savings

Still Thankful the Day After Father’s Day

It's Monday, the day after Father's Day, two thousand and seventeen.  I hope all the Dads out there had a great one.  I sure did.  I am very grateful for my kids who qualify me to celebrate and to my dad, well, for everything.  Even in the 19th year of working together, my dad continues to teach me and serve as an example by how much he cares about our family, clients, and business.

My favorite Father's Day tweet that I saw yesterday came from Morgan Housel. 

 

Simple and to the point.  Great advice that resonates strongly in my middle-agedness!  This got me to thinking about fatherly advice in my family.  Here's what came to mind.

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Please mind the (retirement savings) gap

When I was a junior in college, I studied in England for 6 months so I became familiar with the subway reminder of “please mind the gap.” It seems so courteous and there doesn't really seem to be much danger in the tiny gap between the subway car and the platform but it is nice to be reminded to keep safe. Unfortunately, there is a huge gap emerging in retirement savings and the it is more of a chasm than a gap. According to the World Economic Forum, longer life spans and disappointing investment returns will help create a $400 trillion retirement savings shortfall by 2050, a figure more than five times the size of the global economy today. Needless to say, this is a monumental problem that needs to be addressed.

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Your 401(k): Benefits of Starting Early

Your 401(k) could make you a millionaire. By making small, regular investments starting in your 20s or early 30s, your savings will grow tax-free for 30 to 40 years. Unfortunately, people tend to procrastinate because they are focused on bills that are due today and the things they want right now. We human beings are notoriously bad at wrapping our minds around far off events.

When it comes to investing, time is a big advantage. Here are three reasons why.

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Cable TV cord cutting has reached its tipping point

I'm calling it right now. 2015 is the year that cable TV cord cutting finally reached its tipping point. For so many years, consumers have been complaining about the rising costs of cable TV and the terrible customer service from cable providers. However the options for cutting the cord were few and far between. But just in the last few months, the options have leapt forward with HBO Now, Sling TV, Sony's PlayStation Vue, CBS All Access, Starz Play, Cinemax MAX Go and Encore Play offering viable alternatives to cable TV; and rumors are that Apple will launch their own streaming subscription service by mid-year. Combined with Netflix, Amazon Prime and Hulu, the options for cord cutters are getting better by the day.

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The Best and Worst 529 College Savings Plans of 2014

baby girl

 

My weekends are packed with activities to entertain my 2-year-old daughter Chloe. Virtually all my friends have children, from newborns to kindergarten age. We all reminisce about the days when college was a third of the cost and wonder how the heck we will pay for our kids to go to college. With 50 colleges charging over $60,000 a year, where will prices be in another 10-15 years?!?!? My dad always thinks outside the box and he thought I should train to become a football placekicker so I could earn a scholarship. While definitely a cool idea, it never progressed past a Nerf football being kicked about 15 yards in the backyard.

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