savings

3 tips to turbo charge your 529 plan #529Day

May 29th has been nationally recognized as 529 College Savings Day, a way to raise awareness for the importance of saving early for college. My guess is that 99% of people have never heard of 529 Day so you are now ahead of the pack. The bigger problem is that more than two-thirds of investors don't know what 529 plans can do. Only 32 percent of people could correctly identify a 529 plan as an option for saving for college expenses, according to a survey by Edward Jones. That is a depressing number when you consider that 529 plans offer many tax benefits that help your investments grow over time. The biggest advantage is that investment earnings aren't subject to capital gains tax when used for qualified education expenses. Furthermore, 33 states and the District of Columbia sweeten the deal by giving residents a tax break if they invest in their state's 529 plan.

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How to get your Amazon Prime membership for free

This month, Amazon raised prices on Prime subscriptions by $20 from $99 per year to $119. Some people aren't happy with a 20% increase which sounds like a lot but $20 isn't much in today's world — probably the equivalent of a weekend dinner out. Because of the change, a friend of mine of Facebook asked, “Is it even worth it?” My answer is a pretty emphatic yes, especially when the Prime membership can effectively become free.

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Will #YOLO Ruin Your Retirement? It Doesn’t Have to.

Many lifestyle gurus have sold the idea of living for the moment and that we should only do that which makes us feel good.  Looking at Instagram and you'll find 27.8 million pictures with the hashtag #YOLO, the acronym for “you only live once.” This phrase indicates a desire to live in the moment, and in extreme circumstances as an excuse for bad or risky behavior.

It sounds alluring until you look at the data about retirement-readiness. According to the Bankrate.com 2018 Retirement Savings survey, 42 percent of Americans have less than $10,000 saved. That means an alarmingly high number of people will go broke and outlive their money. It is evident that a YOLO approach to life gets complicated when it comes to money.

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