Living In Financial Excellence

Friday Money Funnies: Diversification Lessons from the Money Pit

Matt.Wegner — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 16:00:24 +0000

Got all your eggs in one basket? Or, in the case of this video, got all your buckets in one tub? You may want to make sure your investments are well diversified. I love this scene from “The Money Pit”. This gets me laughing every time.

Find more Money Funnies at financialexcellence.net!

Money Saving Tips for Living In Financial Excellence

Matt.Wegner — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 07:00:42 +0000

This week’s money saving tip: Buy generic vs. name brand foods. The nutrional value and ingredients are often the same as name brand foods and there is little or no diffence in taste.

Find more money saving tips at financialexcellence.net.

018 Financial Excellence: Avoid Buying New & Avoid Buying Used

Matt.Wegner — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 13:00:04 +0000

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Living In Financial Excellence Episode 17: Things to avoid buying new (Part 2) Plus things to avoid buying used, July 28, 2010.

There are just some things you are better off buying used, and we covered some of them last week. We finish the discussion today. Most of us make excuses to buy things new instead of used but we poke some holes in those excuses in this episode. Buying used in many cases provides you with like new or near new items at a fraction of the cost of buying new, plus you don’t take the hit on depreciation as the item loses value.

On the other side of the coin there are things you should never buy used and we discuss them today as well. Some of these are for safety reasons, some for health reasons, and some just don’t make sense to spend the money because new is nearly as cheap and are better quality.

Show notes:

- We did a lot of the research for this show on wise bread, a top-rated personal finance blog. As with everything you need to do your research and don’t take everything you read for granted, but there is some good info on their site.

- Special thanks to Brad Dassey of affordableradiovoiceover.com who created some professional intro and outro liners for a very low price. He did a super job and we recommend him to anyone who needs some professional recording done.

- Our cds and dvds are often scratched and unplayable. We found an article that shows how to remove scratches from your cds and dvds. UPDATE: Matt tried the Brasso method and it works rather well!

- Among the things you shouldn’t buy used are child safety items because you never know when something has been recalled. Visit the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission website at www.cpsc.gov or www.recalls.gov to view recent recalls for your household items.

Like what you hear? Visit the iTunes store and leave a review or leave a comment below. Or call our listener feedback line and leave a voice message that we can share on the air. As always, we appreciate your feedback!

Book Review: Debt Free Living by Larry Burkett

Matt.Wegner — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 17:13:29 +0000

Yet another great book for helping you become debt free and stay that way. In fact, I recommend Debt Free Living by Larry Burkett as a great book to start with in your journey to Living In Financial Excellence!

You can find Debt Free Living and other great financial books recommended by Matt Wegner at our online bookstore designed to help you Live In Financial Excellence!

Money Myths: The Truth About the Cost of Retirement

Matt.Wegner — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 13:00:28 +0000

Written by Matt Wegner, Founder and Lead Counselor, Matt Wegner Financial Coaching, www.financialexcellence.net

Myth: My expenses will go down when I retire so I don’t need to save as much for retirement.

Truth: With inflation, taxes and medical bills, your expenses will go up when you retire so you need to be prepared!

Quite a few financial planners out there recommend a future nest egg value that will produce 80% of your current income when you draw a percentage of the dividends and earnings out of the account each month. The assumption is that your expenses will decrease by 20% when you retire and you will need less income to continue with the same standard of living.

This means when you reach retirement age, you will have your debts paid off (including your house) and your dependents are gone, with your health remaining good and your taxes decreasing because you’re pulling the income out of a tax-deferred retirement account, pension, or social security. Now, if you follow the L.I.F.E. Ladder and start early enough, you indeed should be debt free by retirement age and have fewer expenses in terms of debt. But the sad fact is, not very many of us actually follow those steps and we end up facing retirement with a huge drop in income but no drop in expenses. Actually, 43% of Americans have less than $10,000 saved for retirement. 27% have less than $1,000 saved. This is a problem.

Even worse, for most of us our expenses will start growing exponentially as you get older. An increase in life expectancy comes with a cost: the cost of medical treatments, procedures and care facilities to help you live longer. The cost of medical care continues to rise in order to provide cutting edge technology to patients. Government attempts to control the costs may or may not be successful. I tend to think the cost will still rise but our taxes will go to subsidize that cost to make health care more affordable to those of us who are unprepared for increased costs in retirement. Even if that?s not the case, can you be certain that taxes won’t be raised by the time you hit retirement age?

Or let me ask you this: when you retire, do you want your standard of living to decline? I surely don’t want my lifestyle to slow down when I retire. I’d rather be prepared and err on the side of caution, meaning I have far too much saved up. That way I can have fun in retirement and live a little while still leaving something for my children and their children.

Matt Wegner is a personal finance, small business and leadership coach focused on teaching his clients the tools for L.I.F.E. (Living In Financial Excellence). Learn how to communicate with your spouse about money by requesting a free planning session today!

Did you know? Fun Facts and Statistics About Money

Matt.Wegner — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 07:00:11 +0000

53% of Americans have less than $25,000 in retirement savings. 43% of those people are over 55! 30% believe that they only need $250,000 or less in total retirement savings.

Find more fun facts and statistics about money at financialexcellence.net.

Money Smart Week Wisconsin 2010

Matt.Wegner — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 02:41:05 +0000

During Money Smart Week financial professionals across the state of Wisconsin volunteer to teach classes to the public to help them increase their financial knowledge. Classes cover a wide range of topics including taxes, insurance, investing, budgeting, and more. Find out more at www.moneysmartwi.org.

Friday Money Funnies: Investing in Nothing and Gaining… Nothing

Matt.Wegner — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 21:11:53 +0000

Ok, this didn’t make it out on Friday due to some site maintenance but here it is. My apologies for posting the Friday Money Funnies on Saturday!

This is a short, funny video illustrating the stark reality that if you venture nothing you gain nothing, while if you bet it all, you might just lose it all.

Find more funny money videos and other resources at financialexcellence.net

Money Saving Tips for Living In Financial Excellence

Matt.Wegner — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 07:00:24 +0000

This week?s money saving tip:? Eat before you go to the movie theater, so you don’t spend money on expensive treats.

Find more money saving tips at financialexcellence.net.

017 Financial Excellence: Things You Should Avoid Buying New

Matt.Wegner — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 13:00:56 +0000

Click here to subscribe or leave a review on iTunes for Living In Financial Excellence

Living In Financial Excellence Episode 17: Things to avoid buying new, July 21, 2010.

There are just some things you are better off buying used, and we cover them today. Most of us make excuses to buy things new instead of used but we poke some holes in those excuses in this episode. Buying used in many cases provides you with like new or near new items at a fraction of the cost of buying new, plus you don’t take the hit on depreciation as the item loses value.

Show notes:

- During a seminar at a weekend retreat at Camp LuWiSoMo, Matt was asked about nerds and free spirits in a marriage.

- Our cds and dvds are often scratched and unplayable. We found an article that shows how to remove scratches from your cds and dvds.

- There are so many things you should avoid buying new that we ran out of time and will have to cover the rest next week!