Think all workers can participate in a retirement plan? Think again! According to a 2019 study by the Pension Rights Center* out of 139 million full and part-time workers, only 56% are participating in a work sponsored retirement plan. Only 12% of employers with less than 100 employees even offer a 401(k) plan**. As…
This week I am thrilled to interview real estate attorney and fellow volunteer Jill Klancke of Klancke and Cook Attorneys at Law. Jill’s bio and contact information follows the interview, but for the sake of newsletter formatting I want to get straight to the Q&A. Turns out, real estate attorneys have a front row…
Have Suze Orman, Jim Kramer, or Dave Ramsay ever encouraged you to use the back door? No, not a sexy affair with a finance celebrity! I’m talking about a Backdoor Roth Contribution. First, some basics Roth IRAs allow you to contribute up to $6,000 per year ($7,000 if you are aged 50+) to an…
Ah, 2020. In hindsight, it won’t seem so bad. Or it will. Who knows, but here are some new milestones we have reached so far this year. These are in no particular order and you can decide if they are good or more signs of the coming apocalypse. Bush’s Beans created a record-breaking 70-Layer dip…
Sure, Twitter is the place where internet trolls and certain politicians go to make people cry. But it can also be where people show off their wittiest writing. Enjoy these funny comments about Halloween. * U can give out anything on Halloween it doesn’t have to be candy last year I gave a kid…
There is an old saying that goes, “If you don’t hate at least one investment in your portfolio, you aren’t really diversified.” It’s a clever reminder that not having your eggs in one basket means that some of your baskets will look really ratty while others are full of chocolate bunnies and decorated with bows. …
What is it about fall that makes me think of apples? Caramel apples for Halloween? Remembering the Peanuts characters bobbing for apples in The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown? That was a gross activity always, likely never to be done again post-COVID. Whatever the reason, cooler temperatures have me craving Linda Slaughter’s Apple Cake. So easy…
Am I worried about the upcoming election? Sure, who wouldn’t be? No matter where you sit on the political spectrum, you likely think your guy not winning spells the end of the country. That’s not my particular worry. The US has survived bad presidents before, and it will again. No, my concern is how…
For someone who never shuts up, you may be surprised that I get frustrated at my ability to communicate. These days that really hits home when I’m trying to explain to clients why selling all their investments due to stock market volatility is a bad idea. Waiting for things to get better is a bad…
Recently I took an online class that introduced The Spend Safely Strategy. As with most training you take, there was some rehashing of stuff I’d heard before, a couple of new nuggets of info, and some new ways of communicating old ideas. Here are a couple of takeaways: First: Only one quarter of SS…
