Today I have a great blog post about how to create a financial plan from my blogging friend Jim Wang. Enjoy!

Ever walk out of a restaurant and see a fishbowl at the entrance, filled with business cards? The sign next to it would say “Want a free dinner? Meet with a financial planner!”

When I was younger, I put my business card in one of those fishbowls because who doesn't want a free dinner?

It turns out that I would have to pay for my dinner with an hour+ meeting with a “financial planner,” who was more sales person than actual financial planner, and I didn't have a financial plan. I did have a better understanding of how those fishbowls worked though!

A financial plan is important, we all know this, but very few of us have one. It's because we think that we need to meet with a financial planner to get one and who has the time or the money to pay someone for a “plan?” [Read more…]

“Early retirement is just for lazy people.”

“I don't want to save money and retire early, because I'll be bored.”

The two myths above, along with many, many others, are things I often hear people say when they talk about retiring early.

I'm not sure why there are so many negative feelings about early retirement, because I personally love the idea of people striving to retire early and not be “normal.”

I mean, just think about it: Don't you want to retire early, so that you can have the financial freedom to do whatever you want to do?

What's bad about that?

Whether you want to travel, continue working, spend more time with family, or whatever else, retiring early gives you the ability to choose.

Plus, early retirement can be whatever age you want it to be, it doesn't have to be that you retire early at age 30. If you are able to retire at age 60, that's awesome! The point is just to beat the “norm.”  [Read more…]

How much money are you currently saving each month? What if I told you that you may be able to save even more and all you have to do is pay yourself first?

Seems simple enough, yet not many do this. Many families just save whatever amount they have left over at the end of each month.

Yes, many bills and expenses are necessary each month, but there may also be a lot of unnecessary spending going on in your life as well.

Spending money isn’t a bad thing, but if you aren’t saving for your future as much as you should then you need to reevaluate what you are doing.

Paying yourself first before you pay for your monthly expenses may be a scary thought. No one wants to over withdraw from their checking account or be unable to pay their monthly bills.

However, your future is just as important too, so it is much better to think about saving money as a need as well instead of something that can be pushed aside.

Sadly, there are many out there who do not save enough money when preparing for retirement. According to Zacks Investment Research, 72% do not save enough for retirement each month.

Also, according to a different survey done by Bankrate.com, 36% of people in the United States have absolutely NOTHING saved for retirement.

These numbers are very alarming.

I believe that if more paid themselves first, that retirement and other financial goals wouldn't seem so impossible.

Below are some of the things you may want to think about when it comes to paying yourself first. [Read more…]

I always say the first thing you need to do if you want to start investing is to just jump in. However, what if you don’t really even know how to start investing?

If you are like many out there, you may not know how to start investing your money.

Investing your money can be a scary, stressful, and overwhelming topic to tackle. With today's post, I hope to make it easier than ever with my beginner investing tips so that you can start investing your money and building a retirement fund as soon as possible.

Just as a refresher, you want to invest so that you can:

• Retire one day;
• You never know what may happen in the future, so preparing now is important;
• Allow your money to grow over time.

Investing is important because it means you are making your money work for you. If you weren’t investing, your money would just be sitting there and not earning a thing.

This is important to note because $100 today will not be worth $100 in the future if you just let it sit under a mattress or in a checking account. However, if you invest, then you can actually turn your $100 into something more. When you invest, your money is working for you and hopefully earning you income.

For example: If you put $1,000 into a retirement account that has an annual 8% return, 40 years later that would turn into $21,724. If you started with that same $1,000 and put an extra $1,000 in it for the next 40 years at an annual 8% return, that would then turn into $301,505. If you started with $10,000 and put an extra $10,000 in it for the next 40 years at an annual 8% return, that would then turn into $3,015,055.

Below are the steps you should take so that you can learn how to start investing your money. [Read more…]