by Roman on March 9, 2010
Why You Should Do It NOW
If you are as yet questioning why you should save up for your retirement, perhaps the realization that you can’t work forever will be enough encouragement for you.
Like it or not, you will reach a point in your life where you don’t have a lot of money coming in, and you will somehow have to get by with whatever money you have squirreled away. Hopefully you will be covered for any eventuality by this point, and will have some money set aside for any unforseen emergencies as well.
What about Social Security?
Don’t think that you can rely solely on your Social Security pension to live on when you retire either. While your Social Security will give you a fairly respectable base for your retirement savings, you will have to augment this in some way, whether with a job related pension, or with a savings plan offered by your company or one that you will start up on your own using your own funds. Either way, you will want to have some money set aside for a comfortable retirement.
Living Expenses in the Future
It can be quite disheartening to realize that living expenses don’t necessarily go down when you retire. There is always the threat of inflation to worry about, and the rising property taxes could result in a corresponding increase in your housing costs as well. In addition, advancing age comes with it a host of health issues, all of which may result in higher medical costs or at the every least, a jump in your health insurance premium.
Can You Work Your Way to Retirement?
Don’t automatically assume that you will be able to work for as long as you are able to either. A 2007 study showed that as much as 37% of all retired respondents have had to retire earlier than they would have wanted to either because of health issues or company lay offs. In order to make sure that you are protected for any eventuality, it would be best to start planning for your retirement as early as possible.
You Need To Live Without an Income for a Long Time
Here are some figures that may drive the point home a little more clearly. If like most people you plan to retire upon reaching 65 years old, you have a 50% chance of living 15 more years, and even longer if you are a woman. There is even a 25% chance that you will live to 90 years of age, and a 10% chance that you will live to be a hundred years old! That can be quite a while to go between retiring and kicking the bucket, and going through those years can be quite a challenge indeed if you haven’t planned your retirement properly.
One of the most valuable tools to have at your disposal is the 401(k) plan. This retirement plan is paid for with funds that are deducted by your employer every payroll. These funds can be invested in a number of ways offered by your employer, or you could get a broader range of investment options with the 401(k) administrator. In any case, the 401(k) plan gives you an easy and convenient way to use money you are earning today and earmarking it for your use when you will need it the most.
Are you doing anything to save money for your retirement?
by Roman on March 1, 2010
Forex trading takes place 24 hours a day and it basically involves all the currencies in the world. This means that Forex currency trading is bigger than all the stock markets in the world combined.
Thanks to time zone differences the currency markets are always open – when trading ends in Asia it starts in Europe.
Thanks to the incredible size of the Forex Market and its continues hype there are 5 things everyone should know before starting Forex Trading.
1. It is incredibly difficult
Forex traders agree that 90% of all traders lose money. 5% of traders break even and only 5% will make money.
Forex trading is a zero sum game – this means that the 5% of best traders will end up taking the money of all the other traders.
2. You can make a lot of money
Forex brokers usually allow for a maximum leverage of 500:1. This means that with only a deposit of $1000 you can make transactions with up to $500,000 dollars.
If you make 1% profit this means that you make 5000 dollars.
That is a very nice sum when you started with only $1000.
3. You can lose everything almost instantly
High leverage means high risk. To continue the example above – If you have $1000 in your account and you are allowed to make transactions with $500,000 dollars and you lose 1% – this means a loss of 5000 dollars. This means that you will lose your 1000 dollars and will owe another 4000 dollars!
Thanks to the efforts of your broker your account will however most likely be closed as soon as you lose the 1000 dollars (that is -0.2%)
While there is potential for large gains there is an even larger likelihood of losing everything you have!
4. No one has a working system
There are tons of people saying they have found a magic formula that helps to make money trading currencies 24/7. These people are usually selling their secret for a small sum because their biggest wish is to help you get rich! NOT!
This is marketing bullshit!
In reality these people have realized that they will never make any money with Forex. They are better off selling partially working systems and robots to people who want to get rich fast.
In reality these systems will always lose you money.
5. If someone has a working system he will keep it secret
If someone actually has a working system and makes money on trading currencies he will never reveal his secret.
This is true because of the way forex trading works – if enough people know of a certain way to make money the method will cease to work simply because a lot of people are trying to use it.
by Roman on February 23, 2010
Most people who are looking to cut costs don’t think to look at their utilities bill. In most cases, it is the shopping and leisure budgets that get the axe instead. While such actions are certainly commendable, focusing at least part of your attention on your utility bills can result in considerable savings off your monthly expenditures.
Thankfully, the key to saving on utility costs is pretty simple: use up less, whether that is water, electricity or gas!
Sounds easy enough to be sure, but you may just be surprised at how much money this simple action can shave off your utility bills every month.
Check out these tips to see how you can cut costs in specific areas.
Cutting Electricity Costs
Fans can do a lot to cool down your home if you set them up properly. In order to provide the maximum cooling effect, you will want to set up your fan to pull in cool air into your home and direct it into the warmer parts of the house. If possible use fans instead of air conditioning- fans use more than 10 times less energy than or regular air conditioning unit.
Tell everyone to turn off ALL the lights that aren’t being used in the house! It is easy enough to just leave the lights on for mood or atmosphere, but get into the habit of turning off unnecessary lights and you will be rewarded with a generous cut in your electric bill at the end of the month.
While you’re at it, turn the TV off when it is not being used as well. Studies have shown that a TV left on is one of the biggest wasters of electricity in the world. Shut it off when no one is around, and make sure that you set the timer to turn it off if you have the tendency to fall asleep while watching!
Putting A Stopper On Your Water Bill
Do periodic checks around your home to find out if any faucets or pipes are leaking. Every drop wasted is just a little bit more that is added to your monthly water bill, and as insignificant as this amount may seem, it does have a way of adding up over time. In fact, even a tiny drip can add up to more than two gallons of water in as little as an hour!
If you absolutely have to water your lawn, do it according to a schedule, and do most of your watering early in the morning so as to reduce the amount of water lost to evaporation.
Keep Things Warm and Cheap
In the winter, you may consider lighting up the fireplace or wood-stove instead of turning up the central heating. Not only does this add a bit of charm to the room, it is also a bit cheaper than using up gas.
Keep warm as needed. Get used to wearing the appropriate clothing for the weather. In the winter, sweaters and pants are recommended, and wearing these even while lounging around the home will help reduce your dependence on your gas-powered central heating unit.
What other ideas for cutting utility costs have you pursued?
by Roman on February 17, 2010
Saving money is something that everyone will have to learn at some point in their lives or another, so it makes perfect sense to get your kids familiar with the idea as early on as possible in their lives. The good news is that most kids will take very well to the idea of saving and you should be able to get your young one into the habit with very little trouble in your part.
Teach Children the Basics of Saving Money
One of the keys to teaching your children good saving habits is regular reinforcement. The good news is that money matters usually have to be considered numerous times every day anyway, so there are a lot of opportunities for you to teach your children some valuable lessons in the art of saving. As soon as your children are able to understand basic concepts such as getting paid for work rendered and how money can be used to buy necessary things and so forth, it is probably a good time to bring up the merits of saving and how they can go about it.
Weekly Allowance and Chores
An ideal opportunity to discuss savings is when you are discussing your child’s allowance. Try to determine certain tasks around the house that your children can do and that you will pay them for. These should be tasks that go beyond their normal chores but have to be done anyway. The point is not that they will have to be paid to do their chores – an approach that may well backfire on you when your young entrepreneur demands a fee for making his bed – but rather: that money doesn’t come for free, and that he will have to work to get it.
Shopping and Saving Money
Shopping is another great opportunity to introduce the concept of saving. You can start off by putting together a grocery list and cutting out coupons you can use. Ask your kids to find out which items go with which coupons, and discuss the merits of buying generic products versus branded products. You could then let your kids have any money that you save by using coupons, as a way to illustrate the potential savings they can realize.
Comparison Shopping
Also explain the value of comparison shopping and waiting for items to go on sale. Of course you will also want to teach your kids the true value–as opposed to the apparent value–of certain products, and that buying essential foods such as milk and eggs is a lot more cost effective than buying non-essentials such as soda and candy.
Encourage saving. Make sure that your child has a piggy bank of some sort, whether it is an actual piggy bank or even just a milk bottle. Not only will this get your child into the habit of saving regularly, it will also give him an encouragement boost as he sees the bank get heavier and heavier everyday.
Loading ...