Archive for the ‘personal finance’ Category

Things “back then” seemed much easier, especially when seen through the rearview mirror of culture.

Couples graduated high school, maybe college, then immediately got married, merging all their assets — which was approximately nothing.

Today, because couples are marrying later in life, they often have a complex web of mortgages, debt, kids and investments to combine. The median marriage age has risen to 28 for men and 26 for women, according to federal census data and the Pew Research Center. But no matter what your age or situation, navigating finances before tying the knot is essential.

“I tell my clients that if you can’t talk about finances when you’re in love, just wait to try and talk about it in a fight,” said Anthony Centore, founder of Thrive Atlanta Marriage Counseling.

Centore says couples are bringing more assets into their relationships, such as financial investments or businesses they own. And experts say couples 30 and older are typically favoring a joint …

Continue reading Joining finances is tricky but necessary »

Get your house in order this month with tips from SunTrust private financial adviser Kris Funkhouser.

You’ve got things on your mind: presents to buy, halls to deck and fruitcakes to bake. Then there’s sprucing up the house to prepare for visiting relatives this month.

So it’s understandable if you’ve forgotten about tending to your end-of-the-year financial cleanup. But a little ledger-dusting now will put your financial house in order for 2012.

Atlanta SunTrust financial adviser Kris Funkhouser reminds us how to end the year smoothly with these five tips:

1. Give gifts. If you’re looking to transfer money from your estate to your children or relatives, you have until Dec. 31 to give up to $13,000 ($26,000 for married couples) in gifts without any tax implications. “This is helpful for clients who have large estates or large net worths and are trying to reduce that net worth over time,” Funkhouser says. “So they’re able to give money away on an annual basis to do that.”

2. Be …

Continue reading Tend to finances before year’s end »

Certified financial planner Ted Jenkin is the Co-CEO and Founder oXYGen Financial, Inc. and occasionally guest blogs for Atlanta Bargain Hunter.

Ted Jenkin of oXYGen Financial

When my father passed away many years ago, my mom was a schoolteacher, and she had left almost all of the financial decisions up to my father. I remember how traumatic life was for those of us left picking up the pieces. It took my mother months to uncover all of the family finances.

Let alone figuring out how to take care of yourself and your children for day-to-day needs, making the right financial decisions when you are widowed can be tricky and treacherous.

Here are five smart money moves to make if you are recently widowed:

1. Take your time. Sometimes widowers quickly sell a piece of property or move existing investments, but don’t make any irreversible decisions for the first 90 days. It might take that long to acquire statements for accounts you weren’t aware of and to collect family financial …

Continue reading What to do if you’re recently widowed »

Certified financial planner Ted Jenkin is the Co-CEO and Founder oXYGen Financial, Inc. and occasionally guest blogs for Atlanta Bargain Hunter.

Ted Jenkin of oXYGen Financial

If you can’t decrease your overall expenses, then maybe it’s time to start making more money.

You could change careers. You could pick up a second job. Or you could dig into the many different sites on the internet to pick up some spare change.

Many people I know give away junk drawer items thinking there’s no value to them. Perhaps you have books, CDs or other items sitting in your basement. Here are five ideas to pick up money to pay those late bills or stash some cash for the holiday season.

1. DVDs and CDs. When DVDs first came out, everyone was collecting their favorites. Now, almost everyone I know has a cabinet full of movies including Scarface, Caddyshack, and whatever else came in that six-DVDs-for-a-penny deal. Now that almost everything can be seen on demand from your cable or dish …

Continue reading Five ways to make more money now »

Certified financial planner Wes Moss provides personal finance advice and accessible investment strategies. His guest post appears here weekly.

Wes Moss hosts 'Money Matters' Sunday mornings on AM750 and 95.5FM News/Talk WSB

I recently met with a retired woman who came to see me because she was frustrated and concerned by her portfolio’s failure to keep up with the stock market’s average rates of return. A quick glance at her statements revealed the problem: fees.

The woman’s financial advisor had placed her in several high-priced mutual funds, defined as those with expenses of 1 percent or more. On top of that, her money guy was charging her an annual management fee of 2 percent.

Bottom line: Her portfolio has to return 3 percent every single year just to break even on her fees — this at a time when the 30-year Treasury yields less than 3 percent. So it’s like running a marathon in quicksand.

We’ve talked before in this blog about the pitfalls of fees.  But that meeting …

Continue reading Wes Moss: Avoid mutual fund rip-offs »

Certified financial planner Wes Moss provides personal finance advice and accessible investment strategies. His guest post appears here weekly.

Wes Moss hosts 'Money Matters' Sunday mornings on AM750 and 95.5FM News/Talk WSB

There was this great clip of former Indianapolis Colts coach Jim Mora answering a question about whether his team might make the NFL post-season:

“Play-offs?” Mora screeches. “Don’t talk about play-offs! I just hope we can win another game!”

I think a lot of small investors can relate. “Return?” they might shout. “Don’t talk about return! I just hope my money stays safe!”

It’s impossible these days to get a decent yield on “safe money” — the funds we have stashed in highly liquid accounts for use in emergencies and other needs. (See my “Cash bucket” post for a full description.) Such investments have never paid a lot – after all, you are trading yield for security.

Back in 2007, you might have seen a 2 or 3 percent return on your safe money accounts. …

Continue reading Wes Moss: Is your cash even safe? »

Certified financial planner Wes Moss provides personal finance advice and accessible investment strategies. His guest post appears here Monday mornings.

In his 1996 best seller “The Millionaire Next Door,” Thomas Stanley detailed the traits of the average millionaire. Notice I didn’t say rich person. Millionaires have a net worth of more than seven figures and are also “financially free.” That excludes that guy who makes $50,000 a month but spends $60,000 a month living in Buckhead, driving a Bentley and eating at Chops three times a week.

Not much has changed about this group since 1996. So today in 2011 we’re still talking about good old-fashioned millionaires — couples (and some individuals) who are truly “rich” (see my blog on the Rich Ratio).

I see these people every day of the week. They drive Toyotas, Hondas, Kias — and the occasional Jeep Cherokee. They have saved for a long time and finally find themselves in a position to quit their job and live life on their …

Continue reading Wes Moss: How to live like a millionaire »

Consumer expert Clark Howard’s column appears here each Thursday in conjunction with Deal Spotter, a weekly print section in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

The identity theft protection packages that are so popular among people have settled somewhere between $9 and $15 per month ($120 to $180 annually). But what if you could get similar protection for free?

The idea with an identity theft protection package is that it should give you peace of mind in the event somebody steals your identity because it provides early warning.

Longtime listeners know I think this is a weak way to protect your identity. (Read on for more details about alternatives.) But let’s assume for a minute that the pitch from the identity theft protection package companies appeals to you.

Well, there’s a new freemium service called AllClearID.com. The basic service is free, while you can upgrade to a fancier version for $9.95 per month.

The free version tries to sniff out suspicious activity via online …

Continue reading Clark Howard: You can protect your credit for free »

Certified financial planner Wes Moss provides personal finance advice and accessible investment strategies. His guest post appears here Monday mornings.

“Default.”

With countries from Greece to the United States struggling with massive national debt, we’re hearing that disconcerting word on a daily basis. Should you, as a small investor, be concerned? And how should you respond to the threat of governments going broke?

Make no mistake: A country defaulting on its debt could have an effect on your savings and investment portfolios. If Greece, for example, were to default, it would not likely have a large, direct effect on the earnings of blue chip corporations like Southern Company or Home Depot. But there could be negative indirect impact on the prices of such stocks.

A default could weaken the European banks holding Greek debt, prompting them to reduce their lending, thereby hurting economies worldwide. As we have seen the last 10 years, U.S. stocks are affected by the …

Continue reading Wes Moss: How to defend your portfolio from defaults »

You may be able to avoid paying those extra baggage fees, but will you be able to escape doctor’s visit add-ons?

According to USA Today, doctors across the country are beginning to tack on extra fees for patients that they say insurance doesn’t cover. Although this group of practitioners is still in the minority, the trend is gaining steam (a la the airline price hikes) among doctors who say their costs are increasing.

More from the story:

The extra payments include no-show fees of $30-$50 for missed appointments, widely varying charges for filling out health forms for school, work or athletic teams, and annual administrative fees of $35-$120 or more to simply be a patient in some practices, medical associations and doctors say.

The rising cost of health care has also been prompting a few desperate patients to take extreme action lately.

Would you pay extra fees if your medical provider began requiring them? What if insurance companies began rolling those fees into your …

Continue reading Will you pay extra doctor’s fees? »