James C. Molet's Blog, page 70

Financial Fitness: Staying on Track

Savvy individuals appreciate that total well-being involves mental, spiritual, physical and financial – or fiscal as we like to say here at RetirementSavvy – fitness. In a previous blog post I discussed the ways in which physical and fiscal fitness are linked concepts; and of course, financial fitness is a cornerstone of this blog. The following infographic nicely illustrates achieving and maintaining financial fitness. Stay Savvy, my friends. Sources: US Financial Capability, Financial Educators Council, The New York Times, FINRA Foundation, and Daily Finance.

‘Deadbeat’ Dad Chronicles: Protect Your Identity!

In the previous installment of ‘Deadbeat’ Dad Chronicles I mentioned that putting child support payments in my ex-wife’s hand instead of going through the State’s child support office backfired big time. It was definitely not a frugal decision as it caused much grief in the form of interest added onto my “missed” payments. To make matters worse, as happens in life, two events occurred that would affect me financially for a significant amount of time. I’ll address the first of the two right now - Identity Theft. Many folks don’t understand the Read the Full Story

The Mortgage Crisis

Documentary: We All Fall Down: The American Mortgage Crisis (2009).  Have you heard the terms Collateralized Debt Obligation (CDO), mortgage-backed bonds, securitization or tranche and wondered what they refer to or what they mean? Do you know how America found itself in the middle of a housing crisis in 2008 and the contributing factors? This informative documentary chronicles the history of America’s mortgage finance system, from its origins in the 1930s, when the federal government first made available long-term, fixed-rate loans to new American homeowners, to the crisis that exploded Read the Full Story

Is Your Financial Planning a Family Affair?

In most families one spouse has assumed the primary responsibility for managing the family finances and planning for retirement. Although there is nothing inherently wrong with one person taking the lead on such matters, Savvy families ensure that although one spouse may be handling the day-to-day management, the other spouse has a say in charting the financial course and most importantly, has access to all pertinent information such as account numbers. As you might suspect, in my family I have the primary responsibility for the day-to-day management. I use Quicken Read the Full Story

Choosing a Retirement Location

I recently came across an article that talked about the best places to retire. It piqued my interest as Mrs. SavvyJames and I have been discussing this very topic recently. Before I share our plans for choosing a retirement location, I thought I would take a moment to look at the results of the top 10 states according to Bankrate.com. I was not surprised to see that two states long associated with attracting retirees – Arizona (my home state) and Florida – failed to crack the top 10. While warmer Read the Full Story

‘Deadbeat’ Dad Chronicles: Thank God for the Labor Hall

Today I’m not only continuing with the story of how I worked odd jobs in order to stay current on child support payments, I’m also going to share with you a certain non-frugal mistake, made in the past, that has proven to cause me a lot of grief later. There was a period in my life where I was conducting secret shops and also working at a labor hall at the same time. I’d get a check each day at the end of my shift. I’d cash the 60-80 dollar Read the Full Story

SavvyPoll Number Six

There are basically three types of income, described below:  Earned Income as defined by the IRS is all the taxable income and wages you get from working or from certain disability payments. For most people it is simply the money earned at a job while working for someone else. This is the type of income most are familiar with and the only source of income for many families. Also referred to as labor income. Portfolio Income is the interest, dividends, and any other forms of payment received on the investments within your Read the Full Story

Is College Worth It?

There has been a lot of discussion lately with respect to the value of attaining a college education and more pointedly, is the return on investment (ROI) worth it? One argument I often hear is that you don’t need a college education to find great success, to attain wealth. I would not disagree with that. Of course it is possible. One only need to look at two oft cited examples: Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg. However, how many Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerbergs are out there? I don’t believe anyone is making Read the Full Story

A SavvyInterview – Mike

I met Mike through social media and soon learned that he is a former investment adviser and Certified Financial Planner (CFP) who transitioned into senior management of a large health insurance company. Like me, he has been consistently amazed at the lack of financial knowledge the general public has about investments. I am pleased that he has agreed to ‘sit’ for an interview to share his wisdom and insight with us. What was the catalyst that started you on the road to fiscal fitness? As the beneficiary of an industrial engineering Read the Full Story

SavvyPoll Number Five

A good credit report, generally considered to be a FICO (Fair Isaac Corporation) score above 700, can be a valuable asset. Note that the FICO range is 300 – 850. Most significantly, with a better FICO score you can get superior interest rates on house or car loans. Unfortunately, it is estimated that about 60% of information found on credit reports is either incorrect, outdated, or both. Considering that even the most seemingly insignificant errors can result in you paying a higher interest rate or cause you to be denied Read the Full Story