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The Risks of Delaying Investing: How Procrastination Can Cost You Substantially
The Power of Compound Interest One of the most compelling reasons to start investing early is the power of compound interest. Compound interest is the interest earned on the initial investment as well as on the accumulated interest. In other words, when you invest, your money can grow exponentially over time. To illustrate this point,…
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Does a Better “Investment Returns Recipe” Actually Matter?
Singing the investment returns blues? Your investment returns aren’t performing as well as you planned? Does your Morningstar investment rating show 5 stars, but your actual investment returns only show 1 star? You might need a better investment returns recipe! Not too long ago, I looked at a client’s portfolio and found a gap between…
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Why your investing strategy may inadvertently be harming women’s equity!
Are you inadvertently harming women’s equity with your investing strategy? If you are investing to get the returns of the S&P 500 without considering how these investments affect women, then the answer is yes. Of the approximately 5000 stock indexes available in the U.S., the most widely known and followed is the S&P 500. The…
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Match Retirement Savings with Tax Benefits
I was recently asked to help some independent contractors with their retirement savings needs. Many people try to use some preset thought process of how to save for retirement. Often it is based on getting a matching contribution or some rule of thumb such as saving 10% of their income. If you are an independent contractor…
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Turn Defined Contribution Plans into an Employee Benefit?
Few people refer to their 401(k) as a “defined contribution plan.” In fact, many people appear to perceive a 401(k) or for that matter a 403(b) plan as an “investment plan.” Many employers view their 401(k) plan as an optional, take-it-or-leave-it employee benefit. Historically, people who went into teaching and other public sector careers received…
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Do You Need a Boost Towards Greater Financial Independence?
What’s your definition of having greater financial independence? I believe we should retire the word retirement and use financial independence instead. When you hear retirement, do you think of things like not working, receiving Social Security, and the like? You aren’t alone. Some people believe financial independence means a money windfall, like winning the lottery.…
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Your Guide to Picking the Best 401k Investments
Most of us hate uncertainty. Unfortunately, picking investments almost always involves uncertainty. This is obvious if you review the long list of investments available to include in, say, a 401k investment menu. That’s because while you can look at the past performance of each investment, you ultimately have no way of knowing which investments will…
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Financial Advisor Fees Really Do Matter When Looking for Best Returns
Some people are shocked when they hear what my financial advisor fee is. Some of those people have 401(k) accounts or IRAs where they pay commissions. However, they don’t know what share class means nor do they have an idea of how much they actually pay in commissions. Some people have paid investment professionals investment…
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What Should You Really Be Getting Out of Your Financial Plan?
The term financial plan gets thrown around casually these days. The term financial advisor is, believe it or not, equally applied to insurance agents, stockbrokers, investment adviser representatives, and those with advanced designations such as the Certified Financial Professional (CFP®). That said, some financial planners will deliver, what I call, “an assessment that does not…
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Using Impact Investing to Pursue Your Vision
Are your social concerns incorporated into an impact investing plan for your retirement or other long-term goals? Maybe you have had no training in investments. Or perhaps your first introduction was the enrollment meeting for your 401(k). And maybe you saw many investments with unfamiliar names, and then you scanned the investment returns tables and…
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Recent Posts
- Misunderstood Student Loan Repayment Issues
- The Risks of Delaying Investing: How Procrastination Can Cost You Substantially
- Can a Little Financial Education Calm Your Money Fears?
- Does a Better “Investment Returns Recipe” Actually Matter?
- What is the real key to true sustainable investing?
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