5 Simple Ways to Begin Investment in Index Funds

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September 28, 2020

A mutual fund pools money from multiple investors in order to purchase a larger, diversified group of assets. Mutual funds are basically managed by a fund manager and investors are charged a fee for the convenience of this diversification. An index measures a group of stocks, bonds, or a market. So index fund is a mutual fund that keeps expenses low and avails more money for the investor instead of hiring an expensive manager to pick stocks.

Determine the Right Investment Account

1. Personal Brokerage Account: A basic and flexible account with few limitations (but also no major tax benefits).

2. Traditional IRA: Retirement accounts that provide tax benefits when contributing funds into the account.

3. Roth IRA: A retirement account that provides tax benefits when withdrawing earnings.

Decide on your Initial Deposit

You can decide the proper amount to deposit into investing accounts based on your income and monthly expenses. However, be sure to invest enough in your initial deposit to cover any minimum investment rules within your broker or fund.

Choose an Online Broker

You basically will either choose a Traditional Online Brokers or Robo-Advisors like Betterment, Acorns, Wealthfront etc.

Decide on Your Preferred Investment Vehicles

Investment vehicles are specific investments that you buy and sell. For example; Individual Stocks, ETFs & Index Funds, Mutual Funds, Bonds.

Develop an Ongoing Strategy and Plan

You can set up a plan to keep depositing funds monthly and rebalancing your investment portfolio annually.

Annually: Rebalance the portfolio to ensure the weight of equities vs fixed income is in line with set goals.
Monthly: Deposit money based on an ongoing savings plan that fits your monthly income and expenses.

5 Simple Financial Skills You Should Master For Financial Success

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obbuuz

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September 26, 2020

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How much you know about money management will go a long way to determine how well you will management your wealth. Find below these 5 helpful financial skills you can develop to keep up with a successful financial management:

Develop a Financial Plan

Doing this will take you through all of your major financial steps—from buying a car to buying a home, shopping, paying tuition fees for your kids’, e.t.c . It will help you prioritize your goals and know when and how to spend your time.

Set Regular Financial Goals

Setting up clearly defined financial goals can help you stick to your budget. You ought to have short-term, mid-term and long-term financial goals to work on each year. It is import to check in on your progress toward these goals on a regular basis, such as during your monthly financial check-in session.

Plan for Seasonal Expenses

These kind of expenses are vacation spending, taxes, home repairs, holiday shopping, and so on. By putting aside money to cover them each month, it becomes easier to pay for these major expenses without having to dip into your savings. Identifying and planning for these expenses ahead will help you build more net worth and a successful financial future.

Become a Smart Shopper With a List

One of the smartest ways you can save money while shopping is to determine if you need the items before you buy it, shop with a list and then you stick to it. Putting up a list can help eliminate a second trip to the store because you forgot something, which saves you money on gas and additional impulse purchases.

Commit to Saving and Budgeting on Every Money You Earn

You need to commit to saving money and building your financial successful future. Budgeting helps you decide when and how to spend your money.

5 Great Digital Tools to Manage Every Aspect of Your Money in this Era

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obbuuz

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September 25, 2020

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There are many digital tools online that can help you properly manage your money and help achieve your financial goals. However, it is important that you do your own proper research before deciding which one to eventually use.

1. QuickBooks

QuickBooks is a good solution for managing your company finances. It allows you to enter the credentials for various financial accounts such as banks, credit cards, and lenders, it connects and aggregates all your data into a dashboard. Then, you can also categorize your transactions or use customized labels. QuickBooks quickly assigns the right categories to different transactions, but you can always change them or split entries between multiple categories. Many accountants and bookkeepers use it because it easily share your files for professional tax preparation.

2. Betterment

Betterment automatically manages your investments by rebalancing, reinvesting dividends, and handing recurring deposits. It also lets you get access to their team of licensed financial experts for advice and support.

If you want an incredibly easy-to-use investing platform with low fees, it doesn’t get any better than Betterment. They offer regular investing accounts, tax-advantaged retirement accounts, and they recently added savings and checking accounts to their mix.

3. Acorns

Acorns automatically sweeps and invests the difference between your purchase cost and the nearest whole dollar amount you set once you link it to your debit or credit cards.

Acorns as well offers tax-advantaged retirement accounts, such as an IRA. Using only the investing app costs $1 per month, but if you add a retirement account to the mix, you’ll pay $2 per month.

4. Quicken

Quicken has become the gold standard because it can handle just about every aspect of your finances, such as budgeting, paying bills, tracking investments, isolating tax-related transactions, and reporting.

Once you link up your financial accounts with Quicken, it automatically connects and pulls in your cleared transactions. But you can also enter transactions manually if you don’t want to connect to your financial accounts online.

5. Credit Karma

Credit Karma ripples through your entire financial life and helps you keep up with your credit report and scores. Credit karma easily provides you this information for free. Once you create a free Credit Karma account and verify your identity, you get access to a wealth of information.

5 Mistakes Killing Your Grocery Budget

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obbuuz

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September 24, 2020

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Family’s grocery bill is probably one of your biggest monthly expenses, other than mortgage or rent. Check out these 5 mistakes you may be making that are killing your grocery budget!

1. YOU DON’T HAVE A LIST

Sticking to your grocery list ensures you get everything you need so you don’t have to make extra trips to the store. You need to know what you need and where to get it. All of those small additional trips waste time, energy and fuel, and you often end up spending more on an impulse purchase even though you’d planned to dash in and grab maybe just one thing.” However you do it how you do it, just make a list!

2. YOU DON’T HAVE A PLAN

Planning not only saves you time each day by knowing what to buy and cook for lunch or dinner, but it also makes grocery shopping much simpler and more efficient. When you’re armed with a weekly meal plan, you know which meat, produce, staples, and snacks to add to your shopping list, saving you additional trips to the grocery store.

3. YOU DON’T TAKE A PROPER INVENTORY BEFORE YOU LEAVE HOME

Take time to clean out your fridge and look through before creating your shopping list and head to the grocery store. By doing this, you get you fridge tidied up and also ensure that you don’t forget to pick up the necessary items you need to get from the store.

4. YOU DON’T STICK TO YOUR GROCERY LIST

Discipline yourself to buy only the items on your grocery list, and don’t fall for descriptive packaging or fancy store displays.

5. YOU BARELY TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THE SALES

Always buy the items you know you will need over the next few weeks, rather than waiting until you need them — when you’ll usually have to pay full price. This is especially helpful for staples like meat, canned tomatoes, dried beans, and even household staples like toilet paper or detergent.

How to Raise Financially Savvy Kids

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obbuuz

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September 22, 2020

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One of the most important lessons that you can teach your kids is how to handle their money. By being able to raise financially savvy children, you can set them up for success and more opportunities. These simple tips will also be helpful for you in the process of teaching them to be financially savvy at an early age.

OPEN A CHILD SAVING’S ACCOUNT FOR YOUR KIDS

Many Banks today have different options for child’s savings account in which you can choose from. By opening up a Child’s Savings Account, you can help your children build positive experiences around banking and understand how to save money.

NEVER WITHDRAW FROM MONEY CONVERSATIONS WITH THEM

Generally, Kids will let you know when they’re ready to talk about money. And when they do, do not shut them out. Instead of changing the subject, respond to their questions the best way you can and let them know that it was okay to talk about money.

MAKE LEARNING ABOUT MONEY FUN FOR YOUR KIDS

Don’t condition your kids to think that saving, budgeting and managing money is boring or a hassle. Give them positive experiences with money and read personal finance books for kids together. Make it fun for them and they’ll love it.

ALLOW THEM SOMETIMES TO MAKE SPENDING DECISIONS

Involve them in certain spending decisions as they grow older. It’s critical for them to make money mistakes early on so as they get older their financial management skills keeps improving. You can as well allow them to help budget for their ice-cream or snacks at the grocery store or even plan their own birthday party with a budget that you set.

ALLOW YOUR CHILDREN TO PRACTICE EARNING MONEY

Be open to provide them opportunities to earn money by doing small jobs around the house or with family and paying them for it. You can teach them to split the money earned into 3 categories: save, spend, and give. That way, they can learn to balance priorities.

You can develop other methods or strategies you believe can work well for your children in raising them to become financially savvy in this 21st century.

Good luck!!

How You can Choose a Good Financial Advisor

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obbuuz

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September 21, 2020

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Time and effort is necessary to seek out the right financial advisor. This list of characteristics can serve as a checklist when you’re looking to hire one.

1. They are a Certified Financial Professional

A legit financial planner should have some sort of highly valued certification. Perhaps they are a Certified Public Account (CPA), Certified Financial Planner (CFP), or a Chartered Financial Consultant. Ensure that they show you their credentials and then verify the credentials with the respective organization.

2. They are Patient with their Advice

A financial planner that calls you with urgent hot stock picks does not have your best interests in mind. There should be no sense of urgency when it comes to sound investing that leads to long-term growth.

3. They Charge an Hourly or a Flat Fee

Don’t get into a situation where you are paying a percentage of your managed assets or a commission on products bought to a financial adviser. Planners have four pay structures: hourly, flat fee, commission from products sold, or by % of assets managed. If they manage your assets, you are prisoner to their long-term strategy.

4. They Educate you

Your financial planner should want you to know as much as they know so that eventually you can manage your own finances. A financial planner that withholds information or doesn’t take the time to teach you the basics is not a good one.

5. They Care About more than just your Investments

A good financial planner is going to invest the time to take a holistic look at your spending habits, debt obligations, life goals, and more.

6. They Invoke Genuine Trust

If you don’t trust your financial planner, it’s not going to be a good business relationship, and there are plenty of other advisers out there you can always choose from.

7. They have Never Been Disciplined by Any Regulating Authorities

Check with regulating authorities like your state’s insurance and securities dept. to make sure that your financial adviser does not have any black marks against them.

8. They have a Good Reputation

You’re not always going to be able to find a good referral. Just be careful of a hot shot planner that has had a little short-term success in managing your friend’s investments.