From Debtor To Millionaire: How A Windfall Changed My Life

From Debtor To Millionaire: How A Windfall Changed My Life

 Post From   Financial Samurai

This is a guest post from J.D. Roth, who founded the blog Get Rich Slowly in 2006 and is the author of Your Money: The Missing Manual. I first met JD four years ago for lunch up in Portland when I was still working.

By that time, J.D. was already a mini-celebrity in the personal finance world through his story telling abilities and topical focus of paying down debt and living a more frugal lifestyle. We came from opposite ends of the financial and topical spectrum, but as fate would have it, we’re in pretty similar boats now.

I admire J.D. because he is a “blogging purist” – someone who writes for the love of writing first, community second, and income a distant third. Instead of an interview, I asked J.D. to share his story of how he went from debtor living paycheck-to-paycheck to financially free in just a few short years.

His latest project is a year-long course on how to master your money, which explains how to slash costs, properly budget, and boost income so that you can pursue early retirement and other goals. Please enjoy this great post about struggle, loss, change, and love.

 In The Beginning

I’m a lucky man, and I know it. But for a long time, it sure didn’t seem that way.

When I was a boy, my family was poor. We lived in a single-wide trailer house in rural Oregon. My father was often out of work. When he was unemployed, things were rough. We never went hungry, but sometimes we came close. More than once, we were bailed out by the kindness of other families in our church.

We didn’t always struggle. Sometimes my parents had money, at least for a little while. You see, my father was a serial entrepreneur. He was always starting businesses. Even when he had a job selling boxes or staplers or candy bars, he had something going on the side. Most of his businesses failed, but some succeeded.

In 1977, my father sold one business for $300,000. He was supposed to receive $5000 per month for fifteen years, which seemed like a lot of money at the time. To celebrate, he went out and bought an airplane, a sailboat, and a Kenwood stereo. Life was good — until the buyer went bankrupt. Because he hadn’t saved anything from the few payments, Dad was broke again. And unemployed. We were right back where we’d started.

This “famine or feast” pattern continued throughout my entire childhood. Most of the time, it was famine — not feast.

In the late 1980s, I went away to college. Because I knew my parents couldn’t help me pay for school, I took care of things myself. I was a good student with a lot of extracurricular activities: president of the computer club, national competitor in Future Business Leaders of America, editor of the school literary magazine, and so on. Plus I had terrific scores on the the PSAT and SAT. As a result, I earned a full-ride scholarship. I worked two or three or five jobs to pay for housing and to earn spending money.

 During college, I developed a spending habit. In order to keep up with my friends, many of whom seemed to be rich (as I defined it at the time), I used credit cards. I began to carry debt. At first, I only owed a few hundred dollars, but by the time I graduated with a psychology degree, I had a few thousand dollars in credit-card debt.

 After college, my debts continued to mount. I bought a new car. When I had money, I spent it. When I didn’t have money, I still spent it. By the middle of 1995, just four years after I’d graduated, I’d accumulated over $20,000 in credit-card debt. It got worse. In 2004, my consumer debt topped $35,000. I felt like I was drowning. (See: How Many Credit Cards Should I Have Until It’s Too Many?)

 Getting Rich Quickly

 One night in October 2004, after I’d bounced yet another check and missed yet another payment, I reached rock bottom. I began to wonder why I didn’t use my entrepreneurial skills at home. I was helping to manage the family box factory, and I’d started a computer consulting firm on the side. Both businesses made money, and I made smart decisions with the profit. But at home, my money situation seemed dire.

 I asked myself: What if I made decisions in my personal life as if I were making them for a business? What if I installed myself as CFO of JD, Inc? How would I cut costs? How would I increase revenue? Where were the best places for me to direct my cash flow?

That night, I drafted a three-year plan to get out of debt. According to my calculations, I could pay off everything I owed by December 2007 — if I managed my money wisely. I decided to give it a shot.

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

https://www.financialsamurai.com/from-debtor-to-millionaire-how-a-windfall-changed-my-life/

The 7 Worst Money Mistakes Married People Make

The 7 Worst Money Mistakes Married People Make

By Sarah Winfrey

Everyone knows that disagreements over money can cause a huge amount of stress in a marriage. However, money may be more important than we think. A recent study out of Utah State University shows that couples who report fighting about money at least once a week are 30% more likely to divorce than those who only argue about it a few times a month.

In addition, the same study says that arguing about money is one of the best predictors of divorce. It correlates better with the divorce rate than arguing about sex, in-laws, and more.

So, if you want to stay married, it's clear that it's important to get the money thing right. Below are some of the mistakes likely to make the financial side of your married life much more difficult.

1. Forgetting the "Money Talk"

Couples need to talk about money, starting before they're even married. They need to be upfront about how much they make, what their expenses will be, what their investments look like, and how much debt they have.

It's also helpful to discuss how they see finances working between the two of them. Will they have a joint account? Do they prefer to keep private accounts and each take on a portion of the expenses?

While many couples these days do talk about money before marriage, it's important to continue doing so afterwards. Many of the things that happen in life will change your financial situation, and it's important to keep in communication about those.

Everything from having kids to changing jobs to buying a house can cause major flux in your overall financial position, and communication is the best way to avoid conflict in these areas.

2. Not Figuring Out Your Spending Philosophy

Different people spend differently. Some need to be able to spend so that they feel like they have some freedom. Others don't want to spend because that makes them feel safe. Whatever your point of view on spending, it's almost certain your spouse's will be at least a little different. So talk about these things and come up with a plan you can both agree to. (See also: What's Your Credit Card Spending Style?)

Some couples keep separate "spending" accounts. Others put a cap on spending, saying that no one person will spend more than a certain amount without talking to the other. Do whatever works for you, but do something!

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

https://www.wisebread.com/the-7-worst-money-mistakes-married-people-make?ref=seealso

5 Money Conversations Every Couple Should Have

5 Money Conversations Every Couple Should Have

By Ashley Marcin February 2017

Did you know that the secret to a healthy relationship maybe hiding in your wallet? No, money can't buy you love, but talking about the dollars you have may make a lot of, well, sense. In a recent study, researchers discovered that lack of communication about money leads younger couples to both arguments and added stress.

Here are some financial discussions worth having, especially if you share the bulk of your expenses. Heck, they may even bring you closer together!

1. Where Is Our Money Going?

Have you sat down with your partner to really dig into your bank accounts lately? It may be a good idea, especially if you hope to spend many Valentine's Days together. A national survey conducted by Money Magazine revealed that 70% of couples fight about money matters more than they do about chores, sex, snoring, and togetherness.

What's high on their hot points? Frivolous spending.

Take some time — over candlelight and wine, perhaps — to delve into your check registers and online accounts. Do you see any patterns? Were you both aware that all that money was going toward the groceries each week? Or what about those online magazine subscriptions? Unused gym memberships? You may be able to quickly spot some areas that need work before they turn into shouting matches.

2. How Do We Each Deal With Money?

Once you know what you're spending your money on, you can move on to what makes your partner tick — financially speaking. Is he a big spender? Is she a penny-pincher? Does he thrive on a cash system? Is she a credit card rewards ninja? Often, these habits are set in family history, internal motivations, or simple habit.

In my marriage, I am the one who loves drafting up budgets, doing taxes, and planning for paying off debt faster. My husband? He gets super stressed doing any of this stuff, even if it's just keeping track of the cable bill. We used to bicker about dividing everything "fairly" between us. In the end, and through many discussions, we decided that my strength with money matters made me a more natural choice for these duties.

What we share is that we are both really bad with credit cards. So, we do cash for more of our variable expenses. The message here is to find your similarities and differences. Discover what makes one person thrive or the other person freak out. Avoid condemning certain behaviors or weak points. Instead, celebrate your differences, split up duties according to your strengths, and find common ground.

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

https://www.wisebread.com/5-money-conversations-every-couple-should-have?ref=seealso

Your Financial Family Tree

Your Financial Family Tree: What Our Parents Teach Us About Money

By J.D. Roth —19 November 2018

We inherit more than physical features from those who came before us. We also inherit culture and psychology and values. And yes, we inherit financial habits from our parents and grandparents.

Each of us has a financial family tree.

My Financial Family Tree

I write often about our money blueprints, the set of subconscious “scripts” that define our behaviors and attitudes toward money. Society at large — our friends, co-workers, the mass media — plays a role in writing these scripts, but most of our money blueprints are inherited from our family — especially our parents.

In a way, it's as if our money blueprints are a product of our financial family trees. Our grandparents passed their feelings about money to their children, and these children instilled their habits and attitudes into us.

When I look at my own relationship with money, it's easy to see how my present actions and attitudes — even at nearly fifty years old! — were inherited from my parents.

Here are a few examples:

My parents raised three boys in an 800-square-foot trailer house. My parents had 800 square feet for the entire family. The Portland condo that Kim and I sold last year was 1600 square feet.

She and I had 800 square feet per person. But I don't need a big, fancy house. I'd be happy — might be happier, in fact — hunkered down in a single-wide trailer somewhere on a couple of acres.

Likewise, I don't need fancy cars. Growing up, I don't think my parents ever had a new car. We had old beaters that went by names like “Dirty Red” and “Dirty White”. Now, as an adult, I'm perfectly content to drive a 15-year-old Mini Cooper. I rarely feel the urge to own a new vehicle.

I inherited a similar attitude toward clothing. My father dressed like a farmer. My mother did her best to look nice, but on a budget. She bought clothes for us boys off close-out racks and at thrift stores.

Although I do put some thought into quality and style nowadays, for most of my life I've been more interested in function not fashion.

Because of my meager origins, I'm willing to tolerate and accept certain things that others won't. I'm never frightened that I might end up poor because I've already been poor and have survived the experience. In some ways, my financial family tree set me up for success.

That said, my financial family tree also set me up for failure. I inherited some destructive habits.

My father was a master of compulsive spending — especially on big-ticket items that he couldn't truly afford. He bought computers. He bought sailboats. He bought airplanes. He bought stereo equipment.

Some of my fondest memories are hanging out with dad for hours while he shopped for something he shouldn't buy. Unsurprisingly, I've struggled with compulsive spending most of my adult life.

My mother wasn't a compulsive spender in the same way my father was. Instead, she was something of a hoarder. She tended to buy more than we actually needed: more food, more clothes, more household supplies. This tendency became especially pronounced after dad died.

When we moved mom to assisted living in 2011, her house was packed with excess groceries and supplies. From mom, I've inherited a tendency to accumulate too much Stuff.

My parents never saved. They were always living on their last five dollars. If they had money, they spend it. If they'd had credit cards, they would have maxed them out. When I left home, I too lived paycheck to paycheck, no matter how good my salary was. (And I did get into trouble with credit cards.)

Not all of my money habits came from my parents. Many did, it's true, but I've developed new habits of my own. I've also “inherited” habits from my long-term relationships with Kris and Kim. (Kris and Kim have remarkably similar money habits, by the way.)

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

https://www.getrichslowly.org/financial-family-tree/#more-236756

How Projection Bias Could Be Destroying Your Finances

How Projection Bias Could Be Destroying Your Finances

By Emily Guy Birken

Have you ever gone grocery shopping on an empty stomach? If you’re like most people, you come home with all kinds of random junk food and disparate ingredients you have no specific plans to use, all because they looked good at the time.

So when you decide to throw some “lightly expired” shrimp, Lonely Gal Margarita Mix for One, and an entire shelf’s worth of tortilla chips into your cart when you only needed a gallon of milk, you are falling victim to a cognitive bias known as the projection bias.

This bias causes you to believe that however you are feeling in the moment is how you will still feel in the future. So when you are feeling rumbly in your tummy while cruising the grocery store, you believe you’ll still want to eat shrimp-covered nachos once you get home — even though your enthusiasm for shrimp that’s gone to the bad place will definitely wane once you’ve had a snack.

Of course, the projection bias does more than just fill your grocery carts with food you’ll never eat. It can also cause you to make even bigger financial mistakes. Here’s how your inability to project your future preferences can ruin your finances. (See also: 5 Mental Biases That Are Keeping You Poor)

Irrational Shopping

Car dealerships have long found that they sell more convertibles in the spring and summer than in the winter. Some of that is perfectly natural. A car buyer is likely to want to purchase a car whose amenities they can take advantage of right away.

But convertible sales also spike during sunny days or warm spells during the winter. In those cases, the irrational convertible owner is projecting that she will want to ride with the top down and the wind in her hair every day, just because that’s what she wants on the unseasonably warm and beautiful day when she buys her new car.

Similarly, when you are in the midst of a new enthusiasm for exercise, it might seem like a great idea to buy a treadmill or elliptical machine. You want to exercise every day right now, so of course you’ll want to continue exercising in the future. There is no possible way that your new BowFlex will collect dust and/or become an impromptu clothes-drying rack within a few weeks of purchase.

One of the best ways of thwarting this expensive projection bias mistake is forcing yourself to take a cooling-off period before making any major purchases. Test driving the convertible BMW may be a blast on that random 70-degree day in late February, but will actually purchasing the car still feel as reasonable a week later when the snow is falling? Forcing yourself to wait a week (or a month) before making any large purchases can help you keep projection bias at bay. (See also: 9 Simple Ways to Stop Impulse Buying)

Not Saving Enough

The closest I have ever come to slapping someone was when a teaching colleague once told me that she didn’t bother saving money for retirement because she wanted to enjoy her money while she was young. This colleague seemed to believe that she would always enjoy good health and stable employment, and that she could just continue to work forever.

This kind of thinking is a common symptom of projection bias. We all tend to assume that the way our lives are now are how they will continue to be in the future. So we don’t bother to save money for a rainy day or for retirement, because we project today’s stability into the future.

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

https://www.wisebread.com/how-projection-bias-could-be-destroying-your-finances?ref=relatedbox

Be Prepared for These 7 Financial Disasters

Emergency Fund Examples – Be Prepared for These 7 Financial Disasters

May 1, 2019 By Andrew

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, I’m sure you’ve heard the conventional wisdom that you need an emergency fund.

And of course it makes sense to save for a rainy day. Yet life gets in the way, the normal bills continue to pile up, and emergency savings gets pushed to the back burner. In fact, according to a recent survey, only 39% of Americans could cover a $1,000 emergency expense without dipping into credit cards or some other form of debt.

It makes sense – we tend to prioritize expenses right in front of us instead of the unknown ones of the future. But when the future unknown collides with present reality, it can create a lot of undue stress if you aren’t prepared.

Emergency Fund Examples

So what are some examples of situations where an emergency fund is a necessity?

Lucky for you, I am one of those people that worries unnecessarily about future uncertainty and hyperventilates when there is less than $10k in the bank account. As such, I have pre-worried about all the possible emergency fund examples so you don’t have to. You’re welcome!

1. Car Expenses

This is the probably the most common “emergency” that is always right around the corner. Whether you get in a wreck and have to pay for expensive repairs (or a $500 or $1,000 insurance deductible), or get a flat tire, almost everyone has to deal with unexpected car expenses a some point.

Having a healthy emergency fund can help you weather the storm and not have to run up your credit card and deal with the stress of paying off the debt for months.

2. Surprise Medical Emergencies

When my daughter was 2, she was running around the house with a wooden spoon in her mouth (don’t ask me why). She ran face-first into the wall and jabbed the spoon into the back of her throat in the soft palate. While it sounds like a ridiculous situation now, in the moment it was extremely scary as she was choking on blood and crying in pain.

We rushed to the emergency room, and it took 3 different doctors before they were satisfied she did not need emergency surgery. Fortunately, they sent her home with some painkillers and a follow-up with a pediatric ENT, and she made a full recovery.

When a medical emergency happens, the last thing you think about is how you’re going to pay for it. Even if you have amazing insurance, most policies these days make you cover several thousands of dollars in expenses out of pocket before you hit the deductible.

We ended up getting a bill for around $1,500 just for the emergency room visit, which was under our deductible so it all had to come out of pocket. Fortunately we save in both an emergency fund and an HSA (Health Savings Account) specifically designed to cover medical expenses like this.

3. Major Home Repairs

Owning a home is great, but when it comes time to replace the roof or the HVAC, I often wish I was still a renter. Even if the major systems are in good shape, it seems like every few months some unexpected expense comes up that costs us a few hundred (or few thousand) dollars to fix.

Technically, saving for large capital expenses like a new roof or water heater should be a part of your regular budget, not your emergency fund. If your water heater is 23 years old and develops and leak, was that really unexpected? We have a separate fund set up to save money for the large, irregular (but expected) home maintenance items. That’s just part of homeownership.

But then there are the unexpected emergencies that come up. The most recent one for us came during a big storm a few weeks ago. A tree right next to the house split in the high winds and was precariously hanging over the roof. We had to get a tree service out right away to remove the tree before it completely collapsed and took out the roof.

Let me tell you, removing a tree is not cheap. Especially one so close to the house. They have to take extra precautions to take it down in small pieces so as not to damage the roof.

That one tree ended up costing us over $1,000! And since we don’t budget for our regularly scheduled “tree collapsing in storm”, that came straight out of the emergency fund.

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

https://wealthynickel.com/emergency-fund-examples/

How To Never Worry About Money Again

How To Never Worry About Money Again

The No-Sweat Way to Protect Yourself From Financial Disaster

lauragoldstein2014

Building a bigger rainy-day fund may feel daunting. Start by breaking it down into manageable chunks.

That nagging feeling that a bit of bad luck—a medical emergency or a layoff—could derail your finances is widely shared. A new survey from the American Psychological Association found that 54% of people rated paying for unexpected expenses a very or somewhat significant source of stress.

And people across the income spectrum tend to be underprepared. A Pew Charitable Trusts analysis finds middle-income households typically have the equivalent of 20 days of income to tap, and even high earners have just 52 days. Building a bigger rainy-day fund may feel like a daunting task, given all your expenses and savings goals, but you can start by breaking it down into manageable chunks.

Do It One Essential Expense at a Time

 Aim to cover three months of one regular bill, like your mortgage, suggests RBC Wealth Management financial adviser Darla Kashian. Then move on to three months of utilities, then car payments, and so on.

This approach gives you the satisfaction of crossing one more potential problem off your list. Once you’ve hit three months of all essentials, make your new goal doubling your account to get to six months.

Why so long? “When things get rough, your emergency fund enables you to make good choices, where you don’t have to rush into a job you don’t want or dip into a credit card,” says Certified Financial Planner Board consumer advocate Eleanor Blayney.

Get It Out of Your Hands

Looking at your budget may help you find places to trim, but for big savings goals it may be easier and more sustainable to simply stash money away with each pay-check, just as you do with your 401(k), and live on what’s left. Set up automatic deposits to a separate account just for your emergency money.

Any employer that offers direct paycheck deposit can allow you to split the money between multiple accounts. Many banks will also allow you to give your accounts a nickname to match your goal—make this one “emergency” or even “Don’t touch this!” as a little extra reminder of how important this fund is for you.

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

http://money.com/money/collection-post/3938823/save-money-emergency-fund/

Preparing for The Coming Economic Slowdown

Preparing for The Coming Economic Slowdown

How to Prepare Your Money for the Coming Economic Slowdown

By Denise Hill

Predicting an economic downturn can seem as mystical and convoluted as reading tea leaves. However, the economic tea-leaf readers — financial experts — are warning that the economic winds are changing.

Even though unemployment is still low, there are other economic indicators causing financial analysts to predict lean financial seasons. First, economic growth has all but stalled. The rate of wage increase has stagnated.

The Constant Maturity Treasury (CMT) rates, which are used to measure and predict future interest rates, economic growth, and output, are near flatlining — and threatening inversion. This means that as the economy continues to slow down, consumer interest rates will rise and investment earnings will lose momentum, possibly even losing money.

Preparing for a recession is similar to preparing for a tropical storm: There's no way to predict just how bad things will get, but burying your head in the sand and hoping for the best is a horrible idea. Here are a few things you can do to stormproof your finances against the coming economic slow down.

Beef Up Your Emergency Fund

The first thing you do when prepping for a storm is prepare your home for the onslaught. People in coastal areas board up windows and surround their homes with sandbags. An emergency fund does the same thing financially. It's the added installation and protection that can assist you when the economy dips.

 It can't stop the winds, or prevent the rain, and it may not stave off all damage, but it does provide an added layer of protection. And it provides you a fighting chance to preserve what you've worked so hard to build.

The traditional emergency fund is anywhere from three to six months' worth of daily living expenses — and even larger for people with high expenses, large salaries, or a job that would be difficult to replace. During lean economic times, you want to save more than the standard recommended amount.

Under normal circumstances, the average bout of unemployment lasts roughly three to six months. However, experts believe that number is slowly creeping up and could double in a sluggish economy. It has been suggested that you plan to be unemployed at least one month per every $10,000 you earn.

So if you earn $70,000 a year, you should plan for an unemployment that lasts at least seven months. This formula is a great gauge in helping you determine how much you need in your emergency fund. (See also: 7 Easy Ways to Build an Emergency Fund From $0)

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

https://www.wisebread.com/how-to-prepare-your-money-for-the-coming-economic-slowdown?ref=relatedbox

This Secret Hiding In Your $1 Bills Could Make It Worth Thousands

This Secret Hiding In Your $1 Bills Could Make It Worth Thousands If You Look Closely

Everyone dreams about getting rich overnight, but this almost impossible. You need to be very lucky and win the Powerball or Lotto in order to do that. However, there’s another way to get super rich that might surprise you.

There are some dollar bills that are worth thousands of dollars and you might be carrying one in your pocket right now. You better stick around for #15 in order to find out if you own one of these special dollar bills.

25.  One Dollar

Today we are going to share with you some amazing information that might make you rich. Therefore, open your wallet and take out all the cash that you have because you will need to search for some special markers.

24.  Rare Bills

There are some one dollar bills that sell for as much as $2,500! Can you believe this? If you do have one of these special bills in your wallet, then you are going to make some easy money.

23.  Getting Rich Overnight

With that being said, get out a magnifier glass or the zoom camera on your smartphone because you will need to pay close attention to the serial numbers of your dollar bills. You might even end up selling the lucky bill for thousands of dollars!

22.  Collector Items

The reason why dollar bills with specific serial numbers are selling for so much is because they are seen as collector items. Who would even buy a dollar bill for so much money? You might have seen them in this famous show…

21.  The Famous Show

Everyone who has watched at least on episode of the famous Pawn Shop show knows that people are willing to pay top dollar for items that they want to add to their collection. We’ve seen many items selling for tens of thousands of dollars!

20.  Serial Numbers

Even though dollar bills might mean nothing more than this week’s groceries for your, some people are more than happy to pay you a fortune for them if they have the right serial number. Keep reading to find out why collectors are desperately searching for rare items.

19.  The Collectors

The reason why collectors are willing to pay so much money for a single dollar bill is because it will help them complete their collection. Check out the picture at #7 to see which are the rare serial numbers that can make you rich.

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

https://www.obsev.com/g/secret-hiding-1-bills-make-worth-thousands-look-closely/699904?utm_source=yahoo&utm_campaign=TestYAH-AS-CT-Yuri-Mihai-DollarBills-US&utm_medium=HOMEPAGE_US&utm_term=prezna

10 Things You Didn't Know About Millionaires

10 Things You Didn't Know About Millionaires

egstark  Kara Brandeisky    

 When you think "millionaire," John D. Rockefeller might spring to mind. But most American millionaires look more like your neighbor.

The seven-figure club is chock-full of surprises

Thanks to rebounding real estate prices and a bull market in stocks, millionaires have been staging a comeback since the financial crisis. The number of American households with more than a million in assets has hit 9.6 million, according to the Spectrem Group, finally surpassing the pre-recession high of 9.2 million. (And that’s a million bucks without counting your primary residence.)

If you want to join their ranks, take this quiz to figure out your best path, then adopt one of these seven strategies to get there. But first, get to know your future peers.

1. Millionaires Are Most At Home In Maryland

Maryland has more millionaires per capita than any other state—7.7% of all households—according to the Phoenix Global Wealth Monitor. New Jersey, Connecticut, and Hawaii are also packed with millionaires, and oil-rich North Dakota is gaining fast, jumping from No. 43 to No. 29 in the 50-state ranking in one year.

2. One In 21 New Yorkers Is A Millionaire

Walk down New York City’s Fifth Avenue, and you’re bound to brush past a few millionaires. Some 4.6% of the city’s residents are worth $1 million or more, according to another take on the millionaire population by Spear’s. Monaco, Zurich, and Geneva are the only cities that can claim more rich folks per capita.

3. For The First Time, A Majority Of Members Of Congress Are Millionaires

Congress has more millionaires than ever, according to an analysis of financial disclosure reports by the Center for Responsive Politics. At least 268 members of the House and Senate are worth $1 million or more. The richest is former businessman turned legislator Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., who has an estimated net worth of $464 million, the Center found.

4. Millionaires Fret About Retirement Too

Almost a third of millionaires worth $5 to $25 million worry about being able to retire when they want to, the Spectrem Group found. And 44% of those with $1 million and $5 million in assets have the same concern.

5. Millionaires Are Not Necessarily Super Savers

You don’t have to sock away 30%, 40%, or 50% of your income to amass $1 million (though that would help get you there faster). In an analysis of 401(k) savers who made less than $150,000 a year and still had more than $1 million in their plans, Fidelity found that those millionaires saved only 14% a year on average.

Their secrets?

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

http://money.com/money/3067682/millionaires-10-surprising-things-traits/ 

How To Manage A Cash Windfall

How To Manage A Cash Windfall

By Roger Wohlner     AAA | 

Many of us fantasize about winning a big lottery jackpot. Let’s say that actually happened? What would you do with the money? How would you manage it? 

While winning the lottery is a real longshot, cash windfalls are not that uncommon. People inherit money or receive a life insurance payout when someone dies, they sell businesses or professional practices, they win a judgment in a lawsuit, receive a sizable divorce settlement, or take a 401(k) rollover or lump-sum distribution from a pension account all of which can result in a sizable windfall.

The number 70% seems to be a common one in terms of the percentage of lottery winners and retired NFL and NBA players who end up in financial difficulty. If you're the recipient of a cash windfall what should you do, how should you manage it?

Take A Step Back

There is no rule saying that you have to do something with the money right away. In fact many financial advisers would counsel you take some time and do some financial planning. This is especially true in the case of a large and possibly unexpected windfall.

Don’t succumb to pressure from family, friends, or pushy financial sales types. It’s your money and your life. Get the financial guidance you need, take the time to plan out what you want to do with the money, and then move forward. Refrain from making rash spending decisions.

Hire Help

Depending upon the size and the nature of the windfall you will want to assemble a team of experts that might include a financial adviser, a tax professional, and perhaps an attorney for any estate planning issues created by the windfall.

If the windfall was an expected one, such as a large retirement plan rollover or proceeds from the sale of a business, you quite likely have been working with a financial adviser or tax professional or both already.  Lean on these trusted advisers for help in managing this windfall.

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