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Join me for the FREE All Things Financial Webinar Wednesday February 1st 7 pm (cst)

January 26, 2012 By Leave a Comment

More exciting news going on this week and next! I feel like things are a little crazy around here because I’m getting ready for a trip to Aspen and then to Atlanta and I’m trying to prep for several things in between. Yikes! There is never enough time in the day!!

But all that aside, I’ve got something exciting for next week! Next Wednesday (Februrary 1st at 7 pm CST) I am going to be apart of BigMarker.com’s all things financial webinar series. Bigmarker.com is a new free tool I recently discovered, here’s what they are all about:

BigMarker is a free web conferencing community. Through our platform, you can reconnect with your family in Rio; manage your employees in Madagascar; organize your non-profit’s resources to Ottawa; teach a virtual class from Tulsa to students all over Thailand; foster a support group for cancer survivors from France to the Falkland Islands. With unlimited access to live events, there are endless opportunities for you, your community, organization, business, classroom, and social network to grow.

This webinar is going to be a lot of fun, and best of all it’s free!!! My topic is “Why Getting out of Debt is Important for Women in the New Year”. If you want to learn more about it, I recorded a quick cinch audio about it, you can listen to the overview here.

Did I mention this webinar is free?! To sign up, head over to BigMarker.com and register here: http://www.bigmarker.com/allthingsfinancial/thejennypincher. It’s important you get registered so you can make sure your spot is reserved. There are only so many seats and the spots will fill up fast as we approach February 1st. So go get registered and feel free to send me any questions about debt you have ahead of time by contacting me here. I look forward to chatting with you guys next week on the conference :)

Filed Under: Blog, Budgeting, Featured Bar, Personal Finance, Saving

Giveaway: 2 Lucky Readers Will Win an Early Invite to ImpulseSave!

January 22, 2012 By 4 Comments

I’m super excited today because I am FINALLY able to give away a couple of invites to ImpulseSave!! You might remember that I entered the ImpulseSave Turkey Talks contest back in November and missed being one of their guest bloggers by just 3 votes. Huge bummer!! But it was a lot of fun participating and shortly after that I got one of the beta invites to ImpulseSave. I now have 2 sneak peek invites to give away!! Keep reading to enter.

What is ImpulseSave?

Before we get to the giveaway, let me tell you a little about ImpulseSave. From the ImpulseSave website:

Saving is painful. There’s no other way to say it. It’s unforgiving when we make mistakes. It betrays us, seducing us into actually spending more money (60% off gets me every time). It tells us we’re financially fat, demands that we diet and does nothing to help. It selfishly recommends that we give up things we really want while doing absolutely nothing to reward us for those sacrifices. (Sounds like an unhealthy relationship doesn’t it!) Which brings us to the question: Why do people save?

Well, most of us don’t.

53% of Americans won’t have enough to retire.

64% of Americans don’t have even $1,000 in their savings account.

Only 40% of Americans actually sit down with a budget and allocate savings.

That’s not so good!

So what do most authorities recommend? To go on a financial diet! But for all the reasons mentioned (and many others) diets are tough and most often fail. A doctor wouldn’t continue precrescribing the same medicine if year after year the patients condition didn’t change, so why are the financial Docs still writing that same prescription? Because until now, there weren’t any other options.

The financial gurus are certainly right in one sense; you do need to eat your vegetables, but boiling it to rubber isn’t going to motivate anyone.  Instead, why not add a little chocolate and make muffins!

That’s where we come in. We’re not just about making saving money easier through technology; in fact, we’re not really about saving money at all – at least not in the way we’re all used to using that word. We’ve invented a new way to get you where you’re going financialy and it’s called ImpulseSaving™

By giving you a new set of actionable options, we’re allowing you to take “transACTION” towards the things you care about – and have fun doing it.  ImpulseSaving is not about how much money you have in your piggy bank.  Yawn.  And it’s not a new way to stare at your bleak financial picture. Yikes.  It’s, about taking control; taking action.  It’s about getting what you want and deserve. Get the picture? Money wasn’t meant to sit still.  Like knowledge, money only has power when you apply it. So the question is, where will you put it to work?

How to ImpulseSave

Like I mentioned at the beginning of the post, I got a beta invite to try out ImpulseSave.  I’ve been using ImpulseSave for a few months now as a way to save for the deck I want to put on my house. It’s simple to use, I created a new bank account through ImpulseSave and then linked that bank account to my PerkStreet checking account. I set up my regular weekly saves through ImpulseSave but when I’m tempted to buy something I don’t really need, I now save it instead through ImpulseSave!

Here’s an example. The other day I really was craving an extra value meal from McD’s. I know bad, right? Well instead of going to McD, I ImpulseSave’d the $7 I would have spent there via text and viola’! I’m now saving impulseively rather than spending.

This really is a new concept and one that is actually a little tough to explain until you actually do it. I really think you guys are gonna love it so why not give it a shot and enter the giveaway!

The Giveaway

ImpulseSave has given me 2 invites to giveaway to two lucky readers to start ImpulseSaving!! There are several ways to enter so make sure you do them all for more chances to win!

[Read more...]

Filed Under: Blog, Featured Main, Saving

Women and Divorce: Financial Advice for Women to Protect Yourself from The Unexpected

January 17, 2012 By 13 Comments

Let me first start this post by saying I’m definitely not an expert in the area of being married or divorced considering I’ve done neither in my life. But I have talked to many women over the years who have been in different stages of their life and unfortunately, more times than I’d like to count, I’ve heard terrible stories of desperation and despair because something went wrong and women just simply didn’t plan.

I don’t think many people think when they get married they will end up getting divorced. There’s been an ad playing on the radio lately for a couples group counseling session regarding divorce and the guy jokingly says “I don’t think anyone gets married and thinks yes in 7 or 8 years I’m really going to hate that person!” I agree, but it does happen and it’s best if you can think ahead and  be prepared financially.

Here are 9 Ways for Women to Protect Themselves Financially  from The Unexpected

1.  Keep accounts in your name only – I’m not saying you shouldn’t combine your money once you get married but one thing you want to MAKE SURE you do is have a checking, savings account and credit card in your name only that only you can access. That way if you need funds in a hurry, you aren’t relying on a joint account (that may be drained) before you have a chance to get to it. You may even want to put some retirement accounts in only your name. Explore your options and do what you are most comfortable with but make sure you understand the consequences. Todd Marler, a Missouri Divorce attorney offered a lawyers perspective on the subject:

As a Missouri divorce  attorney, the first advice I give a perspective client is to take control of all  joint liquid assets. This means the client should empty all joint bank accounts to keep their spouse from taking all of the money. This advice is  nearly universal with divorce attorneys. Therefore, if your spouse  contemplates divorce before you and sees an attorney, chances are you will be left with no financial resources for weeks or months while your attorney  scrambles to get a court order to salvage whatever liquid assets remain. A  woman (or man) that is prepared financially will save a lot of time, money and emotional distress.

2. Maintain your resume – If you end up not working after you get married (for whatever the reason is) having an up to date resume can be crucial if you need to get back on your feet again in a hurry. If you end up stressed about money and need a job immediately, the last thing you are going to want to do is put together a resume! Keep your resume up to date so it will only take a little editing to send on a moments notice.

3. Stay in touch with business contacts – Like keeping an up to date resume, staying in touch with business contacts that you have can make it easier on yourself down the road if you are searching for employment. Keep a list of your contacts and how you know them to quickly refer to if you need a reference or some one to ask in the event you need a job.



4.  Work part time/volunteer in your field –  This again applies to someone who is not working (for whatever reason) but working part time or volunteering can keep you up to date on the evolution of your field. Having up to date and relevant part time or volunteer work helps keeps you remain marketable which makes it easier to find a job.

It is no secret, historically men leave a marriage in much better shape financially than women. Traditionally women either stayed at home or remain under-employed during the marriage. If a marriage ends, or one’s husband dies, the stay at home woman is left with little if any valuable work experience and must then struggle to catch up or remain under-employed. Even women with college degrees often suffer financially in these situations. A decades old college degree, with little or no real life work experience does not really help one in the job market. Even part-time employment in an industry keeps your foot in that industry and makes it much easier to fully immerse yourself in the industry once you decide to return to work full-time. – Todd Marler, Missouri Divorce Attorney.

5. Be aware of household finances - While you may find your husband ends up paying the bills, it is important to be aware of what is going on with your household finances. You should know what assets you have (checking, savings, retirement accounts etc) as well as what your liabilities are (what and who you owe). You should also know the account information and log in information for each account. This would serve you will not only in a divorce situation but also in the event your husband was sick or injured or if something even worse such as death happened.

6. Don’t put everything in your name – While you do want some accounts in your name, you also don’t want to have all the big items like your mortgage, car loans or credit cards in your name only. In the event of a divorce, you could be the one who ends up getting stuck with repaying all the debt. While every case is unique, Marler offers the following advice:

If you go through a divorce, even an order from the court requiring your ex-spouse to pay debt that is solely in your name will not protect your credit. Your credit agreements are contracts between you and your creditor. If the bill is not paid, for whatever reason, it is going to harm your credit and the creditor is going to come after you alone for repayment. If all of the marital debt is in your name, chances are at least some of those debts will not be paid and your credit and finances will suffer.

7. Save for a rainy day – Just like when you were single you had to save for a rainy day, now that your married, it’s no different. And when I say save for a rainy day I mean save for YOURSELF for a rainy day. Go ahead and fund your checking and savings you have that are only in your name as well as your retirement account. It’s not enough to just have the accounts, you have to make sure there is money in them as well in case you need it. In the event of a divorce, you would need access to anywhere from $2,000-$,5000 for the retainer. And then what? How will you support yourself?



8. Know what’s a necessity & what you can live without – There’s no doubt it’s easier to live on two incomes rather than one. It is very easy to get comfortable with that lifestyle. If you find yourself on your own, you are likely going to have to cut back in some areas so it’s important to know what is a necessity (food, clothing, shelter) and what you can live with out (cable, manicures, shopping trips).

9. Know Your Insurance – Who owns your health insurance? Are you on your husband’s plan through work? In the event of a divorce, how would you remain insured? What about your home & auto insurance? It’s important to know how you are insured and who you are insured through in case of an unexpected divorce.

I know today’s topic is a bit somber and many of you reading this are probably thinking “this will never happen to me”. I truly hope it doesn’t happen to you! Even so, women get divorced every day. My hope is that women will pay attention and take the right steps to become prepared and protect themselves financially from the unexpected.

What tips to you have to protect yourself financially from the unexpected?

Filed Under: Blog, Featured Main, Personal Finance, Saving

Women & Investing: Betterment Makes Smart, Goal-Based Investing Accessible to Everyone

January 2, 2012 By 8 Comments

Unfortunately the statistics show that women & investing do not go hand in hand. Statistics compiled by the Stockton Women’s Networkshow 38% of women 30-55 years old are worried they will live at or near the poverty level because they cannot adequately save for retirement. If that’s not scary enough, how about this: Among women who live alone, spending peaks in the 25-54 age group. There are about 15 million women who live alone, 48% are over 65.  54% of women have little to no money left to save for retirement once they pay their bills.

These numbers are heartbreaking! I hate seeing numbers like this and statistics like this are one reason why I started this blog. I not only want to help educate women on getting out of debt but also on the importance of building wealth! I want to help change those statistics so women are educated and motivated to save for retirement.

You may remember last year that I started educating myself on investing and decide to test out the waters with my own investment account. While it worked out fine and was a great learning experience, I’ve kind of been stuck at this “now what?” roadblock. I don’t have thousands of dollars to throw at that account monthly but I still want to  focus on becoming more educated on building wealth through my retirement strategies.

I initially heard about Betterment on Twitter. I had seen several tweets about people attending Betterment’s webinars so I was generally curious. I watched the demo, read about the company and why it was founded and thought why not give it a try? I haven’t done any more investing on my own since my original post mainly because I didn’t really know where to go next! Plus with the expenses involved in trading, I had to have larger sums of money to invest to make the trade worth it & I’m just not to that level yet. Enter Betterment.

What is Betterment?

It’s smart investing made easy. Betterment puts a personal investment account in your hands by blending the simplicity of an online bank account with the higher long-term returns associated with investing in stocks and bonds. The best part? You don’t have to spend nights and weekends researching—that’s our job.

That sounds good to me. Investing can be so intimidating and overwhelming. Where do I start? What if I make a mistake? Will I wipe everything out? I like the simplicity Betterment has to offer for a beginning investor.

One of the questions I had about Betterment was around the type account I was setting up. (See, I’m new to this too!) Was I setting up an investment account, an IRA, a Roth IRA? What exactly was I doing?! I contacted their customer support and got a very quick response. Here was the answer:

Hi Jenny,

Thank you so much for setting up a Betterment account. The short answer is that it can be both. When you set up a Betterment account by default you have a taxable investment account. We are the broker dealer and funds you deposit are automatically invested into a set portfolio, while the allocation between stocks and bonds is chosen by you.
Once you have an account, you are able to then open up an IRA account as well. To do this, you can sign into your Betterment account and at the very bottom you can choose to open up a new goal (sub-account) or you can open an IRA account. You are then given the option to open a ROTH or Traditional IRA, and you can also choose to roll over IRA’s or even a 401k into an IRA.

That answer helped clarify things for me. I already have a couple of IRA’s & a Roth IRA so right now, I’m looking for an investment account but I like having the IRA options as well. I had another question around withdrawing the funds & here was their answer:

Regarding withdrawals, there are no fees and no penalties for withdrawing funds from your taxable investment account. With Betterment you only have but the one advisory fee and nothing else. This allows you to make consistent contributions to your investment and IRA account without having to worry about stacking up trade fees because you have 8 securities you are diversified across. In fact, at even $7/trade that would mean you would pay $56 each time you deposited money into your account. With Betterment, there is no charge for any of the trades made when you deposit, withdraw or change asset allocation.

Another nice thing about our only having a fee on the balance of your account is that there is no charge when you have no balance. We know that people need access to their money, and if you need to withdraw funds from your account there is no charge. Also there is no charge to have your taxable investment account and only have money in the IRA portion. While we do currently require that people set up a full Betterment account to take advantage of the IRAs, we will only charge a fee on the services you actually use, and only when you’re using them.

I’m glad they brought up the point about the cost per trade because that was one problem I had when I was toying around with investing on my own. I couldn’t very well just buy $25 in stocks because the fees would make that type of trade pointless! Since Betterment has no fees to deposit, withdrawl or change asset allocation, it’s a better option for me.

I still had a follow up question after this response so here is what I asked: You said ” While we do currently require that people set up a full Betterment account to take advantage of the IRA’s…” do you mean that I am required to set up an IRA (Roth or Traditional) or can I just keep the taxable account?  I’m new to investing on my own outside of the 401k so I just wanted to make sure I understand this.

My second question was answered just as timely as the first and here was the response:

Hi Jenny,

You do not have to set up an IRA to have a Betterment investing account, but you do have to set up a Betterment investing account to set up an IRA. It’s a bit chicken before the egg, but by default everyone who sets up a Betterment account automatically is setting up a taxable investment account, and then you elect to set up an IRA. I hope that helps clarify.

So what that means is when you set up a Betterment account, you are setting up a taxable investing account which you can withdraw from as needed. Any withdraws are subject to capital gains tax on the amount you made which is sent to you in the form of a 1099-Misc form for your taxes.

If you wish, you also have the option to set up a Traditional or Roth IRA (Individual Retirement Account) to save for your retirement. With this type of account, you can deposit to it but you would not want to withdraw from it until you retire otherwise you will face a taxable penalty.

Betterment Benefits

Betterment provides benefits for any investor who values time, accessibility, and market returns. Here’s a list of just a few:

  • A straightforward pricing model without hidden fees.
  • No minimum balance.
  • Automatic deposits to minimize your average investment cost.
  • Focus on the two investments that matter the most – a great stock basket and a conservative bond portfolio.
  • An incredibly simple user experience that makes it easy to understand your money and control your exposure to risk.
  • Automatic, seamless diversification (which means higher returns with lower risk).
  • Automatic rebalancing every quarter.
  • Automatic dividend re-investment to save you time and energy.
  • The ability to see how others like you invest.
  • Transactions in exact dollar amounts, instead of whole shares.
  • Goal-based advice and accounting.
  • Access to your account, whether at home or on the go.
  • Dedicated customer service, so in addition to receiving advice online, you can chat with real people when you need them

My Thoughts & Feedback

I set up my Betterment account & it was just as easy as they said. I linked my Betterment account to my PerkStreet Checking account & funded my account with $25. My next step is to confirm the two small deposits Betterment has put into my PerkStreet Checking account (which I am still waiting for). Then my accounts will be linked & I’ll be ready to go!

I think the thing I like about Betterment the most is its so easy to use. Investing is intimidating and seems complicated but the platform Betterment uses eliminates that for you. Betterment makes it easy to avoid becoming one of the women & inveseting statistics. I get asked by A LOT of you how to start investing and after reviewing the process & what they have to offer,  I think Betterment is the place to do that.

Next Steps:

Betterment is offering a free webinar on How to Build Your Perfect Investment on January 5, 2012. If you are interested in learning more about what Betterment has to offer, follow these steps:

Don’t forget to check out Betterment’s Blogging for a Better New Year throughout January for great advice to help you finally meet your financial goals in 2012. I’ll be featured as one of the bloggers at the end of January, so you won’t want to miss out!

 

Filed Under: Blog, Featured Main, investing, Personal Finance, Retiring, Saving
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