true costs.

What Is a Will, Anyway?  This short list will orient you with some of the terms you’ll see bandied about by estate lawyers, websites, and likely your family and friends, too.

Will:  This document designates one or more executors who will settle your affairs after your death. It also lists your wishes for your assets and property, and names guardians for your children.

Probate:  Probate court validates and approves wills so the executor of a will can move forward with managing the estate of the deceased person.

Living Will:  Also known as an advance directive, it lists your preferences for health care if you’re unable to convey those wishes.

Trust:  A trust is an arrangement that gives a second party (the trustee) the right to manage your assets or property for the benefit of a third party (your beneficiary). .

Revocable Trust:  A revocable trust, or living trust, lets you retain control of your assets listed in your trust and make changes to the trust during your lifetime. When you die, the assets are passed on outside of probate court. An irrevocable trust can’t be changed once it’s finalized.

Power of Attorney:  This document allows a designated person to make financial or health decisions for you if you’re unable to do so. Unless you revoke the document, power of attorney typically expires when you die. 

Estate Plan:   include any number of the documents above, based on your needs.

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

https://www.thepennyhoarder.com/save-money/how-to-write-a-will/?aff_id=319&aff_sub2=pandemic-mistakes&rc=off-c-4-41080&aff_sub=rc-off-c-4-41080