Full Faith and Credit

David Paul is a friend and colleague who knows a lot about what’s at stake with respect to the US Government’s $14.3 trillion debt. David has been working for twenty-five years as a financial advisor to state and local governments on infrastructure and project financing, was well as on addressing issues of fiscal distress, and in international project finance as a member of the Hong Kong Shanghai Bank Group, not to mention a graduate of Yale and Wharton.

I want to share what David wrote this week -  -

Everyone wants in on this act. Particularly the bond rating agencies. Having been caught asleep at the switch in the run-up to crises past, Moody’s and Standard & Poor’s are loath to let it happen again. Going back to the Drexel Burham/Michael Milken affair, they affirmed the strong ratings on Executive Life just before the junk bond world collapsed. Same with Orange County, California, before losses in its investment pool drove it into bankruptcy. They threatened the bond insurance companies with downgrades if they did not bulk up their balance sheets with housing bonds, and we are all know how that ended up…

Now, Moody’s and S&P want to play in the Treasury bond/debt ceiling game of high stakes poker in Washington. This week, both rating agencies piled on, threatening the United States with downgrades on its bonds if the debt ceiling matter is not promptly resolved. These pronouncements tend to have consequences, as the leadership of united Europe has found out. Greece has become yesterday’s news, as over the past two weeks Portugal and Italy have seen their bond prices tumble and interest rates skyrocket as the markets responded to rating agency comments on their fiscal fortunes. Outraged European central bankers, struggling to find an effective solution to the crumbling of the Eurozone, attacked the bond rating firms for hidden political motivations and threatened to take action to “break the oligopoly.”

And what of the Treasury market? How did U.S. Treasury bond market respond to the threatened downgrades?

Not even a whimper. Actually, a rally of sorts. Yields on the benchmark 10-year Treasury declined by four basis points this week. As buyers bid up the prices, yields fell from 2.95% to 2.91% today, down from just over 3% a week ago. Europe’s pain—much to their undying chagrine—continues to be our gain. From the bond market perspective, the debt ceiling debate seems almost to be a sideshow against the backdrop of the disintegration of Europe, even with only two weeks to go until Armageddon.

It’s the new reality TV. Everyone is watching, everyone is talking about it, but if the markets are a measure of the real world, this most important and urgent of matters seems to have become part of the entertainment-cable-Internet-popular culture other-world that consumes our lives, but isn’t really part of our lives.

Perhaps it is because we tend to believe that an actual default on U.S. Treasury obligations is simply beyond of the realm of possibility. We see all the actors yelling and screaming in Washington, playing their assigned roles, but we know deep inside that they cannot actually let the world unravel around them. Just because they are scared of Grover Norquist?

There is another point of view, which is that this is not about our debt at all, but a tug of war for which the debt ceiling is just a dramatic point of leverage. It is not about debt, because some would argue—though few appear to be listening—that constitutionally there is no crisis. The 14th Amendment would seem to be quite clear—to a lay-person—that the full faith and credit of the United States obligations cannot be questioned—and therefore cannot be undermined even by Congress. The counter-argument that has been offered is that the Constitution gives only to Congress the power to borrow. But the simple fact is that all of the bonds on which people suggest that we might default were borrowed with the full authority of Congress. And once authorized and issued, the obligation to repay cannot be questioned—or so it would seem.

Perhaps the bondholders who are lining up at the Fed window in D.C.—even as they are running from the same in capitals across Europe—know what seems to have eluded the bond rating agencies, which is that the debt will be paid and that the market—as is its wont—has already priced in the risk of default on our bonds, and it is a small price indeed. From a practical standpoint, the principal due on maturing Treasury bonds can be “rolled over” into newly issued Treasuries, with no debt ceiling impact. It is all the other “obligations” that are at risk. All of those obligations—the ones that impact the lives and livelihoods of all but the holders of our bonds—that are only valid if each Congress chooses to make good on the commitments of some prior Congress. And those obligations are indeed at risk, for the simple reason that as a nation we have consistently determined that we are not willing to tax ourselves for the goods and services that we seem to want, and with no action on the debt ceiling we will have neither the tax revenues nor the bond proceeds to pay for all of them.

The issue is not default. The issue is spending. In the view of House Republicans and Tea Party activists, spending should come down dramatically. Sacred cows should be slaughtered. Entitlements should be reconceived. The New Deal and the Great Society have run their course. But for the Senate Republicans the motivations are more complex. The plan put forward by Senator Mitch McConnell skillfully serves a larger set of interests and would allow the status quo ante so dear to Senators to survive. His plan would essentially would take Congress out of the debt ceiling game, and give his colleagues the best of all outcomes: The spending would continue while someone else—the President—would take the blame.

Right now, both the President and Senate leaders believe that the fear of default should provide enough motivation to get something done—along with the cover each side needs to take steps that might otherwise be unthinkable: Cutting entitlements, raising taxes, trimming the military. But so far, the House leadership is not biting. For the Democrats, the McConnell proposal may well emerge as a middle ground of sorts. But for the House Republicans and the Tea Party—those who truly want to reduce the size of government—McConnell’s success would constitute a stinging defeat, an historic moment lost, and a movement scorned.

The ultimate question is what the President plans to do on August 2nd if there is no agreement. One must presume that there is a plan in place: The 14th Amendment will be upheld, the bonds will be paid, the full faith and credit of the nation will be reaffirmed—and massive cuts and sequesters will be put into effect.

As great as the fear of default might be, both the President and Mitch McConnell must fear even more what would happen next. If the markets are right, and no default ensues, the motivation to reach a middle ground or face-saving solution will dissipate, and each side will once again be captive to their base. Caught in a lie—that he knew there would be no default—the President would lose the high ground. Vindicated for their obstinance, the House leadership will have even less reason to negotiate.

That may well be the endgame that true believers among the new breed of House Republicans have in mind. And it does not make them crazy, just strategic. If they believe that default will not be allowed to occur—as a matter of Constitutional obligation and proven bi-partisan deference to the bond markets—then reaching August 3rd with no agreement might reasonably be their goal. In three weeks, they can achieve their objective of an America forced to live within her means. And ironically, from that perspective the only thing the President could do to stop them would be to allow a default to occur even when it is within his power and authority to prevent it.

Does Investing Make Women Feel Guilty?

When it comes to investing, women are often riddled with guilt. I’ve been talking to women about their biggest money concerns for the last two decades and I’ve come to this conclusion: women are torn between their desire to invest for their family’s well-being and the realization that they have to plan for their own financial future. A question I received from a MoneyTrack viewer illustrates women’s conflicted feelings about investing:

Dear Pam:

I’m 43 and divorced with two teenagers. I have college investment accounts set up for each of them. I’m also making regular contributions to my 401(k) plan at work, but I’m starting to feel guilty that I should be putting more money away for them. I also feel I’m being selfish or even greedy when I invest in anything that seems to be high-risk.

Once children come into the picture, many women admit to feeling guilty about focusing on their own financial future. Those guilty feelings can take over and dissuade them from making healthy contributions to a 401(k) retirement savings plan at work or investing through an IRA. Instead, they plow that money into their children’s college fund. By doing so, they pass up the biggest opportunity available to build a retirement nest egg and miss out on years of tax-deferred investment growth.

Women who quit working outside the home may feel even guiltier about investing than someone who gets a paycheck every few weeks. Even today, The National Center for Women and Retirement Research reports only 41% of women are investing in 401k plans, and just 15% who have spouses or live-in partners feel responsible for planning retirement.

Family first. Women tend to put others first. We’ll buy gifts for everyone else and put ourselves last on the list. To be blunt, when your kids head off to college, they will have options such as loans, scholarships, and other forms of financial aid. If you haven’t invested for your future, however, you will have far fewer options at age 65, especially if you’re single. The pursuit of financial freedom doesn’t make you greedy.

Does taking risk mean you are an irresponsible investor? Because women tend to gravitate toward more conservative investments, there’s a sense of guilt when they invest aggressively, especially for important goals like retirement. Men are more likely to chase after profits. Women are less likely to invest even a small amount in an individual stock, because they believe the right thing to do is to invest in mutual funds or exchange traded funds. The reality is over the years, making steady, consistent contributions to IRA accounts that have lots of time to grow ––offsets some of the stock market risk so you’re more likely to reach your financial goals.

More to lose? Whether you have kids or you’re single making good money, the fact is, women feel like they have much more at stake than men when they invest, since their earning capacity may be less than a man’s and they are likely to live longer. Therefore, there’s an acute sense of failure associated with even a tiny amount of loss even if the loss is due to a temporary downturn in the market.

I didn’t major in finance. In my own experience, I’ve found women don’t like investing their serious money in anything they don’t completely understand. You don’t have to feel guilty that you’re not an investment expert, because very few women or men are. With a little bit of research and by taking an interest in the subject, you can feel comfortable moving forward with guilt-free investing. Once women feel comfortable with the basics, research has shown they are better investors than men. They tend to be more deliberative and less likely to make knee-jerk investment decisions.

The truth is the only thing to feel guilty about is not investing enough to give you the opportunity to become financially independent. Think of it this way: the more you invest, the less chance you’ll rely on your family to take care of you in your sunset years.

Steve Butler is a retirement expert. I know this because Steve drives around in a car that has “Mr. 401k” on the license plate. I’m kidding. He owns a company called Pension Dynamics that has been advising 401k plans for decades.  He’s also a long time friend. Steve just wrote a review of Money Manager, Ken Fisher’s newest book and I want to share it because we talk about myth-busting on this show. I talked to Ken several months ago before the book went to press and I was eager to get my hands on it. By the way, I wasn’t kidding about Steve’s license plate and I’ve got the video to prove it! Anyway – enjoy!

‘Debunkery’ pulls mask off financial goblins

by Stephen Butler

Fisher has just published yet another winner for anyone trying to pick through the doom and gloom of simplistic screeds marketed as expert opinion. While most of the media’s nattering nabobs are people who don’t manage money, Fisher’s firm has the confidence of investors who have parked $32 billion with him. His new book, “Debunkery — Learn It, Do It, and Profit From It,” comes as a breath of fresh air.

Back in 1988, I stumbled on Fisher’s first book, “Wall Street Waltz,” a collection of financial charts. Unlike written opinion, charts can’t bloviate, and numbers never lie. One showed residential house prices rising just an average of 3 percent per year over long periods of time (the same as inflation.) To those who say their house has been their best investment, the S&P 500 has beaten house prices by 7 percent per year.

Another favorite graph was the one that showed stock market downdrafts that inevitably followed periods of an inverted yield curve in the bond markets. Inverted yield curves mean that short-term bonds are paying higher interest than long term bonds, and this occurs when borrowers are convinced that they will get better long-term rates if they wait until the economy goes down the drain — in a year or so.

Sure enough. The comparison chart showed stocks floundering after an inverted curve.

Of several debunkeries I liked, one was the fact that “normal” returns in the market are really pretty rare — happening only about a third of the time. Relatively large positive returns happen about 38 percent of the time, and negative returns (divided equally between large and small corrections) happen about 28 percent of the years. We like to think in terms of the “normal” 10 percent average return, but it comes as the combined result of a few extreme highs and lows.

No single type of company or mutual fund is “the best for all time.” When small company stocks are doing well, the IPO market heats up and takes more of these companies public, which increases the supply of small-cap stocks and dilutes the value of all of them.

Demand for types of companies is what causes stocks to rise, and demand is fickle. It moves toward whatever type of company has been the “runt of the litter” and is therefore not flooded with a new supply of yesterday’s hottest investment type. Shifting strength among market sectors explains why diversification and periodic rebalancing is by far the best strategy for investors.

Dollar cost averaging — the notion of easing money into the market in installments so you don’t make a big mistake by investing right at the top — gets pounded in “Debunkery.” It’s nothing more than trying to avoid the regret of experiencing a big loss, but the fundamental problem is that human nature has us react much more emotionally when something bad happens.

Feeling bad far outweighs feeling good, so we go some lengths to minimize feeling bad at the expense of feeling good. Statistically, we would be better off just taking the plunge, when it comes to making an investment decision.

Does a spike in oil prices destroy stock market values? Sometimes, but for every time this has happened, there have been an equal number of times that rising oil prices were accompanied by a booming stock market. So, rising or falling oil prices are meaningless as a barometer for future stock values.

And gold? Well, gold historically has offered rising values during only about 15 percent of the time since 1973. Gold booms contribute to an overall return that has been less than money market funds over the same period. Take out the six short boom periods, and gold has lost 67 percent over the past 40 years.

I could say, “Wait. There’s more!” but I don’t want to spoil if for you. Buy the book and learn to debunk all that “conventional wisdom.”



What? Looks Like I Can Retire When I turn… 76.

It’s Friday afternoon and I just want to know whether my retirement math is on track.

I really want to know so I can make some choices right now – ahead of time.  It is not exact but this is how I’m gong about it: I’m going to start by adding up all the money that’s invested in all of my IRA’s, CD’s and if I had a 401k, I’d include it.

I’m 52, and am going to hope I can keep on working and earning an income until I’m… what? 70? That sounds reasonable. Who wants to relax and travel and start lunching with the ladies before then?

So for the next decade, I’m going to stick with my current plan. The total in all the retirement assets is now invested in a mix of mostly stocks through a very low-cost broadly diversified global fund – I’ve got small companies, large companies, all sectors along with some real estate investments (REITS). I have zero money in bonds right now. Zero. Now here’s the fuzzy math part I’m asking myself – can I expect this nicely diversified portfolio to grow an average  5 percent a year, or shall I use the old 10 percent a year stock growth rule?  I’ll be reasonable and shoot for the middle of the fairway and presume my accounts can average 7.2 percent. That’s with dividends invested. At that rate, today’s $150,000 will double to $300,000 over the next ten years. Now remember, I’m not including any new IRA contributions.

A decade goes by. Now I’m 62 and by then it will be time to shift gears and reduce my heavy exposure to stocks so I will fold in some high quality medium-term bond funds into my retirement recipe and that will stabilize my portfolio.  Now my fixed income slice of the pie equals about 35% of my total. I will invest this way right up until retirement. (Hopefully age 70.)

Now, the bond mix is going to change my overall expected rate of return so I’ll have to adjust that rate downward. Chances are good that interest rates will be higher in the future so I’m still gong to use a reasonable 5% a year return on the fixed income portion. The money I have left would then double again over another 14 years. So the $300,000 would grow to $600,000.

If there’s any hope of retiring by my 70th birthday – I’m clearly going to need to at least keep making the same contributions from each and every paycheck.  Now here’s the twist that might help me get there –  I’m going to invest the brand new deposits into an all-stock investment mix and continue doing that for the entire timeframe.

Why?

Because I have enough time to invest in stocks – I’m not going to be forced to sell when stocks are down. I’m dollar cost averaging into the stock market and every time the market falls, my steady-eddy investment dollars can buy more shares so over time I even out what I pay for those stocks. I am going to add $500 a month or $6,000 per year and invest it this way. I’m reinvesting the dividends. Again, at a 7 percent rate of return, those $500 per-month contributions over the next 17 years will compound to $194,000. Nice.

Adding this new money to the original “old money” calculated above, in 17 years I wind up with something approaching $800,000 by my retirement age 70. Wowza, that’s nice but it is not enough! Since my mom lived to be 94 I can expect to live until past 90 and if that’s true this $800k – adjusted for inflation is only going to generate a smidge over half of what I’ll need to live (and that assumes I’m not leaving anybody any money).  Of course I’ll (hopefully) receive a monthly social security check starting at age 70. That’s going to help but the reality is… IF I want to enjoy the exact same income I’m spending today, (and I’m not saying I can’t live well on less) I visualize myself in my new retirement lifestyle when I’m…  76.  What my little exercise tells me is I probably should save more. Duh.

Tax Credit Payback

Head’s up! Did you buy a house in 2008?

Remember that homebuyer tax credit? That wasn’t a gift y’all! Check out the fine print. If you bought a house in (technically between April-December) 2008 and way back then took advantage of the maximum $7,500 homebuyer tax credit on your ’08 return – it’s pay back time. That $7,500 works out to installments of $500 bucks a year over 15 years. No, it’s not an early April Fool’s joke, and yes, you agreed to pay it back. The credit was really an interest free loan. You’re also supposed to repay the loan in full if you sell that home within the 15 years, but there are (go figure) some special rules that might reduce the repayment amount. And if you no longer consider this your primary residence you have 36 months from the date of purchase to pay it back. It is really a confusing little monster so my advice on this one is make sure your tax preparer is up-to-speed. For example, if you’re newly divorced and a transfer of the house is part of the settlement or if you… well, die, you could be off the hook completely. Hmmm… again this affects homes purchased in 2008 not in 2009 or later, and the credit gets repaid as an additional tax on IRS form 5405 your 2010 return. Click HERE the direct link the IRS for details.

Millionaire by 40?

How about 50? or 70?

I came across this article in USA Today and felt like sharing it because it asks a question we all want answered — what does it take to wind up a millionaire? Reaching the million-dollar milestone is still a major goal for a lot of us even though the club isn’t as exclusive as it was, say 20 years ago. Of course, a lot of wealth was destroyed during and after the financial crisis; yet in 2009, the number of Americans worth at or above the one million mark increased to almost 5 million. Most are not 40 years old, so when you read this article about saving and investing your way to a cool million, focus on two points:

• Getting into the habit of investing a little bit of money over a really, really long time will get you halfway there.
• Setting your sites on hitting your million dollar goal more like when by you’re 60 instead of by age 40, will get you the rest of the way there.

How much of a brainiac do you need to be in order to invest like a pro during that timeframe? Ummm… Let’s just say there are plenty of pro’s who wish they’d done this themselves. Stick to a simple and basic well-balanced approach and get going as soon as you start collecting your first paycheck. This alone will save you from having to resort to gambling with your investments later in life out of desperation.

So here’s to your first million! (or your children’s)!

ARTICLE: Is it possible to put away $1 million by the time you’re 40?

Retirement Strategy

What’s Old is New Again

I can’t help myself, I listen to business talk radio a lot – especially on weekends. A lot of time is spent discussing how you can someday retire. It’s a very hot topic right now with 50 million people turning 65 this year. Will your money last as long as you? How much in total savings do you really need in order to generate a decent monthly income? Will you be able to continue earning money until you are 70? No wonder I’m not sleeping well!  And I go crazy hearing and reading about the coming retirement crisis.  Right now approximately half of all American workers have less than $2000 saved for retirement. Okay, that’s not good so why do so many experts assume we won’t be able to earn any money after we turn 70? The retirement age of 65 was established in the late 1800′s! Have you taken a good look at photos of your great grand parents when they were in their 60′s? Mine looked about 155 years old! Times have changed a bit! It’s pretty darn clear we’re going to need to keep ourselves healthy throughout our 60′s because we’re going to need to work into our 70′s and quite frankly, I can’t really imagine not wanting to work after I turn 65.  Course, ask me then because by that time there could be a brand new virtual reality iPad app that will let me travel in a time back my teens. And for only $1.99!

Anyway, so all week as I’ve listened to the various money talk radio shows, I got thinking about the one of the most tried and true (and frankly easiest) ways to create a solid investment strategy for retirement. I love that this actually works.  Here it is! All laid out in this wonderful article I came across in Kiplinger’s Personal Finance. This one article outlines what is, in my opinion the best way to approach the whole issue of financial planning for your later years or when you reach the point where you need to start taking money out of your savings to live.  Now what’s really interesting is that this one radio talk show in particular (which I won’t name) is promoting this age-old strategy as though it was just discovered. Good for him that’s he’s advertising it but it isn’t new, and this description by Mary Beth Franklin who I have interviewed on MoneyTrack breaks down this very sensible plan so you can see how to set up your savings and investments for retirement. It is well worth reading. So please enjoy! Click here for the article.

Investment Advice

Don’t believe everything you read, hear or watch!

Pam discusses her tips on ABC’s Good Money

• SCHEMES vs. INVESTMENTS – Let’s start with your career – there are lots of get rich quick books out there that encourage you quit your day job so you can go out make a few million dollars buying rental homes – or join a multilevel marketing scheme before you miss the opportunity of your lifetime – or late night infomercial selling trading secrets for stocks or stock options. If you want to check out an author or an investment or income scheme go online to www.johntreed.com. John T. Reed has made it his mission to reveal scams or just plain baloney. On his site, you’ll find his B.S detection checklist.
• SNEAKY STATS – There are so many statistics out there about how the stock market has performed. Be aware these statistics can be bent like pretzels in order to help paint a picture that will support a sales pitch. Maybe it’s a fact, but don’t take it all at face value. Its true, even politicians lie with statistics – no really??? Even if you hear this truth from your financial advisor – trust but verify instead of acting on what you believe might be factual. You can do a quick fact check at www.msnmoney.com and take a look at their charts.
• PERFORMANCE – Brokers sell performance. Investment managers sell performance. But here’s the reality check – they are not using the same measuring stick. You’ll hear “average returns”, “time weighted returns” but better and more accurate performance are “real returns” – which account for inflation over time, and in the real world humans do not tend to stick with stock market funds when the market drops, they sell. So maybe you’d like to know not how well the fund did but how well the investors in that fund did over the last 15 or 20 years. Those are dollar weighted and mutual funds prefer to only show you the best looking track record when in fact what you really want to know is how much lipstick did they apply to that pig! Check out www.investopedia.com for a very simple explanation of how to truly measure your investment returns.
• YOUR OWN ADVICE – Here’s one I’m guilty of… suggesting you can be your own financial advisor. For some people this is absolutely the case. For other people who have zero interest in the subject of money maybe do-it yourself investing is like performing brain surgery on yourself. Unfortunately, it’s true, the world of investing and managing money has become unnecessarily complex and just crowded with a lot of noise. But once you see thru the fog, you realize that for most of us, coming up with a common sense investing strategy is well, common sense. By following some of the most basic rules you can avoid a lot of mistakes and overcome that sense of intimidation you get by watching too much financial news. My advice on this one is seek good, fee-only advice when you need it, but learn along the way. Your ultimate goal is to become your own and best financial advisor. Check out www.moneytrack.org as a great starting point.

2011 Resolutions

Stick to your financial resolutions once and for all!It’s been 2011 for 3 whole weeks! If you took the time to make money a priority this year and you probably made some pretty serious resolutions about your finances. Now, what can you do to keep those promises to thyself? Here are FIVE things you CAN DO to make 2011 a better year for you and your finances!

1. Order a copy of your free credit report - Once a year all three of the big credit reporting bureaus – that’s Equifax, Esperian and Trans Union allow you to obtain free copies of your entire credit history. This tells you what your creditors are saying about you! It’s the story of “you” and how you handle your money. You’ll be shocked to see how far back in time the comments go. Years – not months! Once you understand what’s in the report, you can work on those problem areas. Remember, whatever is written about you, that is what determines your credit score. Go to www.annualcreditreport.com.

TIP: If you want to see your actual credit score, I’m talking the FICO score you’ll need to pay for that. The cost is around 10-bucks.

Pam Krueger explains her New Year’s resolutions to ABC Good Money.

2. Get Organized! It’s easier than ever. Are you married? Do you have kids? Do you have parents? Do you have a health care directive or proxy in place for your aging parents so one person can be responsible to speak as an advocate for your mom or dad in case mom or dad cannot speak for themselves? Update all your beneficiary designations. Resolve to download a simple will template and follow the instructions so your family knows who would inherit your home, your business, your investments if something suddenly happened to you. You need to have beneficiaries on all your retirement accounts up to date. It’s January, it’s ugly outside, take one Saturday afternoon and put your wishes in writing. Be as specific as you possibly can.

3. Consolidate & Automate – Get a clear view of where you stand with your bills and organizing all of your finances in one place online. I recommend mint.com or bundle.com. Then take a few minutes to set up either online or offline auto payments on everything from electricity and cable to credit card bills. This is going to help ensure you never have late payments show up on your credit reports. Now, at the very top of that list of auto-payments, list yourself as your number one most important creditor. Even if it’s $50, it’s money that goes straight into your stability fund – cash at the ready so you don’t have to borrow in case something happens that requires immediate action. Aim to have a few thousand dollars always standing by as a buffer. Don’t focus on how to invest it, focus on keeping it safe. This is going to help stabilize your financial life. It’s the peace of mind account.

4. Open a Roth or Traditional IRA – Check www.rothira.com to see if you’re eligible for a roth ira – meaning you don’t make over a certain amount of money – If you are, you can invest in both an individual retirement account and your 401k at work. Again, your investments don’t need to be a big lump sum, the idea is to funnel say 100-bucks into an additional tax advantaged investment for your own retirement security. If you missed the window for last year – good news, you have until April 15th of THIS year to include it on your tax return.

5. Look for Extra Benefits at Work - Make a sit-down appointment with your human resources representative at work and find out exactly what benefits you are eligible to receive that you’re NOT taking full advantage of. Did you have a baby and not realize that your employer offers you a flexible savings account that could save you $12-hundred dollars every year? Or that you were not taking advantage of the matching contributions your company adds to your retirement account? Lots of companies make match your contributions up to six percent of your gross pay. If you’re only contributing 3 percent you’re leaving money on the table. If you make $50k a year – you just turned down $750! But if you never check in – you’ll never know it’s missing!

New Money Website

Welcome to the New MSN Money Website

It’s a new year and a whole new look for my favorite Money portal, MSN Money! The website’s been completely redesigned and I love the clean, fresh look. That green bar that runs across the top of each page is making it much easier to find everything faster. Now you can find news on every single page – and I just think everything you want to do is simplified and more organized. The investing area is robust and highly personalized because now the stocks you care about following just show up automatically. There’s a lot more on ETF’s too.  As you probably know, I’m not into trading stocks but if you do like to speculate with some of your “mad money,” you’ll appreciate some of the big enhancements especially relating to technical trading and charts. I really love the way the personal finance area is organized and it’s kind of fun to actually take a look at how you spend money compared to other people around the country. There are some great articles about how to deal with the whole topic of how will I ever retire. So take a quick tour and yeah, that’s me in the “Welcome to the New MSN Money” video!  Cheers!