Retirement Archives - Making Sense Of Cents

What You Need To Know About Investing, Retirement Planning, and More

Last Updated: August 30, 2021 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 2 Comments

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you. Please read my disclosure for more info.

Are you interested in learning how to invest, start retirement planning, and more? Today’s article will allow you to get started with retirement planning and help with each step along the way.

Planning for retirement and starting to invest can be a very intimidating topic for the average person, and I completely understand that.

However, once you start, everything becomes much easier. You just have to get over that hump, and you can do that by reading up on the different retirement planning topics.

Today, I am rounding up some of my most helpful articles in these areas, so that you can reach financial freedom and start retirement planning.

Some of the topics below include:

How to save for retirement
Answers to 13 of the most popular retirement planning questions
How to start investing
Why you should be careful with 401k loans
What is financial independence retire early?
Different ways to save and invest for retirement
Planning tips for the future and for your family, such as obtaining life insurance, estate planning, and more.

Plus, I’m sharing several early retirement stories from real people. [Read more…]

13 Best Early Retirement Books – You NEED To Read These Books

Last Updated: August 9, 2021 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 7 Comments

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you. Please read my disclosure for more info.

Do you want to learn how to retire early? Today, I’m sharing the best early retirement books to motivate you and help you start planning for your future.

Early retirement is very popular right now, and you may be wondering if it’s possible for you and how to make it happen.

If early retirement is something you’re dreaming about, then I highly recommend reading the books I’m sharing with you today.

Many of the best early retirement books focus on FIRE, which stands for financial independence, retire early. FIRE can mean many different things, but books about FIRE are some of my favorites to read because they are very informative and give me lots of motivation.

The books below can help you learn more about FIRE, as well as dive deeper into the many different ways to become financially independent and retire early.

Reading books about early retirement can be a great way to learn specific actions steps that you need to take to reach early retirement. [Read more…]

What Is Estate Planning? Do I Need To Do This?

Last Updated: August 5, 2021 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 10 Comments

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you. Please read my disclosure for more info.

What is estate planning?

Over the years, I have received plenty of questions about creating a will and estate planning.

After all, anyone over the age of 18 probably needs to have at least some part of an estate plan.

Quick note about an easy giveaway: Vicki and Amy are also giving away three of their Estate Planning 101 books away. Simply leave a comment below and I will randomly select three winners.

Recently, I asked you, my readers, what questions you have about estate planning. Some of the questions you had included:

What is estate planning and why is it important?
Is there a situation in which you would not need an estate plan?
At what age should I start estate planning?
Should I do my estate planning myself or hire a lawyer?
What is the difference between a trust and a will?
Who should have a will or trust?
Who is best to make the executor of your estate plan?
What happens if a person passes away without an estate plan?
What are the main steps in estate planning?

Because this is not an area that I’m an expert in, I gave these questions to Vicki Cook and Amy Blacklock who are experts in the area of estate planning.

Vicki Cook and Amy Blacklock are coauthors of Estate Planning 101 and cofounders of the award-winning personal finance website Women Who Money. Vicki’s also the founder and blogger behind Make Smarter Decisions, and Amy’s the founder and blogger behind the award-winning site Life Zemplified. Additionally, they’ve been frequent contributors to GOBankingRates, Wealthfit, Medi-Share, and various personal finance sites around the web. [Read more…]

How I Retired At Age 30 with $500,000

Last Updated: August 9, 2021 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 21 Comments

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you. Please read my disclosure for more info.

My monthly Extraordinary Lives series is something that I really enjoy sharing with you all, and I’m back with another great interview. Today’s interview is with Purple, who retired at the end of 2020 at the age of 30, with $500,000 invested.

Are you interested in financial independence and/or early retirement?

If so, this interview is for you!

You probably know Purple from the popular blog APurpleLife.com. APurpleLife.com is one of my favorite blogs, so I’m excited to share this interview with you.

In this interview, you’ll learn:

How an early retirement amount of $500,000 was chosen
Why she chose to retire early
The career she had before she retired early
Whether or not she still earns income in early retirement
The sacrifices that had to be made to reach early retirement
Her choice of health insurance as an early retiree and full-time nomad

And more!

This interview is packed full of valuable information on reaching early retirement. [Read more…]

9 Tips For Financial Success And Freedom – Take Control Of Your Money

Last Updated: July 5, 2021 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 7 Comments

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you. Please read my disclosure for more info.

Achieving financial success is something that many people want to reach.

It makes sense as money can greatly determine how a person lives their life.

Money can even be a factor in your happiness. I’m not saying that money equals happiness, but if you’re stressed about money, you may feel depressed, inadequate, or have other negative feelings.

I completely understand that there are some situations where things are outside of your control, leading to a lot of financial stress and awful feelings.

It can be incredibly difficult to overcome situations like that.

Still, I truly believe that there are things you can do to become more financially secure and reach financial freedom. Everyone’s path will be different, but I believe it’s possible.

So, what is financial freedom and financial success? And, how do you become financially successful?

Financial success means something different to everyone.

It could mean that you no longer have debt, that you no longer have stress from money, money no longer controls you, you have paid off your house, you’ve reached retirement, or something else. [Read more…]

Do I Need A Trust?

Last Updated: June 14, 2021 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - Leave a Comment

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you. Please read my disclosure for more info.

The following is a partnership with Trust & Will.

Do I need a Trust?

Lately, I’ve been hearing that question and many other questions about having a Trust.

More people should probably have a Trust than you think, as there are many benefits.

According to Trust & Will, if you have at least $200,000 worth of assets, the best way to protect your family may be to create a Trust.

Creating a Trust is an area that you may not have thought about. After all, many do not take this step. But, this is changing lately. More and more people are starting to create Wills and Trusts, and for good reason.

Creating a Trust can protect your assets and help your family.

There are many reasons to have a Trust. Some reasons may include more control over distributing assets, such as if you have a family home, assisting dependents with disabilities for years and decades into the future, complex assets, reducing taxes, and more.

You can learn more about these reasons in Top 8 Reasons to Have a Trust. [Read more…]

Lendtable Review: Get free money to max out your 401(k) match and ESPP

Last Updated: May 17, 2021 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 2 Comments

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you. Please read my disclosure for more info.

Welcome to my Lendtable review. The following is a partnership with Lendtable. All opinions are my own.

Don’t know where to start saving up for retirement? Or maybe you just feel like you don’t have enough money to make an impact on your retirement plan?

That’ll change today.

I want to tell you that it’s not only possible to save enough for retirement, but to get free money while you do so and grow a passive income while you sleep.

One easy way to get started saving for retirement is to take advantage of your company’s 401(k) plan or ESPP benefits.

And, if your employer offers a 401(k) match, that’s even better.

Why?

Because you have the potential to create money out of thin air: if you contribute $5k, you end up with $10k with a matching policy.

Lendtable basically pays you to grow your 401(k) through a cash advance. You can receive thousands of dollars extra from your boss by using Lendtable and receiving your company match. No really, it’s that simple.

Please click here to fill out a 2-minute evaluation to see how much you can earn with Lendtable. [Read more…]