No Such Thing as Enough Money

No Such Thing as Enough Money

By Jacob Schroeder October 27, 2021

How much money is enough?

It’s a philosophical money question that often arises out of discontent. We see someone of substantial means, like a celebrity, live a troubled life. Or, we ourselves experience great fortune yet feel unhappy.  It makes us wonder where the finish line is, the point when you can stop striving for more and settle into a life of satisfaction.

There are some great financial blogs that provide good answers, such as here and here. And then there are a variety of books that tackle this question in their own ways: Ego Is the Enemy, The Last Lecture, the Bible, to name a few.

Another book that resonates with me, perhaps because of its instructive format, is How Will You Measure Your Life? by the late Clayton Christensen.

He comes to the startling realization:

“I had thought the destination was what was important, but it turned out it was the journey.”

That to me is the answer to the question. Though it is, in a way, a non-answer. As with many of life’s mysteries, there is no definitive conclusion.

There is never enough money.   Don’t get me wrong. I don’t mean that you can always use more money to achieve a perfect life. Rather, I mean the exact opposite.  No amount of money will insulate you from suffering.

This week Elon Musk’s wealth jumped by $36 billion in a single day, bringing his net worth close to $300 billion. Yet, even he has experienced some very public setbacks, including the tragedy of losing his first child.

“The race is not to the swift or the battle to the strong, nor does food come to the wise or wealth to the brilliant or favor to the learned; but time and chance happen to them all.” (Eccles. 9:11)

There is no such thing as enough money, as there is no destination of absolute happiness. It’s all about simply having the capacity to notice the truly joyful things along the journey.

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

https://incognitomoneyscribe.com/2021/10/27/no-such-thing-as-enough-money/  

Am I Responsible for Paying Off My Deceased Husband’s Debt?

Am I Responsible for Paying Off My Deceased Husband’s Debt?

Stacy Francis, CFP®, CDFA®, CES™, President & CEO   Sun, November 28, 2021

Losing your spouse is a painful, confusing time, but add to that repeated calls from an aggressive debt collector, and a bad situation suddenly can get even worse. Before you cave into the pressure, take a moment to catch your breath and learn the facts about your rights and responsibilities. You may be off the hook as some debts — including even certain types of credit card charges — are forgiven at death. However, others linger much longer.

First off, you should know that you are generally not personally responsible for paying off your husband's debts, as any loans would normally be paid off by his estate. This includes credit card debt, student loans, car loans, mortgages and business loans.

According to Marc Zimmerman, trust and estate planning attorney with the Law Offices of Michael A. Zimmerman, "When your husband dies owing a debt, the debt does not go away. Generally, the estate is liable for paying any outstanding debts, and, the named personal representative, executor or administrator will pay debts owed from the money in the estate, not from their own money or that of the surviving spouse.

However, if the surviving spouse inherits certain assets from the deceased spouse through beneficiary designations or joint account ownership, and the estate assets are insufficient to satisfy the creditor claims, the creditors could attempt to make claims against those assets that pass directly to the surviving spouse outside of the probate estate.”

That being said, you may be responsible for certain types of debts. For example, if the debt is jointly owned or you have co-signed a loan, you are obligated to continue to pay this debt. This occurs most often with credit cards, car loans or mortgages. Some states also require you to pay off any medical bills that your spouse incurred before their death.

The State You Live in Can Make a Big Difference

It is essential to understand the laws of your state so that you know where you stand concerning all debts, as some community property states hold you responsible for the debt even if it is not in your name. Community property laws make both spouses equally liable for debts incurred after the marriage has taken place.

There are currently nine community-property states:

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

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/am-responsible-paying-off-deceased-093006243.html

25 Secrets Elon Musk and Every Other Rich Person Knows

25 Secrets Elon Musk and Every Other Rich Person Knows

Gabrielle Olya   Thu, November 25, 2021

If it seems like the rich know something about money that the rest of us don't, it's probably because they do. There must be some reason the richest 1% of people now hold more than 40% of the world's wealth, according to the Credit Suisse Global Wealth Report. Maybe the rich have certain secrets to accumulating wealth -- but that doesn't mean what they know has to remain a mystery. Learn about strategies that you can use so you can build your own wealth, too.

Spending Must Align With Goals

One of the keys to being rich is having goals, said Michael Kay, president of Financial Life Focus and author of "The Feel Rich Project."

"(The rich) know what they care about," he said. "Maybe it's passing wealth to another generation, maybe it's attaining a particular lifestyle. They are mindful of not wasting resources on things that have no value."

According to Kay, the wealthy tend to spend money only on things they care about. The rest of us can learn from this by setting our own goals and then monitoring our spending to see if it aligns with those goals.

Don't Waste Money To Impress Others

Most rich people don't spend their time and money trying to impress others, Kay said. "They are not in a race. They know they have made it, so their attention is not on what others think." In fact, many wealthy individuals wouldn't have become rich if they had spent their hard-earned money buying things to keep up with others, he added.

Authors Thomas Stanley and William Danko said much the same thing in their 1996 best-seller, "The Millionaire Next Door: The Surprising Secrets of America's Wealthy," writing that a couple of key secrets of the country's richest people are living below their means and rejecting big-spending lifestyles.

Spending money to appear rich before you actually are rich is a surefire way to sabotage your wealth-building goals. So, forget about the Joneses and focus on what matters: accumulating wealth in the coming years.

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

https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/25-secrets-elon-musk-every-130009427.html

Experts From A World That No Longer Exists

Experts From A World That No Longer Exists

Nov 10, 2021 by Morgan Housel

The biggest risk to an evolving system is that you become bogged down by experts from a world that no longer exists. The more evolution you have, the more you should expect that expertise has a shelf life.  That’s always been the case and will always be. It’s just hard to accept because people need experts to trust and experts want to hold onto beliefs that were hard-fought to learn.  Some expertise is timeless. A few behaviors always repeat. They’re often the most important things to pay attention to.

But most things evolve, and evolve faster than people’s beliefs. It’s a tricky thing that leads to a long history of older generations whose success came from understanding the new rules of their era not recognizing that the rules may have changed again.

Investor Dean Williams once said, “Expertise is great, but it has a bad side effect. It tends to create an inability to accept new ideas.” 

If you appreciate how much the world evolves you can appreciate how important that advice can be.

Henry Ford was a tinkerer. He revolutionized the factory floor by letting his workers experiment, trying anything they could think of to make production more efficient.

There was just one rule, a quirk that seemed crazy but was vital to the company’s success: No one could keep a record of the factory experiments that were tried and failed.

Ford wrote in his book My Life and Work:

I am not particularly anxious for the men to remember what someone else has tried to do in the past, for then we might quickly accumulate far too many things that could not be done.

That is one of the troubles with extensive records. If you keep on recording all of your failures you will shortly have a list showing that there is nothing left for you to try – whereas it by no means follows because one man has failed in a certain method that another man will not succeed.

That was Ford’s experience. “We get some of our best results from letting fools rush in where angels fear to tread.” He wrote:

Hardly a week passes without some improvement being made somewhere in machine or process, and sometimes this is made in defiance of what is called “the best shop practice.”

They told us we could not cast gray iron by our endless chain method and I believe there is a record of failures. But we are doing it. The man who carried through our work either did not know or paid no attention to the previous figures … a record of failures – particularly if it is a dignified and well-authenticated record – deters a young man from trying … I cannot discover that any one knows enough about anything on this earth definitely to say what is and what is not possible.

The important thing is that when something that previously didn’t work suddenly does, it doesn’t necessarily mean the people who tried it first were wrong. It usually means other parts of the system have evolved in a way that allows what was once impossible to now become practical.

To continue reading, please go to the original article here:
https://www.collaborativefund.com/blog/experts/

3 Things I Learned In The Last Speculative Bubble

3 Things I Learned In The Last Speculative Bubble that explain why I'm not going hog wild in this one…

Henry Blodget  Mon, November 22, 2021

Goldman said fears of a bubble are overblown

I was Wall Street's top-ranked internet analyst during the dot-com era.

Detailed below are the three main lessons I've learned about bubbles during my career — and how I'm handling the latest ones in stocks and crypto.

Many market gurus believe we're in the middle of one of the biggest speculative bubbles in history. I think they're right. But I'm not betting the farm on it.

I was an internet-stock analyst during the dot-com bubble two decades ago, so I have some firsthand experience with financial bubbles. I've summarized the experience here, along with my subsequent run-in with the SEC.

In a future article, I'll explain why I'm in the bubble camp. But here, I'll just share three things I learned last time that explain why I'm not going all-in in either direction this time around.

1. No one knows what will happen, including your favorite market gurus.

Back in the 1990s, I got to know some of the most sophisticated professional investors in the world. As I talked with them, and learned from them, I realized that one of my long-held assumptions about Wall Street was wrong.

I had assumed that, somewhere, there were some investors who were so smart and well-informed that they knew what was going to happen.

Instead, I learned that no one knows what is going to happen.

Some investors' guesses are more sophisticated and better informed and reasoned than others, but they're still guesses. No one actually knows.

Why does this matter?

It matters because it's important to remind yourself that your favorite market gurus don't know what will happen. Not George Soros. Not Warren Buffett. Not Ray Dalio. Not your crypto-zealot buddy or your trusted financial advisor. So don't put too much stock in what anyone says or thinks will happen. They don't know.

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

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/3-things-learned-last-speculative-172200078.html

13 Really Common Money "Facts" That Actually Aren't Facts At All

13 Really Common Money "Facts" That Actually Aren't Facts At All

Mon, November 22, 2021,

A lot of us don't get a great financial education from our families or in school, which can make figuring out all our money stuff pretty tricky. And as if it's not already hard enough, there's also a lot of misinformation out there.  To help you sort out the actual facts from the fiction, I rounded up 13 common money myths, plus what you actually need to know:

1."You Don't Need To Worry About Investing For Retirement Until Your 40s."

Nope, nope, nope. In fact, the earlier you can start putting money away for retirement, the better, thanks to the magic of compound interest. This is when you earn interest on your investments and then earn more interest on top of that interest. And the sooner you start investing for retirement, the more time your money has to grow.

So if your workplace offers a tax-advantaged retirement plan like a 401(k), it's a good idea to take advantage. If your employer doesn't offer this benefit, you can always open an IRA (individual retirement account) on your own to get your nest egg started. Even if you're only able to contribute a little bit at first, it can really add up over time.

2."Saving Small Amounts Of Money Isn't Really Worth It."

I get it. It can be really discouraging to compare experts' recommended savings amounts with your own low (or nonexistent) balance. But having even $100 saved can help a little bit in an emergency. Every dollar that you're able to put away is another dollar that you won't have to pay back with interest when an unexpected car repair or vet bill comes along.

One way to help yourself save is by putting your savings in an account that helps you grow your fund. Many experts recommend high-yield savings accounts because they'll pay you more in interest than the typical savings account. But my personal favorite place to keep my emergency fund is Yotta. It's a prize-linked savings account where you can win money every week from their lottery-style drawing.

So far this year, I've won about $100 from my Yotta account (and that's a whole lot more than the 10 cents or so that I'd get from a regular savings account). Plus, they make it really easy to start and stop recurring deposits so you can automate your saving habit and make adjustments when life happens.

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

https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/13-called-money-facts-totally-041602944.html

4 Steps To Make Your Money Last a Lifetime - From Recaps Archives

If you are a new investor,Dinar Recaps will be posting Exchange Tips and information from our archives for our newest readers that may be helpful for you at our exchange appointments and Post RV. Not all questions or information may apply to you and your personal situation…..Take what you like and leave the rest:  Some you may want to save for your own personal records! We hope all our dreams come true very soon ~ Your Dinar Recaps Team

4 Steps to Make Your Money Last a Lifetime

By Jane Bryant Quinn, AARP Bulletin

A simple, easy-to-use formula to make sure you never run out of cash

As a financial columnist, I get asked the same heartfelt question over and over: “How do I make sure I don’t outlive my money?” And that makes sense. Surveys confirm that the No. 1 worry among older Americans is running out of cash.

Fortunately, financial planners have come up with sound ways to prevent this. Collected here are their key rules for maintaining a livable income for life, plus case studies that show how to put these general rules into action. The goal is your peace of mind — knowing that you’re getting the most from the money you’ve saved and that you’ll always have enough.

The Magic Number
 
The key to long-term planning is knowing one essential number: how much money you can afford to spend annually. From there, you can adjust your expenses to fit.
 
You may be tempted to reverse the order — estimate your future expenses, then adjust your investment assumptions to make that spending appear possible. But that’s wishful thinking: a hope that big investment returns will rescue your budget. It leads to overspending early on, and regret later.
 
Instead, let’s focus on the real, guaranteed money you’ll have. There are two main sources:
 
Your personal savings and investments.
Your guaranteed income from other sources.
 
Download this worksheet to help you find your sustainable income. The key steps:
 
Step 1: Tally Your Guaranteed Income
 
The most common source is Social Security, which you may already be collecting. (If you’re not, get an estimate by calling Social Security or by opening a My Social Security account at ssa.gov.) You might also have a pension or annuity.

If you own a reliable rental property, include the amount of rent you receive after expenses. 

Step 2: Estimate Your Income from Savings

How much annual income can you prudently take from your savings and investments? To get the answer, there’s a surprisingly simple rule of thumb:
 
Add up the current value of your spendable assets, such as bank accounts, mutual funds, stocks and bonds. Include both retirement and nonretirement savings.
 
Subtract from that total a cash cushion to help cover near-term expenses.
 
Then take 4 percent of what remains.
 
That’s the “safe” amount of your assets that financial planners say you can afford to spend in the first year of retirement without running the risk that your savings will run out. In each subsequent year, take the same dollar amount plus an increase for inflation.
 
Example: Say you have $100,000 invested (plus a cash cushion). In the first year of retirement you could spend $4,000 of that money. If inflation is running at 3 percent, your second-year withdrawal would be $4,120 — the first-year amount plus an inflation increase. Follow this pattern in each future year.
 
Under this system, known as the “4 percent rule,” your savings should last at least 30 years and probably more. That forecast is based on the pioneering work of planner William Bengen, who tested 30-year spending rates against the historical returns of U.S. stocks and Treasury bonds.
 
Some years the markets are up and some years they’re down, but the 4 percent rule takes that into account. As long as you keep withdrawing a steady amount of money, plus increases for inflation, you won’t run out.
 
This rule would have protected your annual income even during 30-year periods that included the Great Depression of the 1930s and Great Stagflation of the 1970s. In better periods, savings lasted for many years more.
 
Step 3: Total Your Income
 
Add that “safe” 4 percent amount to your annual guaranteed income. For example, if you’re due $20,000 from Social Security and take $4,000 from a $100,000 nest egg, you’ll have $24,000 that you can safely use for living expenses, including any taxes.
 
Step 4: Set Your Budget
 
Finally, divide your expected yearly income by 12 to get your available monthly cash. And that’s it. Don’t worry about inflation; your income should keep up with inflation, thanks to Social Security’s cost-of-living increases and the annual increases you take from savings. 

Special Factors

You're Married

Calculate your spendable income three ways: once as a couple, once assuming that you die first, and once assuming that your spouse dies first. Don’t skip this analysis! Couples generally get two Social Security checks — one per spouse.
 
The survivor will get only one. If you get a pension, it, too, might go down or go away when you die. Each spouse should know what might change after the other’s death.
 
You're a Homeowner
 
Worried that these numbers won’t fund a decent standard of living? You might want to tap your home equity.
 
Home equity loans, however, can be hard for retirees to get. Instead, if you want to stay put, you might get a reverse mortgage: a loan against your home with no payments due until you leave it permanently. The debt is usually settled via proceeds from your home’s sale.
 
Costs are high: If your house is worth $260,500 — the median U.S. price — a $50,000 credit line might carry $13,000 in one-time fees. (That money comes from your home equity, not your pocket.) Another option: Take in a renter. Or you could downsize, adding your home-sale proceeds to your investments.
 
  You Fear Stocks

The 4 percent rule rests on the premise that you invest about half of your nest egg in low-cost funds — index mutual funds or exchange-traded funds — that hold big-company stocks and track the market’s moves. The other half is in Treasury bond funds. If you also hold funds with smaller stocks, Bengen says it’s safe to start at 4.5 percent.
 
If you avoid stocks, however, and own only bonds and CDs, 4 percent is too high. Your initial safe withdrawal rate is more like 3 percent, says economist Wade Pfau of the American College of Financial Services in Bryn Mawr, Pa. You might also start with that number if you retire early or own individual stocks, which are riskier than market-tracking mutual funds.
 
On the other hand, you might go higher. The original 4 percent rule was designed to protect you from the worst of times, says financial planner Jonathan Guyton of Edina, Minn. But most 30-year periods do just fine, and you might find that you’re skimping while money piles up.

Guyton suggests starting with 5 or 5.5 percent. But do that, he says, only if you have at least 60 percent of your investments in stocks and you’re willing to cut back a little — say, 10 percent of your planned annual withdrawal — when markets fall.

Five percent also makes sense if you want only 20 years of income — for example, if you don’t quit work until you turn 75.

https://www.aarp.org/retirement/retirement-savings/info-2018/make-money-last-lifetime.html

Considerations About Passing an Inheritance to Children

Considerations About Passing an Inheritance to Children

By Stephanie Powers Updated June 24, 2021

Reviewed By Ebony Howard   Fact Checked By Katrina Munichiello

Deciding whether to leave an inheritance for your children impacts the amount you save, the retirement plans you choose, and how you take qualified retirement plan distributions. However, beyond your desire to leave some wealth to your children (or not), there are some essential personal financial issues to consider.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

Whether to leave an inheritance for your children impacts your retirement plans, how much you save, and your retirement plan distributions.

Before deciding to leave an inheritance, personal financial issues should be considered, including your income needs and potential healthcare costs.

Retirees can risk running out of money in retirement and should consider any tax implications of establishing an inheritance.

Establishing a trust or gifting assets to loved ones can be effective ways to transfer assets, but there are rules and limitations.

Consider Your Income Needs

Some retirees give away their retirement savings without considering their own income needs. Before you make gifts to others, it's important to assess how much you need to spend on yourself. Retirement calculators such as those available from AARP can help you determine how much you need to save and how much you can withdraw each year once you retire.

Be sure to take into account the impact of inflation and taxes and maintain a diversified portfolio of growth and income investments that can help your portfolio keep pace with inflation.

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

https://www.investopedia.com/articles/pf/08/inheritance-for-children.asp

No Such Thing as Enough Money

No Such Thing as Enough Money

Posted by Jacob Schroeder October 27, 2021

How much money is enough?

It’s a philosophical money question that often arises out of discontent. We see someone of substantial means, like a celebrity, live a troubled life. Or, we ourselves experience great fortune yet feel unhappy.  It makes us wonder where the finish line is, the point when you can stop striving for more and settle into a life of satisfaction.

There are some great financial blogs that provide good answers, such as here and here. And then there are a variety of books that tackle this question in their own ways: Ego Is the Enemy, The Last Lecture, the Bible, to name a few.  Another book that resonates with me, perhaps because of its instructive format, is How Will You Measure Your Life?  by the late Clayton Christensen.

He comes to the startling realization:

“I had thought the destination was what was important, but it turned out it was the journey.”

That to me is the answer to the question. Though it is, in a way, a non-answer. As with many of life’s mysteries, there is no definitive conclusion.

There is never enough money.

Don’t get me wrong. I don’t mean that you can always use more money to achieve a perfect life. Rather, I mean the exact opposite.   No amount of money will insulate you from suffering.

This week Elon Musk’s wealth jumped by $36 billion in a single day, bringing his net worth close to $300 billion. Yet, even he has experienced some very public setbacks, including the tragedy of losing his first child.

“The race is not to the swift or the battle to the strong, nor does food come to the wise or wealth to the brilliant or favor to the learned; but time and chance happen to them all.” (Eccles. 9:11)

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

https://incognitomoneyscribe.com/2021/10/27/no-such-thing-as-enough-money/

How The Money Game Changes With Time

How The Money Game Changes With Time

October 13, 2021 Financial Independence 25

Money Game

One of the toughest things about investment banking is that the job changes all the time.  The technical skills that make an amazing analyst or associate do not necessarily translate into the ability to quarterback a complex M&A or equity deal at the VP level.

At the same time, many VPs and directors who shine at process management and execution really struggle when it comes to origination, effectively capping out their career progression. Those who manage to navigate the transition end up rising all the way to the top.  Say hello to the corner office, hefty bonuses, and cushy board seats once you get tired of the grind.

This constant need to adapt and elevate your game draws many parallels with the process of building wealth.  Sure, there are some fundamental concepts that apply throughout.

Spend less than you make, invest the difference, let your investments compound for as long as possible.

That being said, you still need to calibrate your approach.  The strategies that work when you are twenty-five no longer apply when you are nearing retirement – and vice versa.

In today’s post, let’s explore how the money game changes as you go through the various stages of life.

Financial Adolescence:  Teens To Mid-20s

Apparently, Warren Buffett bought his first stock when he was 11.

Good for him – but in reality, not everyone is early to the party like that.  Which is just as fine, because your late teens and early 20s is when you lay the foundation for your financial future.

And if there’s one thing you need to know about foundations, it’s that you don’t want to skimp on them.

Good grades are important at this stage, not least because they determine the kind of university you’ll be able to get into, which subsequently goes a long way in defining your ability to choose a lucrative career path.

Good skills, however, are even more important.  I’m sure it’s great to graduate with a degree in the psychology of fashion, but good luck making the big bucks with that one.

Instead, you’ve got to follow the money.  Computer science, finance, medicine, engineering – you get the gist.

However, what’s most important at this stage is establishing good habits – because is your habits that will define your ability to monetize both your grades and your skills.

Health is the most important one, because it gives you energy, confidence, and optimism – the defining characteristics of most successful people.  No wonder there’s a direct correlation between health and wealth.

From a financial perspective, this is when you need to put your head down and get all the basics in place.

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

https://bankeronfire.com/money-game

How Much You Need To Rank in the Top 10% of Manhattan’s Wealthiest Elite

How Much You Need To Rank in the Top 10% of Manhattan’s Wealthiest Elite

Bob Haegele   Mon, November 15, 2021,

Lavish apartments, fancy cars and dressed to the nines: Manhattan’s wealthiest elite seem to have it all. And yet, while the city’s mega-rich or ultra-high net worth individuals are worth billions, you don’t need all that to be in the city’s top 10%.  New York has $3 trillion in total wealth. But in a city of nearly 9 million people that is home to almost one million millionaires, having $1 million already puts you close to the top 10%.

To add to that, dollars and cents aren’t everything. Yes, in purely monetary terms, hitting certain income or net worth thresholds is the only requirement to be in the top 10%. But without your health and a network of support, you won’t be able to enjoy your swimming pool of gold coins.

Let’s take a look at what exactly you need to be among Manhattan’s wealthiest elite, both in terms of money and otherwise.

Income

Of course, most Americans immediately think about money when contemplating wealth. Whether or not you agree that is the only determinant of wealth, it is certainly a big component. And given that New York is where some of the world’s wealthiest call home, it’s no surprise that you need a lot of money to be one of the city’s wealthiest.

After all, New York is home to a number of billionaires, including Michael Bloomberg, Julia Koch and Stephen Schwarzman. While you don’t have to be among the billionaires to be in the top 10%, you still have to be quite well off.

The income in the top 10% in the state of New York is $291,906. However, New York City is considerably wealthier, with the top 20% earning an average of $295,662. Meanwhile, the top 5% earn $585,902. Thus, the top 10% earn somewhere in between the two, with the average being around $440,000.

Health

Having a lot of wealth is nice, but you can’t enjoy it without your health. Of course, there is a correlation between health and wealth; studies have shown that wealthier people tend to live longer and with lower rates of chronic disease.

Still, being wealthy doesn’t guarantee good health. But one survey of New York City residents asked them what makes a person wealthy, and the response was in many cases that being in good health makes a person wealthy more than anything.

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

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/much-rank-top-10-manhattan-190114396.html