I am going to talk about financial goals – and you may give me an eye roll, a yawn, and that’s okay. Is financial stuff boring – maybe? Boring is often the most important.

It is about planning well; living well.

Chatting with a friend of mine – she always gives me sound financial tips and advice. She helps move my money around to make it work for me. We get to the nitty gritty of numbers.

Suze Orman:

On my drive home from NJ, I tuned into Suze Orman’s podcast. You may like Suze or you may not like her. It doesn’t matter because this woman knows her stuff. I have read some of her books, and I have been following her for quite some time.

There are times when I am not on the up and up with investments, etc., and then the I should be doing this voice pops in my head.

My friend asked me, “Do you know what your accounts are doing?”

No, I don’t. I haven’t logged-in lately.

Move on from that, step away from it – and tune in. Log into your accounts and see what’s happening.

I have always had a difficult relationship in trusting time – and even though I still have difficulty trusting it – I do have faith.

Even though, I have not always thought strongly that I can reach retirement, I still invest in it.

Better to step into the possibility vs. shutting down all possibilities.

Recently, there has been much conversation about how much one should contribute to your retirement, 10-15% if you can. 10% honestly should be minimum if you can swing it. We all do not want to be working for our weekly pennies into your 70s.

Suze Orman is in partnership with Alliant Credit Union. She is not getting any kickbacks. The savings rate for Alliant is 0.5% which is not bad for a savings account. It is pretty much the going rate. If you contribute $100/month for 12 months Alliant will deposit $100 into your account along with the 0.5%. That’s is quite remarkable to be honest.

Four years ago the local bank down the street was at 0.4% and now it is .03%. I have taken some money out (rate will decrease) but not very much. That .03% is ridiculous.

Another savings account I have is .345% which is much better – but 0.5% with the $100 is great. The deal with Alliant is you have to deposit $100/month for 12 months. You can put a chunk of money in there, but keep contributing $100 monthly.

Also – a Roth IRA is a must. The amount you put into it (not the money you make from it), is taxed right away. It is the most accessible cash that grows for you while knowing your contribution is all yours. Listen to this podcast, Suze will tell you important details.

Another podcast about housing. Take a listen. I learned a couple key points in this episode. Are we at a bubble?

Do the little work and shift your money into an account that is working for you.

I learned some basics:

• a) Fidelity charges more to handle your accounts. Vanguard – created by John Bogle who passed away in 2019 created Vanguard because he believed in smart investing shouldn’t cost a lot of money.
• b) Currently, Fidelity charges 0.65% to manage your account, whereas Vanguard is .09%. That’s a gigantic difference. Fidelity is charging 7 times more to manage.
• c) Depending on your employer – you may not have an option for Vanguard. However, I have two accounts I no longer contribute, so I am going to roll them over into my main account into a Vanguard brokerage – where I have more options to invest. Now do I know everything? No. I am learning as well.
• d) In your 401k or 403b alike, look at your rate of return; the percentage. If it is performing like a dead fish, move it. My Roth was literally just sitting there and my friend helped diversify it.
• e) Diversity where? Have to study a bit – the tickers – that is the abbreviations for the stock markets, like FBIFX is Fidelity 2040.
• f) Read. Read one of Suze’s books. YouTube has a lot of great stuff. I stick to Orman, Bogle, Buffet
• Index funds – important. Their return is steady vs individual stocks.
• g) Large cap (Apple, Amazon, alike), and small and moderate cap.
• h) How much do you actually need for an emergency fund? One full year of monthly expenses.

Orman and Bogle:

So today – start listening to Suze Orman podcast she is a wealth of information. Last year, I bought Bogle’s book The Little Book of Common Sense Investing. I started it and did not finish it. Goal: I am going to read it fully. Indexes are really important.

Stop scrolling on FB making other people money. Better yet – watch the Social Dilemma on Netflix that will get you to stop scrolling.

Goals:

Start looking at stocks, indexes, rate of return.

Sign up on Alliant with that great 0.5% savings account.

Open a Roth IRA, contribute 10% to retirement.

Get express VPN – or another VPN. Protect your info as you move your money around. It shreds it into the ether. Also – it allows an open and more fair market – the goods and services you shop aka Amazon are not zip code dependent, influenced. Higher in higher zip codes and regions in the country, etc. open to other areas of the country because your IP address is shredded.

Save.

Be The Boss.

We are all lucky to be here. We are fortunate to wake up and breathe and put food in our bellies. We are not perfect, nor will we ever be.

We sometimes feel bad because we should be spinning the yarn wheel while sharping the lead; tapping that pencil on the paper, writing words for the future.

Moving money to pay for the kids’ band or dance or college applications; shutting down our too many streaming services. Turning over the eggs while turning down the teapot to cool a second before the whistle blows.

We are human and do our best every day. Invest in yourself and your family. All that above, it will begin to make more sense in time.

Much love.

Ps. You may know all of this already. Great. I am learning as I go. So for me, please pass along any and all wonderful saving tips and advice you may have fallen upon.