6 Bad Financial Habits to Give Up This Month

Did you know that October is Financial Planning Month, which serves as a useful, annual checkpoint to make sure you are on track to meet your long-term financial goals.

Bad financial habits, though they seem inconsequential, create a burden on your financial health. Small changes can make a big impact on your future. Are you guilty of any of the following six habits? #FinancialPlanningMonth is a great time to take a look at where your money is going, or not going and make some changes.

BAD HABIT #1

NOT MATCHING YOUR EMPLOYERS CONTRIBUTION

This is one is easy...it's free money people! If you have a retirement account with your employer, there’s a pretty good chance your employer offers a match. What does that mean? They match what you put in, usually up to a certain percentage, in other words...free money. The catch, you don't contribute, they don't match. You're missing a huge opportunity here if you don't take advantage of this benefit.

BAD HABIT #2

NOT PLANNING YOUR MEALS AHEAD OF TIME

We're all guilty of this. You're running late for work and you don't pack your lunch or you have a thousand different places to be after work (meetings, school events, sporting events, etc...). Eating out is often the easy solution. But it can become an expensive habit. “I’ve got nothing at home” or “I don’t feel like cooking” quickly turns into a meal costing $15 to $20 or more per person. That doesn’t take long to add up or put a dent in your long-term financial planning goal. Take an hour or two over the weekend to plan your meals, make a list and hit the store!

BAD HABIT #3

NOT STICKING TO YOUR BUDGET

You’ve done the hard work of creating a written budget. You’ve listed all your expenses, recorded where every dime of your paycheck goes and set realistic goals. There’s just one problem – you’re having a hard time sticking to your plan.

You won't reach those goals if you don't put in the work. Being in control of where your money goes each month gives you a feeling of control and helps you plan for the future. No matter what your financial dream is, a budget is the first step toward getting there.

CLICK HERE TO START PLANNING YOUR FUTURE!

BAD HABIT #4

IGNORING YOUR CREDIT

At least once a year, you should review your credit report. Why? To look for evidence of identity theft and reporting errors. Imagine going to apply for a mortgage only to find that your credit score sank due to a bank reporting error. Visit Annual Credit Report to request your free report.

BAD HABIT #5

NOT HAVING AN EMERGENCY FUND

Your car breaks down, the washer goes up, you get sick and miss work, how are you going to pay for these if you're living paycheck to paycheck? A bump in the road could be catastrophic if you're not prepared. An emergency fund can help you stop adding to your debt with each bump in the road. It is easier to pay extra money on debt right away when you have a cushion for unexpected expenses.

BAD HABIT #6

NOT CREATING FINANCIAL GOALS

Setting short-term, mid-term, and long-term financial goals is an important step toward becoming financially secure. If you aren’t working toward anything specific, you’re likely to spend more than you should.

Financial advisors exist for the same reason that mechanics and doctors exist – people can’t expect to know how to do everything on their own.  For advice on these or any other bad financial habits, don’t hesitate to reach out to us for help.

ARE YOU READY TO RETIRE? WE ARE HERE TO HELP!

I'm Behind on My Retirement Savings, What Should I Do?

I want to share with you how to catch up on those #retirement savings! There has been a lot of articles about Americans being behind on retirement savings and yes this is true. You can look at the 08 crash, where you are now, everything has become so expensive, college tuition, I get and I absolutely understand it. Let’s go over some high-level ideas to help you get on track and hopefully, reach your goals. First up, let’s talk about the investment side. Always start with your 401k, your SIMPLE your 403(b), your TSP, etc… If you are working, and your company has some type of plan, that is the best place to start. Why? Because it's tax free! Then you want to make sure you are taking advantage of the companies match program. Now if you're over 50 you make a catch-up contribution. The catch-up rate is $6,000 and contributions for these plans are limited to $19,000. That's a lot of money over time.

So from there you should look at your Roth IRA and your #IRA. Personally, I like the Roth IRA better because when you retire, you want to have some money you can get to without having to pay taxes. The next thing is having it automated, like you would a bill, so that it comes out of your account every single month.

Moving on to health savings accounts, these are great because you have an opportunity to put money in tax-free and take it out tax-free. Here is a fun fact for you, did you know you can make a one-time transfer from your IRA to your HSA and it's tax free? Take advantage of it, let it grow, great idea!

Lets shift gears and talk about needs/wants... Nobody likes to cut budgets but sometimes you have no choice if you want to retire in the near future. Figuring out what you need and what want can be challenging.

Another idea, the minimalist revolution. Minimizing your life is indeed the way to go, especially if you are trying to save for the big picture.

I WANT TO LEARN MORE ABOUT CREATING A FINANCIAL PLAN

You can also take up a "Side Hustle" For those of you who aren't familiar with that term, this means a second job, or a weekend gig. Or maybe you could look into a rental property? Something along those lines.

Our side hustle is marketing. We support several advisers around the country with social media advertising and video content. You have to be creative and think outside of the box! I strongly believe that people do not plan to fail, they fail to plan. It is as simple as that, create a financial plan, stick to it, and everything else will fall into place.

#savingforretirement #financialplanning #playingcatchup

Dollar Cost Averaging: What is It and When Does It Pay to Use It?

Dollar Cost Averaging. What is it and when does it pay to use it? First off, in our business, we love acronyms so for DCA, it is dollar cost averaging. Basically it's a strategy that allows an investor to buy the same dollar amount of an investment in regular intervals.

So, for instance your 401K. Let's say you're contributing to that every week or two weeks, depending on your pay cycle. Each time you make that investment, it's a set amount, for example twenty-five dollars to fifty dollars per pay period, however, you'll be buying different level of shares.

Let's look at some examples:

First example, let's say if you start with a lump sum. You have ten thousand dollars to invest, fifty dollars share price, two hundred shares owned. Pretty simple. But of course with investing, what happens when you sell it? So here I show three scenarios, forty, sixty, and eighty dollars. As you see at forty, of course, that would be a loss because you bought it fifty and then at sixty and eighty you would have profits. Now you see the two hundred shares so let's now look at a flat market. Hello. Where are we right now and 2018 to May 2019, flat. No question about it.

Let's take that same ten thousand dollars. Split it up into four different transactions. Fifty dollars, forty dollars, sixty dollars and fifty dollars. Now in this scenario you own two hundred and four shares. Sell it. Strike price, forty, sixty, eighty. Two losses and then a profit on the last one.

So let's look at a falling market. Ten thousand dollars, split it up, fifty dollars, forty dollars, thirty dollars and twenty-five dollars. So now, as you see, we've accumulated two hundred and ninety five shares, which is pretty good. Same investment, more shares to sell at forty dollars, sixty dollars, and eighty dollars, all scenarios are profitable. That is obviously a good time to do this.

Let's look at a rising market. So after a cycle, you had the crash, you're doing the same thing. Split up, four transactions, fifty dollars, sixty-five dollars, seventy-five dollars and eighty dollars. As you see, in this scenario, we only buy one hundred and fifty five shares. Again it's all about owning those shares. And, as you see, similar scenario, worse loss, flat at sixty dollars , strike price, and then eighty, profit but obviously not as strong.

So conclusion, we showed you four different scenarios, a falling market is the best time to really utilize this strategy. So if you're a new investor start doing it this way. Now if you're in a 401K, continue it, but obviously you should have some type of strategy to put something on the sidelines, if the market breaks and if you want to know about that click on our latest market update. So, dollar cost averaging, DCA, great strategy in certain markets, okay strategy in others.