Personal Finance News Saturday 12/8

Phil's Personal Finance Tip of the Day:

7 Retirement Planning Myths Debunked

Don't fall victim to misconceptions about retirement planning; 7 common myths debunked

By Dave Carpenter, AP Personal Finance Writer | Associated Press – Fri, Dec 7, 2012 10:37 AM EST

CHICAGO (AP) -- No matter how many years you are from calling it quits, it's essential to have some kind of plan in mind for financing retirement.

The days of counting on Uncle Sam and a company pension to carry you through old age are long gone.
We're living increasingly in a "yoyo" economy — short for "you're on your own."

But it's easy to get fooled by some of the many myths about retirement planning that exist on the Internet or in misguided advice passed along unwittingly by well-meaning family or friends. Heeding bad tips could cost you in the future when you can least afford it.

Here are some of the most common myths about retirement planning, and the truth behind them.

MYTH NO. 1: It's OK to postpone saving for retirement until other needs are taken care of.

Don't fall into the trap of thinking it'll be easier to save for retirement in just a few more years. There are competing, expensive needs no matter how old you are — from college loans, wedding expenses to home, kids and their college. Every year you delay means you'll need to save more in order to get on track.

"The best time to start saving for retirement is when you were 22 years old," says Stuart Ritter, a certified financial planner with T. Rowe Price in Baltimore. "The second-best time is now."

MYTH NO. 2: Medicare will take care of almost all your health care needs.

Medicare covers about half of all health care costs for those enrolled in the program. For the rest, yes, you're on your own. That means you'll be on the hook for out-of-pocket costs for uncovered services such as long-term health care as well as dental, hearing and eye care, along with supplemental insurance costs.

A 65-year-old couple retiring this year is estimated to need about $240,000 to cover medical expenses throughout retirement, according to a study of retiree health care costs by Fidelity Investments. Much of that comes in the final years of retirement.

To read the entire article from Dave Carpenter, AP Personal Finance Writer | Associated Press:

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/7-retirement-planning-myths-debunked-194705723.html;_ylt=AjEt0TehUof_Mb6pwEyABnuiuYdG;_ylu=X3oDMTRmZ21obDBoBG1pdANGUCBGb2N1cyBvbiBMaWZlbG9uZyBJbnZlc3RpbmcEcGtnA2NhNTVmZjg3LWEyMjAtMzIwOC05Mjk2LTA1NzJhMTM2MDQ5ZgRwb3MDMwRzZWMDTWVkaWFTZWN0aW9uTGlzdAR2ZXIDYWE2MTE2ZGEtNDJmMC0xMWUyLTkzZDctZWE5OGJmOTYyZjk3;_ylg=X3oDMTFpNzk0NjhtBGludGwDdXMEbGFuZwNlbi11cwRwc3RhaWQDBHBzdGNhdANob21lBHB0A3NlY3Rpb25z;_ylv=3

Inspirational Quotes@Inspire_Us from Twitter:
If you are not willing to risk the unusual, you will have to settle for the ordinary. -Jim Rohn

Personal Finance News Friday 12/7

Phil's Personal Finance Tip of the Day:

3 tips for better holiday tipping

Many consumers are still stingy when it comes to tipping

By Kelli B. Grant/MarketWatch

Holiday tips are one of the first expenses to fall by the wayside when times are tough, and they’re sometimes the last to bounce back. Even though consumers say they plan to spend more on gifts, decorations and other purchases this year, experts say tipping will remain fairly flat.

Last year, 39% of consumers didn’t tip any of their service providers, up from 38% in 2010, according to the Consumer Reports National Research Center. Average tip amounts have held steady, with $20 averages for providers including garbage collectors, teachers, hairstylists, newspaper carriers and pet-care providers.

“Tips are pretty uniform,” says Tobie Stanger, senior project editor for the Consumer Reports National Research Center, which tracks gifting for 10 different service providers. “We haven’t seen much of a change.”

Inspirational Quotes@Inspire_Us from Twitter:
I hated every minute of training, but I said, “Don’t quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion. -Muhammad Ali

Personal Finance News Thursday 12/6

Phil's Personal Finance Tip of the Day:

Best days to buy what's on your wish list this holiday season

By Clark Howard

Now that Black Friday and Cyber Monday are over, it's still possible to get great deals if you just let the calendar be your guide.

Retailers typically do 40% or more of all their annual sales during the Christmas shopping selling season. But the deals they offer are concentrated heavily at two times -- early in the season and then much later on.

So don't fall for the ploy where you see stores promoting sales that are actually non-sales! In general, the deals won't pick back up again until mid-December.

To read the entire article from Clark Howard.com:
http://www.clarkhoward.com/news/clark-howard/shopping-retail/best-days-buy-whats-your-wish-list-holiday-season/nTGkd/

Inspirational Quotes@Inspire_Us from Twitter:

It always seems impossible until its done. -Nelson Mandela

Personal Finance News Wednesday 12/5

Phil's Personal Finance Tip of the Day:

Why You Shouldn't Dip Into Your 401(k)

by Dave Ramsey

Dave Says

Published December 04, 2012

FOXBusiness

Dear Dave,

Is it a good idea for a married couple in their early thirties, who have a lot of student loan debt, to cash out one of their 401(k)s to pay it off?

-Marcy

Dear Marcy,

No way! You never cash out a 401(k) or IRA to pay off debt, unless it’s to avoid a foreclosure or bankruptcy. Let’s say you take $50,000 out of your 401(k). Do you know what happens next? They’re going to charge you a 10% penalty, plus your tax rate. If you make $75,000 a year, that puts you in a 25% tax rate, plus the penalty. That’s a 35% hit, and that’s how much of your money is going straight down the toilet.

Look at it this way. You wouldn’t ask me if it’s okay to borrow money at a 35% interest rate to pay off your school loans, right? That would be ridiculous, and this is just as dumb.

There are no shortcuts when it comes to getting out of debt, Marcy. Roll up your sleeves and get on a beans and rice budget where every dollar has a name. This will enable you to save money and pay off that debt!

- Dave

Read more: http://www.foxbusiness.com/personal-finance/2012/12/04/why-shouldnt-dip-into-your-401k/#ixzz2ECgH0F2A

Inspirational Quotes@Inspire_Us from Twitter:

You cannot push anyone up the ladder unless he is willing to climb. - Andrew Carnegie

Personal Finance News Tuesday 12/4

Phil's Personal Finance Tip of the Day:

Feeling sad? Be careful with your money

By Blake Ellis | CNNMoney.com – Thu, Nov 29, 2012 3:02 PM EST

When you're sad, it's not just your waistline you need to watch. Unhappy people are also more likely to make foolish money decisions, new research shows.


Sad people will often forgo extra money further down the road in order to get less money right away, according to a study conducted by professors at Harvard, Columbia and University of California Riverside.


When offered smaller amounts of cash immediately versus bigger sums three months later, sad people accepted 13% to 34% less money today than their not-so-sad counterparts did -- just to avoid the wait.


"The idea is that when you're sad, you want to accelerate consumption -- it's all about getting money sooner," said Ye Li, co-author of the report and an assistant professor of management at University of California, Riverside.


The researchers conducted a series of experiments in which about 600 participants were assigned to a neutral, disgusted or sad condition. To induce sadness, participants were asked to view a three-minute clip from the movie, The Champ, where a boy watches his father and mentor die in front of him. Neutral participants watched underwater scenes of the Great Barrier Reef, while participants in the disgusted condition watched a clip from Trainspotting showing a man reaching into a filthy toilet.

To read the entire article from CNNMoney.com:
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/feeling-sad-careful-money-105000277.html

Inspirational Quotes@Inspire_Us from Twitter:
You either suffer the pain of discipline or the pain of regret. Pick a side.

Personal Finance News Monday 12/3

Phil's Personal Finance Tip of the Day:

How to Write the Perfect Resume

By Vivian Giang and Melissa Stanger | Business Insider – Fri, Nov 30, 2012 10:30 AM EST

Peplow says that "you must put some of the keywords from the job posting into your resume, or it will probably never be seen by human eyes."

This is because a lot of companies use online recruitment tools to sift through resumes, writes Lauren Weber in The Wall Street Journal.

Barbara Safani of CareerSolvers suggests using LinkedIn's skills section to find the keywords that would most likely be used in a company's search query database. To do this, click on the "More" tab in your LinkedIn profile and enter a type of skill or description into the search box. This will result in a list of related skills popping up, which you can use as keywords on your resume.

Only include relevant work experience.

Keep your resume focused and don't include every single job you've ever had.

Eve Tahmincioglu at MSNBC writes: "In this economy, there’s a good chance a long-term job seeker has a part-time job (or jobs) under his or her belt just to make ends meet. But that doesn’t mean you should include every burger flipping, or retail-selling job you’ve had. Putting too many of those jobs on your resume, especially if they have nothing to do with the job you want, can hurt your chances of landing a new position."

“Resumes are a summary of the most important data,” Debra Feldman, a job search expert, tells Tahmincioglu. “In my opinion, a part-time job just to pay the bills would not fall into that category."

Peplow tells us that even if you have minimal work experience, this doesn’t mean that you have nothing to offer. Highlight your transferable skills, which are the ones that you can use from one job to the next — regardless of the position.

To read the entire article from Vivian Giang and Melissa Stanger | Business Insider:http://finance.yahoo.com/news/how-to-write-the-perfect-resume-153024611.html?page=2

Inspirational Quotes@Inspire_Us from Twitter:
Decide that you want it more than you are afraid of it. -Bill Cosby

Personal Finance News Saturday 12/1

Phil's Personal Finance Tip of the Day:

Rewarding Employees Reaps Company Rewards

November 20, 2012 By Harvey Mackay

 

According to various surveys, seven out of eight people go home every night with a feeling that they work for an organization that doesn’t care about them. That equates to 130 million people in the United States who go home feeling somewhat used and abused, and with a sense that they don’t matter.

Enter Robert Chapman, CEO of Barry-Wehmiller, a leading provider of manufacturing technology, engineering and consulting solutions. He is a disciple of Truly Human Leadership, a leadership model that is all about people, purpose and performance. His vision is to send people home every night feeling fulfilled. Barry-Wehmiller has 7,000 team members through 58 acquisitions with $1.6 billion in sales.

Chapman is focused on allowing employees to discover, develop, share and be appreciated for their gifts. (You can find his blog at http://www.trulyhumanleadership.com/.) Employees are routinely solicited for their ideas.

In the company’s leadership model, it attempts to shine a light in every corner of its business and look for the goodness in people. To help, it has created several award programs. One award is the Guiding Principles of Leadership SSR Award. Chapman is a car nut and had a Chevrolet SSR truck that he offered to one of his plants. The winner gets to drive it for a week. The program worked and expanded, so the company now has 17 SSR trucks.

“Everybody is nominating people,” Chapman said. “In a plant of 450 people, we had 120 to 180 nominees.

Think of this: People took the time to talk about the goodness in other people.”

For every nominee, the company sends a letter to the employee’s home, saying, “Your husband/daughter/son/brother/mother was nominated for their goodness. And let me tell you what people said about them.” Then it’s a secret when the winner is picked. The family is invited to the ceremony as a surprise.

Chapman said he’s interviewed about 300 people who have won this award around the country. They tell him it’s so significant because it’s from their peers. Award winners are often asked about their SSR truck by friends, and they describe the leadership award they won. And every time people say, “I wish I worked for a company like that.”

To read the entire article from Harvey Mackay.com:
http://harveymackay.com/column/rewarding-employees-reaps-company-rewards/


Mackay’s Moral: People are judged by the company they keep. Companies are judged by the people they keep.