The Finance Blogger

Would you pay a credit card annual fee for a credit card that gives you a number of benefits. I guess it depends on what those benefits are and whether you can actually use them or not. The writer just terminated one credit card account because it was costing $120 per year and I was not even using the card. Sure it gave me car insurance when I rented a car, health benefits for travel and purchase insurance on items that I might purchase, but if you do not use the card, then it is definitely not worth while to keep the card and continue paying the annual fee in our opinion.

So we ditched the card and now use another credit card with no annual fee that provides us with travel points which is what we are really looking for. The point is to assess the benefits, can you use them and what does it cost you to get this card.

Credit Card Annual Fee Can Be Worthwhile

Regardless of what the fee is, it is the benefits that are valuable. They are usually more valuable than the annual cost, if you use them. For example, if you rent a lot of cars and your credit card includes rental car insurance, you can save far more than the cost of the credit card. Another example is insurance for some of the things you purchase using your credit card. A friend bought an iPhone using his credit card. After the warranty was finished from Apple, his phone stopped working.

Fortunately his credit card purchase insurance paid for a new card saving him a great deal of money and paying him far more than the annual fee. Another popular benefit is cash from points that can be used to buy trips, pay for hotels and airfare. If you use these features then it can be quite valuable.

Another example is a credit card that gives you points towards a hotel chain. Marriott, Hilton and Holiday Inn all do this along with others. If you travel and stay in hotels a lot, this might be something that would be interesting. With one card we looked at they charged you $120 per year, but then gave you a coupon for one free night a year.

That pretty well pays for the annual fee and we will use this annual certificate for sure. Depends on your life style and what is valuable to you and your family!

For more thoughts and ideas about credit card use, click here.

Avoiding money mistakes, whether we are in our teens, twenties or approaching middle age, we all feel that we will live for ever, we will remain healthy and retirement is something to think about many years down the road.  This type of attitude is very common and it really does not sink in that we may have made a mistake until we are in our mid to late fifties and suddenly are faced with retirement either forced, intentional or for health reasons. It is at this time when we realize that we may have made a number of mistakes with our finances, and it is questionable whether we have enough time to recover and live comfortably in retirement.

We collected six money mistakes that many people make and wish they had avoided. Take a look and see if any of these fit your current situation. maybe it is not too late to do something about it and ensure that your retirement is actually the way that you had always dreamed.

Six Money Mistakes to Avoid

Saving Later  – the advantage of compound interest and savings can be really powerful if you begin early in your twenties, but almost worthless if you start in your fifties. By the time you hit fifty you pretty much need to save everything you will need for retirement.

Spending Before Saving – always set aside money for emergencies, for retirement and for routine repairs on cars and homes. Only after you have set these monies aside, should you consider spending on the toys that we all love to get.

Buying Expensive Items on Credit – credit card interest rates begin at 18% with some as high as 35%. Payday loans are much higher than even these ridiculous rates. Buy on credit only if you can repay the amount charged to your card on the statement due date or end up erasing any savings you might have received by buying them on sale.

Not Reviewing Health Insurance Coverage

Is one of the most expensive items in your budget next to food and shelter and yet many people do not pay attention to what the cost of the premiums are vs. the benefits they receive. not having health insurance can be just as expensive if not worse.

Ignoring Interest Rates – shaving a half a percent off your mortgage or car loan can make a huge difference in the overall cost. In some cases thousands of dollars on a mortgage for example. Ask your lender for a better percent on a loan. Ask him to show you just what the difference will be if you are able to reduce the interest rate.

Paying Too Much in Bank Fees – banks are extremely profitable and one of the reasons is the bank fees that we all pay. Once a year take a look at your bank fees to see if you can do better. Every dollar in your pocket is better than in theirs. Reducing your bank fees by $10 a month means $120 a year in savings. Who would not want that?

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Many investors find that stock market volatility gives them a great deal of concern. But there is an approach to manage investment volatility that will not keep you awake at night. It will still protect your investments from the worst swings in the market. The most recent example of market volatility is what happens in 2008, 2011, and 2018. The markets lost over 50% and many people bailed out of the stock market at that time.

Essentially locking in their losses. Many of those people and many others who were not in the markets stayed out of the equity markets. As a result, they did not participate in the huge run-up that has taken place over the past years. In fact, if you stayed in the market and did not sell your investments they have recovered. In many cases, they have also doubled from the original investment levels. Consumers and investors meed to manage investment volatility from the perspective of knowing when to hold onto them and when not to.

Manage Investment Volatility

It can be pretty scary for many people watching your investments swing, particularly if they are large swings. However, if you are well invested in blue-chip stocks, diversified, and earning decent dividends, there is less likelihood that you would be hurt over the long term with investment volatility.  In addition, we suggest that you talk to several investment advisers, assess the markets, assess the long term impacts on companies, etc to make your own decisions. Above all avoid making emotional decisions and decisions which will simply line the pockets of your investment advisers.

In other words, get involved, and do the work needed to manage investment volatility impacts on your own investments so that you can make intelligent decisions. If there is one thing we have learned, no one and that includes the investment advisers has a crystal ball that accurately tells us where the markets will go. The advisers make their money selling and trading stocks, so before you take their advice, check it out yourself.

For more posts about investing advice, click here.

It is so easy to get a credit card today, with limited creditworthiness, low credit ratings and sometimes even with bad credit. You would almost think that these salespeople are selling credit cards are on a commission. They seem to get paid by the number of new customers they sign up. This occurs regardless of the client and their ability to pay the balance at the end of the month. As consumers, we get pre-approved credit card applications in the mail every week. At stores and banks, we are offered credit card applications. We can usually be approved on the spot. We once purchased new appliances, were asked if we wanted to take out a credit card to pay for them. As an incentive, they offered $100 off the price of the purchased items.

We obviously said yes and were approved within a few minutes, no questions asked. They did not tell us that the interest rate on unpaid balances was 29%. But it did not matter to us. We had the money to purchase the appliances in the first place. We just paid it off when the monthly statement arrived.

Get a Credit Card Today – Watch Your Credit Rating

With all of these credit card products available it can be tempting. It can be actually fairly easy to end up with many credit cards. What consumers may not realize is that having all of these cards actually means you can incur a great deal of debt.

The credit rating agencies will lower your rating correspondingly because of your exposure whether you use them or not. Next time you apply for a loan or a mortgage, for example, there is a chance you could be turned down due to a poor credit rating which comes as a surprise to many people.

If you have a lot of credit cards due to various reasons, you may want to close the accounts to protect your credit rating. It could take up to a year for the credit card to come off of your credit report. So take this into account if you are applying for a mortgage or a loan of some kind in the future.

For more details about credit cards, click here.

Are you planning to leave an inheritance? Apparently 46% of boomers plan to leave an inheritance to their kids and other family members. This is a noble thing to do for many families. It is an excellent way to help your kids out. But the real questions is what do the parents need to sacrifice to enable them to leave the inheritance to them? What did they give up in their retirement years in terms of the things they like to or would like to do? What about health related issues. Did they receive the health care they needed during retirement or did they do with less in terms of health care to enable their retirement?

Are you planning to Leave an Inheritance – Personal Decision

This question is a very personal question. We know many people who say they plan to spend every cent they have and leave nothing for their families, the tax man or anyone else for that matter. Then there is the other extreme of consumer who will scrimp and save all of their lives so that they can leave a large inheritance to their children. Both parties are obviously happy with their decisions, however one wonders if something in the middle would not be better where they get to enjoy their savings and still leave something for the kids and other family members.

How to Decide on Your Inheritance

The basic rule of thumb is to add up all of your debts, all of your assets and determine if there will be money left over for your heirs. If you expect to live longer, then you also must take into account your income and expenses over the rest of your life along with any special expenses you may have for trips, health related costs and so on. The net result will be a basic budget that will tell you among other things, whether you have enough to live on during your retirement as well as whether you will have enough to leave your family an inheritance.

Emotionally this provides many people with a feel good feeling that they are leaving something to their families which they know will help them out in their lifetimes.

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Are your savings on track for retirement? Many consumers do not even give it a seconds thought until they suddenly find themselves being pushed out of their jobs early due to downsizing, layoffs or even company bankruptcy. Whatever the reason, consumers should really consider protecting themselves and complete an assessment of whether their savings are on track for their retirement.

Start with the assessment of what you can expect from your company when you retire. If you are lucky enough to have a company pension plan, most will provide an estimate of what you can expect in terms of income at various stages of retirement. Next assess your savings now, how much you expect to add to your savings until retirement and how much you expect your savings to grow based on your investment strategy. Most people will assume that they can take 4% of the total savings at retirement each year. This will give them an 80% chance of their savings lasting throughout their retirement.

Are Your Savings on Track for Retirement – Risk Assessment

Once you have your basic plan as mentioned above, you now can decide if you have sufficient funds in your savings and whether you are saving enough for retirement. Perhaps you will need to increase your savings to ensure that you have enough money at retirement to live in the manner that you would like.

The next step is to complete a risk assessment. Ask yourself the following questions. Assess the probability of these situations developing in your specific case. Develop plans to help deal with the situation. For example, what would happen to your retirement plan if your company laid you off early,. Or perhaps downsized you or worse went bankrupt taking your retirement plan with it?

Another question concerns your savings. Are you invested diversely. In other words do you have all of your investments in one company. Have you spread it around to manage your investment risk? Some consumers have placed all of  their savings with one stock only to have the stock crash and they are left with nothing.

Practice diverse investing to avoid this risk. Once you have completed your risk assessment, develop plans to deal with the risk. Evaluate your plan once a year at the minimum to take into account any changes in your life. Which ones should you  consider to achieve your retirement dreams.

For more suggestions about saving for retirement, click here.

It is about time that banks stop offering payday-like loans. Payday loans are notoriously expensive for consumers. When interest rates are so low, consumers should be able to find loans at very low interest rates. Unfortunately unless you have really excellent credit ratings, most consumers will not receive the low interest rate offers.  Instead they are offered high interest rate loans. This reflects the perceived increased risk that the banks perceive. This really costs the consumer a lot more money. Now that the banks stop offering payday-like loans, does this mean that they will now offer low interest rate loans to more people or does it mean they cannot get a loan at all from the bank.

Banks stop offering payday-like loans – costs

Consider a loan at current low interest rates of 3% vs a higher interest rate loan of 10% for $5000 over a 5 year term. Note that payday loans are much higher in terms of interest rates, however we will just compare these two to illustrate the difference in cost for a loan with a 7% higher cost rate.

The 3% loan over 5 years for $5000 will cost $381.18 in total interest costs and has a monthly payment of $88.46. The same loan with a 10% interest rate over 5 years and $5000 will cost $1,270.59 in total interest costs and has a monthly payment of $103.08!

This is a significant difference in total costs. Imagine the interest costs and monthly payments for a payday loan with much higher interest rates. Even credit card rates are not as high as pay day loan rates and credit cards carry a 20% interest rate charge. In addition there are often processing fees attached to these loans and if you miss a payment, the fees are astronomical. Consumers would do well to avoid these loans and just not spend the money that got them into a situation where they needed to borrow the money in the first place.

Banks stop offering payday loans – Loan Availability

Let’s hope that those people without perfect credit ratings, but not bad credit ratings, can qualify for low interest rate loans instead of the payday loans. They will save a tremendous amount of money by being able to pay only 3% for a loan. Time will tell whether the banks loosen the purse strings when it comes to payday loans.

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Many people have had their credit card numbers stolen and know how it feels to have your privacy invaded. We all need to protect our credit cards to avoid this invasion of privacy. We can avoid expensive hits to our bank accounts as well. Most credit card companies will cover your losses if your card is stolen and charges mount up. However, you also suffer the loss of your card at the same time. Consumers are unable to use it until a new one is sent to you. There are at least seven different ways to protect your credit card. Follow these steps to avoid the invasion of privacy and the frustration of having to cancel your account.

Ways to Protect your Credit Card

Don’t Give Out Your Digits to Just Anyone

Never give out your credit card number over the phone. Unless you are 100% confident of who you are dealing with, especially where someone has called you. They could be scam artists looking for credit card numbers.

Make Friends With the Shredder

Shred everything that has your name and account number on it. Thieves have been known to go through peoples mail to find credit card account information

Say No to Password Storage

Keep all of your passwords in a safe place. Do not write them down, but there are just too many. Saving them in the cloud makes it easy for hackers to get at them. Save them locally.

Review Those Statements

Go over your statement in detail to review and avoid any charges that are not yours. Thieves love to charge small amounts on cards to test them and to go under the radar.

Check Your Address

Always confirm your address on your account statements.

Sign Up for Text Alerts

Both text alerts and email alerts can let you know when charges above a specified limit are charged to your card. Consequently, this is an excellent method of keeping tabs on your account automatically.

Don’t Delay in Reporting

Report your unknown charges immediately. If you wait too long, the credit card company may dispute some of the charges which you could then become liable for.

Protect your Credit Card by following these steps. Pay attention to the details about what is being charged to your account.

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Our last post discussed how critical the first decade of retirement is. This post is focusing on the adjustment in the first decade of retirement. We all have to think about as we make the transition from working/career to a life of retirement. For some, it is not easy. While for others who were looking forward to retirement they make the transition with ease. What will your transition be like? What adjustments will you make in the first decade of retirement?

The adjustments must occur on many different levels. There is the financial one of course. Learning to live on your pension and savings may be difficult for some who experience less money as a result of lower earnings.  With more hours in the day to fill since you are not working, some will turn to volunteer work, others will get a job and many will focus on grandchildren and family. There is the emotional side of the adjustments saga. You may miss your colleagues at work, your family may have a tough time having you around so much and underfoot.

Adjustments in First Decade of Retirement

Even after you have been retired for a few years, adjustments may still be needed. Your finances have settled down, you have fallen into a routine and you’re enjoying life.  Health issues may creep into the picture. you may decide to downsize your home and you will have expenses that were not planned for.

The stock market is up and down and the worry is that you may lose money in a down market. Remember that you only lock in your losses when you sell. For many consumers who are invested in quality stocks and mutual funds, this will be just a phase and the markets will recover. Withdrawing money in a down market from your savings can change your financial plan significantly. Timing your withdrawals in times when the markets are at their highest point can make a huge difference in how long your savings will last.

Many consumers will work with a reputable financial adviser to help them through these adjustments to ensure that their savings outlast them and provide the type of lifestyle they are looking for.

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The first decade, in fact the first year of retirement is critical for many reasons on many different levels. First of all you are no longer working. Secondly your financial situation may not be what you expected, while at the very least you are trying to figure out what the final impact will be. Then there is the emotional part of suddenly being retired and wondering what you will do next. Perhaps you retired sooner than you planned, or not under the best of circumstances.

Whatever your situation, dealing with all of these issues along with being with your spouse much more than you  used to contributes to a critical first decade in retirement. In this post we are going to focus on your finances and how best to deal with that situation. Generally speaking if money issues are ok, then many of the other issues will also work themselves out.

Critical First Decade in Retirement – Take Control

Develop a budget that illustrates all of your monthly / annual income along with all of your expenses. This will give you the first indication of whether you will have sufficient money to do the things you desire to do in retirement. Include budgeted amounts for trips, for projects or whatever you plan to do in your retirement.

Chances are that in the first ten years you will still have your health and will be able enjoy many of the things that you love to do. While making your budget include sufficient funds to make sure you can take that trip or purchase the fancy car or whatever it is you are looking to do. Unless you are blessed with great genes, your 2nd ten years may not allow you to do as many things as you did in the first ten years. This is just reality that we all have to face.

Investing properly, avoiding overspending and paying close attention to how you spend your money will help deliver the kind of retirement that you are planning. Build a budget that includes your income, daily expenses, annual expenses, and long term items. For example replacing a car or major maintenance items on the house and of course that trip you always planned. Some consumers may want to help the kids with their own homes or also the grand children.

For lots more retirement ideas and information, click here.

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Credit cards, they are the problem for most consumers when it comes to cash flow management. If you cannot pay your credit card bill on the due date then you are having trouble with cash flow management. It is that simple. The standard rule is that you should not be charging anything to a credit card that you do not have the cash to pay for when the credit card statement arrives. This includes Christmas and other holidays such as a vacation. Credit cards carry high interest rates for any unpaid balance. If your cash flow management was difficult before, then it gets worse when you also have to pay interest on the debt. Especially if the interest charged is at 20% or higher as in the case of store based credit cards.

Cash Flow Management : How to Manage

If you are having difficult managing your money, the first approach is to put your credit cards away and pay cash for everything. It will be a difficult period since you still need to repay your credit card debt, but at least it will not grow or continue at the level that it is currently at. If you are collecting points towards airfare, hotels or even cash, forget it. The interest you are being charged will be more than what you will save using a these points. Once the debt is repaid, then continue paying cash for everything. If you do not have the cash, they it means you should not be spending that money since you do not have it.

Cash Flow Management : Set a budget

This is often very difficult for many people. You need to decide how much you will spend on discretionary things such as entertainment and eating meals out. Pay your mandatory bills first and then all of your groceries and things that your children and family need. Everything else is discretionary and you need to make sure that you have enough cash to pay for everything especially as you near the next payday.

Develop an emergency fund and also a fund for savings that you want to save for, whether it is a vacation or something special that you need to purchase. Continue to pay cash and focus on cash flow management to avoid further debt.

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The biggest challenge most consumers have is how to manage cash flow and pay all of their bills on time. Some thoughts on how to take control of your cash flow include the following. Setting a budget, balancing your income vs. expenses, paying cash for everything instead of using credit cards. Only make large purchases when you actually have the cash to pay for the item. For most people, this would be a very tough pill to swallow. Especially if they gave up using their credit cards. Credit cards are certainly convenient since they eliminate the need to carry cash. However, they can also be dangerous to your debt situation.

They also have all kinds of incentives which can be used to buy gifts and travel. Incentives are based on how much you use them. However as part of being able to manage cash flow, you must be able to pay the full balance on the statement due date. If you do not, you pay high-interest charges.

Manage Cash Flow: Save for Emergencies

We all have financial emergencies from time to time. It could be the car needing repairs, a new furnace, a major repair of some kind for the house etc. Or even the loss of a job. Building an emergency fund will not only give you peace of mind since you do not need to worry about these things, your monthly cash flow will not be affected since you already have the funds to meet the needs of the emergency.

Manage Cash Flow: Spend Surplus Money at the end of the Month

Once you know you have paid all of your bills, set aside money for emergencies and also any savings you may be planning for, only then can you spend the extra money that is left over on items that you may be looking at and were thinking about buying on credit.  If your saving for some large expensive item, this extra money can be set aside for that item to be purchased at a later date.

Many people get in trouble by spending money before they actually have it and get further into debt because they now have to pay interest on the debt. Manage cash flow to avoid these situations and save for emergencies.

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Are you being bombarded with credit card low interest advertisements? Most people will get an email or a regular piece of mail advertising the low interest credit card easily once a week or in some cases more often. The question is should you take advantage of these low interest credit card offers?

In general consumer should avoid credit cards. If you need to have a credit card to cover purchases that you already have the cash for that’s fine. Carrying a credit card is much easier than carrying large amounts of cash to pay for things.

Credit Cards Low Interest

As a financial adviser, we suggest that you carry two credit cards at all times. The first one should be used on a regular basis for all of your purchases. You can use it to collect points, or other kinds of discounts including credit for rental cars, hotels and airfare. The second card should only be used as a backup. This would be in situations where The bank network fails, which actually happened to The writer, or if you need to make a large purchase and your main credit card cannot handle the size of the purchase.

Regardless of whether you carry one or two credit cards, always pay the total balance on the due date. This will ensure that you avoid paying extra charges. Interest accrues on balances that are carried forward past the due date. Interest rates on credit cards may start as low as one or 2%. However after an initial period, sometimes as long as six months that rate will increase to 19% for Bank credit cards and 29% for store based credit cards.

Do Not Apply for Many Credit Cards

Always refrain from applying to a lot of credit cards with low interest rates. You may save some money initially. The interest you pay on any overdue balance or the impact that will have on your credit card rating and your overall credit rating will be more than offset by the additional interest you pay.

If you already happen to have a number of credit cards and do not use them, you may want to take the unusual step of closing these accounts to improve your overall credit rating. It could take as long as a year or even more for your credit rating to reflect that these accounts are now closed but at least you made a step in the right direction.

For more posts about dealing with credit card interest rates, click here.

The number of low-interest credit cards, loyalty credit cards, bank credit cards and any other kind of credit card that you can imagine is almost mind-boggling. There are many credit cards available now. It is not difficult for the average consumer to figure out what kind of credit card they should carry in their wallet or purse.

The writer recently went through the exercise of rationalizing the credit cards that we had. We ended up closing four or five credit card accounts because we simply had too many credit cards. These were old credit card accounts that we had not used in several years. The reason we had these credit card accounts is that we open them at some time in the past to take advantage of a discount that was being offered as part of a sale. Even 10% on a large item can save you a hundred dollars if it is costing around $1000.

Low interest credit cards

The problem with all of these credit cards is that it can affect your credit rating. A poor credit rating can make it difficult to arrange for a loan, a mortgage, or even another credit card. We decided to close these accounts especially since we were not using them. Now we are focusing our transactions on one or two accounts which we can control much easier.

We were also surprised to find out that it could take up to a year before these old credit card accounts would be wiped out of our credit rating report. If you find yourself in this situation take action immediately. Close the accounts by calling the credit card agency and officially closing the account. Then cut the credit card up or send it back to the company.

The deal with low-interest credit cards also only usually lasts for six months. After that period any balance that you carry on your credit card account will be charged a regular interest-rate. Which is usually 21% for bank credit cards and 29% for store credit cards. This is another cost to avoid. It is another reason for closing these accounts which you might be tempted to use at some point in time.

You can save a great deal more money simply by paying cash. Or paying your credit card account on the due date on each statement. Or avoiding using credit cards altogether. It might mean that you have to wait until you can afford it, but that is better than paying interest charges to the credit card companies at high-interest rates.

For more posts about dealing with credit card interest rates, click here.

Most grandparents love to babysit the grandchildren. This is a chore that they absolutely enjoy and look forward to. However if you’re baby sitting every day or several times a week it can be sometimes more than you can handle depending on your health and the temperament of your grandchildren.

When they move in with you and it is assumed that you will be baby sitting some basic ground rules are really required to ensure that there are no disagreements and it is not a larger burden than what you can handle. For example establishing a schedule so that everyone knows who will be baby sitting and which days you have off is a huge advantage as well as a basic communication device.

Baby Sitting – Emergencies

Every once in a while there will be emergencies. For example if your children cannot get home in time from work. They may need you to pick up your grandchildren from the babysitter, daycare or school. This is something that can usually be accommodated quite easily. On the other hand if it is assumed that you will do this several times a week. Some discussion is really required to make sure that you’re not being taken advantage of. They really need to get their jobs in order. Travel times need to be nailed down so that they can fulfill their own responsibilities.

Always communicate up front and never let anything fester. If you keep it inside eventually there will be an explosion of emotion. This can cause long-term damaging issues between relationships. This is really the last thing you want to have happen between you and your children. For most grand parents it would break their hearts if they can no longer see their grand children.

No one needs that, so if you have a concern deal with it quickly. Though it may generate conflict at the time it will be far less then if you allowed it to continue.  Communication is one of the most important skills you can have when it comes to dealing with family issues.

For more thoughts about how to deal with adult children, click here.

Your adult married children have just moved out just into their new house and now is time to start cleaning after the kids move out. You have to clean up and straighten up after they’ve been in your house for two or three months. This is the situation we found ourselves in recently. We’ve been writing a number of posts about the experience of having our married children and one grandchild move in with us for a period of three months.

They were actually very good about keeping the house clean and certainly their area of the house. Both our son-in-law and our daughter are quite neat. However like everyone even though you take care you must clean house once in a while. When they moved out we were pretty busy with the move and helping them get established in their new home. They also had to clean the place they were moving into as well, move and arrange everything in their new home. They were excited about their new house and rightly so. We focused on helping them move, getting them settled in. Then we cleaned our own place.

Cleaning After the Kids Move Out – What to Focus on

We had to do the typical stuff, such as change all of the beds, vacuum all the rooms. We also tidied up after they left. There were a few things that they forgot which we took over to them. Then my wife decided it was time to redecorate. This had nothing to do with our children living at home. Rather she just got in the mood and lo and behold my work was cut out for me over the next three months.

The job of redecorating is actually a side issue. The real message here is that when your kids move in with you you need to establish some ground rules. This includes keeping their end of the bargain. Keeping the up with house cleaning and vacuuming on a regular basis and doing their own laundry. If you don’t have these ground rules It can get pretty messy or you will end up doing all the work yourself.

Establish those basic ground rules and your job of cleaning up the house after they move out will not be a very large one. For more posts about living with adult children, click here.

We recently came across these guidelines for managing your investments which are pretty straightforward and simple with regards to investing and building a retirement plan.

These guidelines made sense to us and are easy to remember, however for many people are very hard to implement.

The Managing your investments guidelines are as follows:

Invest in long-term stock; it is a marathon, not a sprint. Start early and treat it as a marathon investment plan.

Invest based on factual information that you can collect from your financial adviser, as well as reading news, the news items, and following information released from companies you’re investing in.

Keep your emotions out of your decisions. Greed, envy, and following the crowd are strange ways of influencing your decisions. Stick to the facts.

Focus on quality stocks that pay dividends regularly and also that have a history of increasing their dividends year-over-year.

If you can start early investing for retirement, plan in a conservative manner, follow diverse investing and using several financial advisers there is an excellent chance that you will save sufficient money to provide for your retirement and the quality-of-life level that you prefer. Start early and it is much easier to achieve these objectives

Keep your emotion Out of Managing your investments

This is one of the most difficult things to do overall. Imagine you have been saving a nice nest egg of investments. Everything is going well, and it is growing as fast if not faster than the market. Suddenly the market decides to take a correction, which it does every few years. Suddenly your investment value drops by 30% to 40%, and you are overwhelmed by the loss in your savings.

The first thing to remember is that it is only a loss if you sell now at a loss. The market has gone through many corrections over the years and then recovered. Even in 1929, which was the most significant correction we have ever had, the market recovered and far surpassed that loss. Keeping your emotions out of the decision is hard to do, but one of the most important things to do when managing your investments.

For more posts about investing, click here.

This is another post about adult children moving back with their parents. In this particular post, we are going to discuss the issues around or associated with the stress of moving. Also covered are how to handle them.

Moving at the best of times can be stressful for many people. There are a lot of things to coordinate, signing all of the legal documents, making arrangements with the bank for the mortgage or loan, paying the rent ahead of time, booking the truck to move, and arranging with friends to assist in the moving activity are all part of the move and can cause a lot of stress.

Stress of Moving

The best way to avoid stress associated movie is to make sure that everything is well planned.

Prepare a Check list of the things that you need to do associated with the move. If you’re the parents of the adult children that are moving out of your home, this is something that you may want to discuss with your children to ensure that there are no last minute hiccups. By the time they move out, you’re probably ready for them to leave so that you can get your house back. You don’t want any last-minute problems that force them to stay longer.

Focus on the big things, reserve the truck well in advance, arranging for a lawyer if you’re buying a home, talk to the bank about making arrangements for the mortgage, make arrangements for people to help with the move. All of the other little things can be looked after on the fly. Stay calm and focus on the move rather than getting frazzled by all the small details.

When the Kids Move Out

You’re going to miss the kids once they have moved out. If they have kids of their own, you will especially miss the grand kids as well. Although there will be times there was some conflict; if you have worked through these issues, and found the space needed, then you will have mixed feelings about them leaving. You may even be happy to see them move out and get your house back. You will also miss them very much. Both emotions are okay and to be expected.

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We are continuing with our series of articles about situations where the adult children have moved back home with their parents. This particular post is about preparing for the children to move out. Planning to move out is just as big a job as moving in. Sometimes these situations cannot be avoided and the parents must arrange for their children to move back home until they find a job, find a new house, or get their financial affairs in order.

When the time comes for the adult children and perhaps grandchildren to move out is a good idea to be really well organized.

Planning to Move Out – be Organized

In most cases, your house has been used as a storage area while they have been looking for another home. In most cases they will take 90% of everything they brought with them to the new location. But there will be some things that they do not have room for, or do not want, or forget to take with them.

As a parent it is probably a good idea to have a conversation with your adult children. Discuss what will be left behind and what they will take. You may need to make sure you have Long term storage available for these items. If they are not being taken and are not wanted you may also want to sell them in a garage sale. Some things can just be thrown out in the garbage if they are not usable.

Before disposing of any items always make sure that you discuss this with your children to avoid any conflict. Would you consider as garbage may be something of value that they had a planed use for.

The last point  is that you may also want to have a conversation about who is going to help with the move. In some cases the kids expect the adults to help i.e. parents or grandparents. Where as others will make arrangements with all of their friends to help them move. If this is something you’re comfortable with then by all means give them a hand. But not every grandparent is physically capable of doing this hard work.

It is all about communication. Reach a common understanding about all of the issues associated with planning to move from your parents home.

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This post is a continuing series of articles about when adult children move back with their parents. We covered a number of topics over the past two months. However, this one is about balancing the workload and pulling your weight while living at home.

Imagine if your daughter, son-in-law, and the children suddenly moved back into your house. How much extra work would there be with all of these extra people in your home? Should the parents take on the job of cleaning, laundry, cooking all the meals, and other chores as a result of the kids moving back home?

Pulling your Weight

It can easily happen, especially if the parents are retired. Or if one of the parents is staying at home while everybody else goes out to work and to daycare. Ground rules need to be established before the children move back. Ensure that the workload is spread evenly and everyone pulls their weight.

For example, laundry can be an issue for many people. It is easier for the spouse who stays home to do the laundry during the day while everybody’s at work however this means extra laundry, folding, ironing, and putting laundry away. Cooking is another example of extra work. Should the parents buy all the groceries and prepare all the meals?

Every family must work out their own personal situation. We happened to think that the children should be responsible for cleaning their own rooms and living area. We are quite comfortable, vacuuming, and cleaning the common areas of the house.

Regarding meals, one way to divide up the workload is for one person to cook, and another person to set the table, and another person to do the cleanup afterward i.e. washing the dishes and putting them away. Of course, the children need to be looked after, after the meal, bath, storytime, etc. so this is all part of the equation.

Regardless of how you work it out, setting the ground rules ahead of time and following these ground rules will make everyone’s life acceptable and avoid any increased level of frustration for the children, adults, moving back with the parents. This applies to short term as well as the long term moving arrangements.

Those are our thoughts about pulling your weight when children move back into the home with their parents. Let us know what you think.

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