Retirement Archives - Making Sense Of Cents

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 - 1 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.

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…]

How We Started A Rental Property Business

Last Updated: May 14, 2021 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 3 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 start a rental property business? Today, I have a great guest post from Nikki, a reader of Making Sense of Cents, on how she started her own rental real estate business with just $30,000. She now owns 28 rental units!

How early do you start to think of saving for retirement? Though it may not be on your radar now, there is a way to start saving without even thinking about it. Now how does that make sense?

By investing in real estate.

That is exactly what my husband and I did!

We started with a small investment of $30,000 to purchase one rental property and less than 10 years later, grew that one investment into 28 units!

All of which are intended to help us retire early and continue bringing in passive income!

Now let’s start from the beginning…

My husband and I married back in 2009. Now, most newlyweds don’t just jump right in to buying a house after shelling out the money for a wedding, not to mention we were only in our early 20’s to begin with, but we were ready to make the leap into home ownership!

We were fortunate to have some, albeit small, savings for a down payment to get us started. If you can recall, in 2009, we were still feeling the ramifications from the Great Recession. [Read more…]

21 Best Early Retirement Tips To Help You Retire Early

Last Updated: April 15, 2021 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 13 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 financial independence and/or early retirement? Today, I’ve asked some of the top personal finance experts to share their personal and best early retirement tips.

Early retirement may sound like a dream, but there are more and more people who are trying to retire early as part of the FIRE movement. FIRE stands for financial independence, retire early.

There is a lot of debate around financial independence and early retirement, especially about what it really means and how to achieve it.

It doesn’t necessarily mean you have millions of dollars in the bank and never work again. If that’s your goal, then great, go for it! But the idea is more about living your best possible life and no longer being controlled by money.

For some people that means completely getting rid of their debt — no credit card debt, mortgage, car loans, student loans, etc. Other people have an exact number in mind that they want to reach, like $1 to $2 million in savings. [Read more…]

A Beginner’s Guide to Micro-Investing in 2021

Last Updated: April 22, 2021 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 1 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.

What is micro-investing? Lately, I have been hearing a ton about micro-investing, so I thought an article on the topic would be great. My sister-in-law and editor, Ariel Gardner, has been using micro-investing apps for over a year, and today she is going to teach you all about this topic.

I heard about micro-investing for the first time a few years ago, and I was immediately intrigued.

The idea is that you’re investing on a small scale, and it’s meant to appeal to new investors who feel intimidated by traditional investing.

Maybe you feel like you don’t have enough money to start investing or investing just seems too difficult. There’s also the reality that the market goes up and down on a regular basis — also scary for anyone who’s new to investing.

Micro-investing aims to remove all of those barriers and teach you that investing is more accessible than you may have thought.

About a year after I learned about micro-investing, I decided to try it out and invest through a couple of different apps — Stash and Acorns.

Today, I’m going to tell you what I’ve learned through the process and about some of the best micro-investing apps available now. [Read more…]

What is Value Investing, and Why Should You Care?

Last Updated: January 15, 2021 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 3 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.

Hello! Today, I have a great guest post from Chris about value investing. Chris started a digital marketing business that focuses on freelance writing, content marketing, and SEO — all while working full-time and playing dad to two kids. You can check out his blog – Money Mozart to read more.

Have you been thinking about getting into the investing game, but have no idea where to start when it comes to choosing a strategy? Find yourself totally overwhelmed by the sheer amount of options and information?

Then you may want to take a look at one of the best long-term, proven investing strategies around— value investing.

Let’s take a deep dive into this technique, learn more about value investing, and explore why you should care about it in the first place.

Related content on how to start investing:

[Read more…]

Why Save Money Now? 9 Reasons That Will Help You Start Saving

Last Updated: January 15, 2021 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 6 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.

Learning to save money is one of the best things you can do for yourself.

Saving money can help you prepare for emergencies, start a business, retire, and more.

Financial security is one of the best reasons for why you should save money, and being prepared financially is one of the best feelings in the world. You can travel more, pursue your passions, quit a job you don’t love, try new things, and more.

But, I hear over and over again from people that they don’t want to save money now because they think they have the rest of their life to do so.

However, that’s far from true, especially if you want to be prepared for emergencies or retire.

When you decide to start saving money now, you will be ready to live the rest of your life.

You can take chances, try new things, and be ready in case something awful were to happen. Saving money gives you the freedom to worry less and live more. [Read more…]

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