Retirement savings

Many times, partners do not see eye to eye, have different preferences or moods. Money is the No.1 issue that couples argue about, according to studies.

It is crucial to discuss financial goals and retirement plans with one's spouse, figuring out a strategy in advance, to avoid any confrontation later.

• Firstly, save up for the emergency fund, which is three to six months of expenses, and set it aside. After that, least 15% of your combined gross household income should go towards your retirement, once all debt is cleared.
• If only one of the partner works, you still can save up for retirement using a Spousal IRA, provided a joint tax return is filed. For details, you can consult an investing professional.
• It is also a good idea to clear up the old 401(k) accounts which are hanging around from the old jobs and put one's investments in order.

• Create a full inventory of expenses in front of you: Categorize them into fixed and variable; urgent and non-urgent; necessities and luxury; avoidable and unavoidable.
• You can create a hierarchy of needs and decide which one’s to address first. It’s all about prioritizing. 
• Accept that you have limited resources and unlimited wants. But you have to manage your resources. The sooner you accept this fact, the better you can control your impulses towards avoidable expenditures.

It’s a statement wherein you can jot down your assets and liabilities.

• Pull together your bank statements and other proofs of the liabilities
• List down your assets like the bank balance, all investments, home value, and value of other assets.
• Take a sum of all the assets to arrive at the total value of your assets.
• List down your liabilities the (car loan, home loan, credit card balances etc.)
• The sum of all the liabilities will show the value of the money you owe.
• When you subtract the value of liabilities from assets, you get your Net Worth.
  

When it comes to money, people will do whatever they can to get hold of your money, regardless of how it will affect you.

Don't rush into any sort of decision making. Always consult a second source.

Assuming you have enough to cover the bills and aren't pulling an overdraft fee, start by automating your retirement savings. You know you need an emergency fund, so automate. Do the same with increasing your 401(k) contributions each year, or paying off your credit card debt. 

A very important step when starting to work as a freelancer is to actually call your business as what is: a ‘freelance business’.

These kind of words encourage your clients to perceive you as being trustworthy while giving you a better feeling of ownership.

Whenever we hear the ‘I need…’ words, we all tend to get a bit irritated by this way of being requested to provide something that always seems of the most utter importance.

On the other hand, there are expressions which could easily replace the ‘ I need…’ while giving the other person the impression that everything is under control.

Many singles don't have a strong enough backup plan to cover the costs of a major illness or other problems.

Ensure you have enough cash on hand to cover emergencies. For singles, the aim is between nine and twelve months of living expenses in a savings account. As you near retirement, consider bulking up to at least two years of living expenses.

Group long-term disability policies offered by employers typically replace up to 60% of your income.

To ensure you have enough coverage, aim to bring your total coverage up to 80% o 90% of your take-home pay, including bonuses and commissions.

Assuming you're in your 20s or 30s and can earn an average investment return of five percent a year, you'll need to save about 20 percent of your income so you can reach financial independence when you're older.

Financial independence means that you can maintain your chosen lifestyle entirely from the interest of your investments and dividends.

The four percent rule states that you could withdraw four percent of your principal balance every year and live on this indefinitely. That means you need to save 25 times your annual expenses to become financially independent.

The four percent rule is not perfect. There is no risk-free investment that yields that much today. Sudden inflation could also cause a problem.

Old age typically brings medical problems and increased healthcare expenses.

Living out your retirement years in comfort while also covering your medical expenses may turn out to be a burden too large to bear.

Without a well-planned retirement nest egg, you may be forced to liquidate your assets in order to cover your expenses during your retirement years.

The full-stack freelancer has proven to be a new kind of stable where the smart thing to do is to have a diversity of income streams.

You don't have to use the same skill set in all the work you do. You can mix and match the different ways you want to work, how you want to spend your time, the clients you prefer, and the frequency in which you want to get paid.

• Ensure you have a stable income stream before you take attention away from it.
• Let your audience, customers, and fans tell you what they want. If you can understand when your market wants something from you and if they are willing to pay for it, creating other revenue streams will naturally develop.
• Testing ideas is essential.
• Not all projects should be monetized. Some will pay you back in other ways like creatively energizing you or letting you experiment and fail, that may be valuable.

The two big reasons to refinance are:

• To reduce your monthly mortgage payment
• To save on the overall interest you will pay on your house in the long run.

Refinancing does not always reduce the monthly payment or save on the overall interest.. A loan officer or mortgage broker can help you run scenarios that show you the cost and potential savings of refinancing.

Generally, it makes sense to refinance if you plan on staying in your home for many years.

If you plan to sell the property soon, don't refinance. Refinancing could take years to break even and begin saving you money.