Archives for March 2013

Live Like No One Else

There is a saying Dave Ramsey likes to use: “Live like no one else, so later you can live like no one else.” The general idea behind this statement is tips on how to live correctly right now so that you can have the most fun later on life. While there are people who prefer the live in the moment type of thing, there are others who want a secure and successful future, and those are the people who would want to know how to effectively live like no one else so that they can ultimately live like no one else later in life.

Start Saving Now

You may have heard the phrase, “Work Now, Play Later.” If you are looking to live like no one else in the future, this is something you are going to need to follow. While it does require time and effort, along with plenty of work, you can start saving now to secure your future and ensure that your future looks promising, exciting, and full of fun. There are so many ways that you can begin saving right now. Opening up a savings account right now would also be a good idea. You can regularly contribute money to your savings from your paycheck and avoid touching your savings. The account will continue to accumulate with money for your future. Even if you can only put $10 or $20 into the account each week, this amount of money will add up. You should also start holding onto your change, allowing it to add up, and then depositing into your account as well.

Eliminate Unnecessary Spending

There is a fine line between wants and needs when it comes down to spending. There are certain things that you obviously need, such as housing, food and water, and hygiene products. However, there are other things that you do not really need and you can do without, which include brand new shows and clothes, expensive makeup, brand name bags, and fast food. You can save a lot of your money by making cuts and holding onto your money instead of spending on things that you do not truly need and may not even really use.

Cut Coupons and Follow Frugal Tips

Cutting coupons can drastically reduce the amount of money that you do end up spending on your necessities, including your groceries and bathroom supplies. You can find coupons in your local newspapers and also on different online websites that are specifically designed for the purpose of providing people with coupons to save money. There are also lots of frugal living tips that you can follow to start saving your own money. For example, some people are making their own dish soap and laundry detergent. While these products are necessities, if you can make your own with a few household ingredients at less than half the price you would pay for a bottle of dish soap or laundry detergent, it would be a good idea to give it a try.

If you want to live like no one else in the future, meaning living without worry and having plenty of finances to take care of things that you need and want, it is important to start saving now. The more you are able to cut back on and save right now, the better you will be able to live in the future.

Tax Issues to Consider During Retirement

By Miranda Marquit Leave a Comment

When most of us plan for retirement, we think ahead to how we will generate the income needed to sustain our desired lifestyle. We add up costs, and try to determine if we are saving enough each month for a nest egg that meets our needs.

However, many of us forget that it's important to consider the cost of taxes. Your tax situation can have a big impact on whether or not you ultimately reach your retirement goals.

Here are some of the tax situations that can affect your tax bracket, and affect your overall wealth:

Distributions = Taxable Income

Unless you have a Roth account, your retirement account withdrawals count as taxable income. Depending on how much you withdraw each year, you could see an increase in what you owe. Your distributions could put you in a higher tax bracket.
Tax Issues In Retirement
If you have relatively modest retirement needs, then this usually isn't a huge problem. Modest living can mean that you end up in a lower tax bracket during retirement. However, if you are still meeting debt obligations, and if you are pursuing expensive hobbies or travel, you might need to withdraw more money in order to meet your requirements. This means higher taxes, especially if you continue to work during retirement on top of withdrawing money from your account.

Required Minimum Distributions

Maybe you don't necessarily need to withdraw a lot of money from your retirement account. Once you reach the age of 70 1/2, though, what you require during retirement might not matter so much. You have to take required minimum distributions (RMDs) from every retirement account except a Roth IRA.

These RMDs are figured based on your life expectancy and the size of your nest egg. If you don't take the required amount each year, you are hit with penalties. However, taking the RMDs can lead to putting you in a higher tax bracket.

Rolling Your Retirement Account To A Roth IRA

Almost all of these tax issues can be solved by rolling your qualified retirement account over to a Roth IRA. You don't pay income tax on your Roth IRA withdrawals, and you aren't forced to take RMDs with a Roth IRA.

However, rolling over your retirement account comes with its own tax consequences. While anyone, at any income level, can roll over a qualified account, there are still tax hits. First of all, if you have your money in a deferred account, you haven't paid taxes on your contributions, so you will have to remedy that situation. The IRS will consider the amount you roll over as income, and you will be taxed at your marginal rate.

You can roll all of the money over at once, and pay the taxes to get it over with, or you can roll over a portion of your retirement account a little at a time to spread out the tax impact. Before making the decision, consult a knowledgeable financial professional about the tax implications. You should work out a plan that helps you minimize your taxes in retirement.

What Do You Think About Telecommuting?

By Miranda Marquit 4 Comments

Recently, Marissa Mayer, Yahoo's CEO, instituted a new plan to bring telecommuters back into the office. Following suit, Best Buy just announced that it, too, will rein in telecommuting.

In recent years, technology has given rise to more flexibility in the workplace. The ability to work from home — at least some of the time — has led to something of a revolution. More companies offer the telecommuting option, and the flexible hours option, as perks to workers who want to be able to plan their lives around what works for them.

However, this move for Yahoo seems to be paving the way for a bit of a throwback. Job seekers might find that companies aren't as willing to accommodate them, especially if this move manages to re-energize Yahoo and help the company.

How Much Abuse Goes On With Telecommuting?

What Do You Think About Telecommuting? The big question that many are asking is whether or not there has been abuse with telecommuting. While there are some studies that indicate telecommuting can increase productivity, the fact remains that some workers are going to abuse the privilege.

For some, working from home is an ideal solution. I like working from home, and I have found that I am much more productive here at home than I ever was in an office. But there are some differences. For one, I am self-employed now, so it's up to me to make sure that I get my “paycheck.” In the office, I was working for someone else, and sometimes just did the minimum required for my minimal pay.

How much abuse actually goes on with telecommuting is hard to measure since there isn't someone there to see what is happening. Yahoo claims that there was some abuse happening with the policy, and some Yahoo employees seem to back up that view. Bringing more employees back into the office, under the eye of managers, seems like a solution in cases of abuse.

Does It Matter If You Get Your Work Done?

In my case, it doesn't really matter when I do my work, as long as I get it done (by the deadline). With many companies, the situation is similar. As long as telecommuters are getting their work done on time, does it really matter if they spend half the day in their pajamas, surfing the web? Does it matter that they are working on side businesses at home?

Where you fall on this subject might depend on what you think about how workers are paid. Those who are paid a salary, and expected to just fulfill project requirements, might get away with a little more. But what about hourly telecommuters who charge for their time — although they might be doing something else with it?

It's a sticky situation that can't really be resolved without adding software to personal computers that some might think an invasion of privacy. But what you do on company time still matters, even if you aren't on company property.

Personally, I think telecommuting can be a great thing. Providing a flexible schedule where workers can telecommute one to three days a week could allow workers to still come into the office for “team building” while still having the ability to work from home as needed.

What do you think? Is telecommuting a good idea?

Young, Professional, And Single: Do You Need A Partner for Your Money?

By Miranda Marquit 2 Comments

Last year, the Huffington Post published an article about how many Millennials are delaying marriage. The piece highlights the fact that, for many men, the average age for a first marriage is 28.7 and for women it is 26.5. (When I got married, more than 10 years ago, my age of 22 was older than Utah's average marriage age; these days it's younger.)

Why the delay? The Huffington Post article indicates that college debt is likely a factor. After all, few couples want to start out with a load of student loans to pay off. (Although it didn't stop my husband and me.) But there might be other reasons as well. Perhaps young, single professionals are so anxious to get a partner for their money.

Women and Money Today

Young, Single and Delaying Marriage One of the reasons there might be a delay in marriage is that fewer women need men to help them on the road fo financial viability. With more women serving as breadwinners, there is less of a need for someone else to take partial responsibility for finances. Indeed, Stephanie Sims, the managing editor at Chicago Agent magazine makes this observation:

Single women homebuyers make up 20 percent of all homebuyers, and a percentage higher than single white men homebuyers at 12 percent. The correlation I draw from this, especially as it's becoming more acceptable to be a single mother and a single working mother, combined with skepticism about marriage due to the ever-increasing divorce rate, I believe more and more singles are making big investment decisions on their own and not waiting for a life partner to make them with.

While Ms. Sims doesn't have hard evidence to back up her correlation, I think she makes what is probably a good point. Women are making more money than they have traditionally. Additionally, there aren't the same social stigmas attached to being a single mother. And, while for many single working mothers the situation is very difficult without a partner, for the young professional who has an established career and relatively stable finances, it's more about choice. When will I start a family? And do I need to wait for the “right” partner to adopt or to get pregnant, when I can do it on my own?

The situation of the successful young professional woman is different from the single mother who got married and then suffered through a divorce, or from the young woman with an unplanned pregnancy who doesn't have the same level of career and financial success.

But when it comes to Millennials who haven't married, and have no children, the dynamic might be a little different. Whether you are a man or a woman, you might not feel the need to have a partner in your big money decisions — including those related to having children. When you are financially free already, and you get to do what you like with your money, it might not make sense to look for a partner for your finances. And, when you do, it might make sense to keep some of the money separate.

It's an interesting world out there, with more people waiting until their careers are settled to be married, and some deciding that it just isn't necessary. What do you think? Do you think that young professionals are moving away from financial marriage partnerships?

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