Dear Dave, My husband and I are on Baby Step 3b, and we’re saving for a house. We’re out of debt and both of us make good money, plus we each have 20-year level term life insurance policies with coverage equaling 10 times our individual incomes. We also have an emergency fund equal to six months of expenses. I recently received a promotion at work, with a subsequent raise of $10,000. Should I update my life insurance policy to reflect this new income? —Maria
American families don’t save money like they used to. In 2018, the personal saving rate hovered somewhere around 7 percent. That’s up from an all-time low of 3 percent right before the Great Recession hit, but it’s well below the rate of a few decades ago.
Planning for retirement is a long-term program. A well-prepared retiree shouldn’t just turn in his key card after only a week, a month or even a year of analysis and planning for post-career needs. Retirement requires decades of making down-the-road decisions about investments.
Many of us take the opportunity during the holiday season to reinforce to our children the concept of giving. But are we doing enough to make sure this concept gets woven into their everyday behavior? Sometimes it’s tough to involve children, particularly young ones, in charity.
If saving were easy, we all would be millionaires. But the reality is that for many households, the monthly paycheck is barely enough to cover the bills. If you’re living paycheck-to-paycheck, there are small steps you can take to stabilize your finances. Here are a few moves that might help:
For all our country’s wealth and economic prowess, this may be America’s dirtiest little secret: We don’t know much about money.
All financial experts agree, the best way to long-term wealth is through collectibles. It works like this: You buy as many “rare” things as you can. Then, in a bunch of years, whoever has the most old things wins all of the money.
Americans have a long way to go when it comes to managing money. Americans across the country are struggling to stick with basic and healthy financial habits, such as saving, reducing debt or paying their bills on time. Here are some of the key areas in which Americans may be making costly mistakes:
To the untrained eye, the shiny Washington quarter in the glass display case looks the same as the coins a fast-food restaurant cashier would give you as change.
When I was a kid, my parents taught my siblings and me the value of money by letting us earn it. We didn’t get an allowance; we earned money by doing household chores.
