It must be mistake week in the news. Last night U.S. News & World Report had an article by Kerry Hannon about “5 Mistakes that will Sink your Retirement”. Below are his five points and some personal commentary:
1. Cutting back on Contributions.
According to the article, 1/4 of American workers do not contribute to their 401(K) and [...]
In the latest issue of World Magazine (May 3/10, 2008), David Bahnsen list six common mistakes that investors make. He notes that there are obviously more than six mistakes, but the majority of the errors that we make can be generally placed into one of these six areas. Below are the six mistakes with a [...]
Bad news seems to be all around us. Everywhere you turn, someone is letting us know how terrible things are right now - inflation, housing markets, stocks, the dollar, etc. It can really be depressing.
It is during times like these that we need to keep a positive attitude. Things may be tough, but not as [...]
I was reading an opinion piece by Marty Nemko in The Chronicle of Higher Education where he calls a bachelor’s degree America’s most overrated product. In the article are several astounding statistics:
40% of freshman at four-year colleges do not graduate in six years
Percentage of class time spent in classes of fewer than 30 students - [...]
We need to keep our word. If we say we will do something, we need to do it. This is especially true in finances. A vow can be defined as a promise, a pledge, or a personal commitment. It can be verbal or it can be written (like a contract). When we make a vow [...]
Before buying my home late last year, I was a bit of a nomad. Seven different places to call home in just six years. I won’t go into the details, but as you can see, that’s ridiculous. Each time I handled the moving myself, along with some friends. Beer and pizza go a long way [...]
I read a number of financial blogs. And most, if not all of them, will tell you the secret to wealth is to spend less than you make. Pretty much common sense. If your’re single, it’s up to you to make the decisions that will help you financially. Or if you are part of a “couple”, [...]
In the May issue of Readers Digest they describe a fictional typical American Famiy. Some of the things shared:
James and Mary (parents)Â are the most popular male and female names in the US
John and Patricia are the second most common names
James shoots a 96 in golf, Mary a 108
The daughter watches 2.5 hours of TV a day
The [...]
It is easy to get tempted to cut corners ethically when we face financial challenges. But we should never allow ourselves to be trapped into anything that is unethical, immoral, or dishonest, no matter how inviting it seems. “Such will be my wages. So my honesty will answer for me later, when you come concerning [...]
Death and Taxes are inevitable. (Thomas Chandler Haliburton–1796-1865)
While most people today are fixated on the latter (it being April 15th), I have been involved in the former. The church is preparing for a funeral tomorrow; I had an older lady and her son in my office earlier grieving - her husband of many years will probably [...]
