Did You Ever Have The Feeling...

Did you ever have the feeling you wanted to go? Understanding of the psychological factors which can change how we perceive the market is important. The on again off again feeling many have about the equity markets in particular can sometimes be unwarranted.

What Can You Learn From an Experiement ?

It is no secret the U.S. has one of the lowest savings rates of any industrialized nation. Moreover, the financial meltdown of 2007 and 2008 exposed many consumers as being even more careless with debt. Yet, the simple lower income households in the U.S. have even lower savings rates as the asset gap between the wealthy and poor continues to widen (Loibl, Grinstein-Weiss, Min, & Bird, 2010). When the results of low income households who completed an Individual Development Account (IDA) program as compared to the general low income population were examined, there were statistically significant difference between the two populations. Those who completed an IDA program had higher levels of saving, higher rates of home ownership, higher rates of saving in investment accounts, and reported experiencing less financial strain (Loibl, Grinstein-Weiss, Min, & Bird, 2010). Since their creation in 1998 the federal, state, and community funding amounts have amounted to a little over $200 million into IDA programs, or roughly an average of $4,000 per household (Loibl et. al, 2010). What is more, the funds being saved are for secondary education, business development, career skill development, and new home purchase. It would seem a logical idea to run a similar program on a large scale to provide an incentive to save for specific goals. Even if 30 million households were put on the program it would cost roughly 17% of what was spent on the bank bailout, which in large part was exacerbated by a lack of consumer understanding. Somehow, rewarding excess and greed and ignoring basic financial education, seems a little backwards.
Nonetheless, the purpose of this post is not to debate domestic policy, but to highlight the importance of maintaining a savings discipline for specific goals. Not only can saving change your bottom line, progress toward a goal can change the psychological factors which are often a part of the financial decision making process. Even when teaching children to save, providing a match may provide more incentive to continue saving. Whatever the case may be, understanding your own habits is a key point in defining your financial future. Today there are a number of tools which can help you do so in a quick a streamlined manner. One site, www.mint.com, pulls in your transactions and helps you monitor your family’s spending in minutes. If you have question about assessing your financial behavior feel free to shot me an email at markeith@wiserfinancial.com, and if you are not sure if you have a problem- if you have more than $1500 in credit card debt, the average among low income household IDA program graduates, then chances are it's time to evaluate the first step in any twelve step program.
Information on the NC IDA program(Each State or local program may be different):
http://www.nclabor.com/ida/ida.htm
Reference
LOIBL, C., GRINSTEIN-WEISS, M., MIN, Z., & Bird, B. R. (2010). More Than a Penny Saved: Long-Term Changes in Behavior Among Savings Program Participants. Journal of Consumer Affairs , 98-126.

Separate Your Business From Your Portfolio

Each year more than 500,000 small businesses close their doors, including 20,000 to 40,000 that are shuttered by bankruptcy.1

Whether you are building a small business or are at the helm of an established, successful enterprise, you know that it can take everything you have in terms of time and money to survive the competition while also turning a profit...continued here

A Simple Way To Help Your Family

If you have a current will, count yourself among the minority of Americans who have done their heirs an important service.1

A will’s primary purpose is to help convey titled property. It’s not a good place to communicate your wishes regarding personal matters or to provide specific instructions for your survivors in the event that something were to happen to you.

A letter of instructions, while not a legal document, can help your family cope during a difficult period by providing information that has no place in a will — such as the location of the will itself. For the remainder of this article visit here

Roth Conversions 2010