Saturday, December 13, 2014

Being smart with $$ -- Early December 2014 posts

December 12, 2014
Are you getting a raise?  Many people think so with consumer sentiment reported up today (says Thomson Reuters/U of Michigan).  This is the best time to boost savings for your goals.  If you're getting a raise from, say, $75k to $77k and you boost your 401(k) automatic withdrawal from 10% to 11%, you'll save about $1000 more per year.  This boost alone over 25 years might give you an extra $60k when you retire.  Boost savings in a similar way with every year's raise and you probably add over a half million dollars.  That's an EXTRA half million.  And after taxes, that's less half of your raise.
- Larry Pike, CFA, Client Priority Financial Advisors LLC
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www.clientpriority.com

December 11, 2014
Women save more for retirement than men says a Vanguard study.  A higher percentage of women save in their 401(k) and those women also save a higher percentage of their pay than men do.  C'mon guys! Step it up and do your share!  Tell HR you want your numbers raised for 2015. The limits next year go up to $18,000 (and up to $24,000 if you are 50 or older.)
- Larry Pike, CFA, Client Priority Financial Advisors LLC
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www.clientpriority.com

December 8, 2014
Do Christmas and Hanukah presents make us happy? Probably.  But do we need to spend $300 on each child?  Or would our kids be happier over their lifetime if they got $100 in gifts from mom and dad and had an extra $200 put into their college accounts? After 18 years in the stock market, that difference could boost your college fund by $7 grand.  With average student loan debt now around $29k at graduation, that $7k would make a big difference in launching your child into a more financially stable life.
- Larry Pike, CFA, Client Priority Financial Advisors LLC
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www.clientpriority.com


December 3, 2014
Gas prices are low. Remember a while back when gas prices fell dramatically and the news reported that SUV sales were way up because it would be cheap to fill those enormous gas tanks? And remember how gas prices very quickly went right back up to high levels? Those buyers made the classic mistake of making long-term decisions (buying a car) based on short-term data that can change in a heartbeat. Will that happen again or will those old buyers just dust off the big car they tucked away the last time when they could no longer afford to drive it?
- Larry Pike, CFA, Client Priority Financial Advisors LLC
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www.clientpriority.com

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