Timeless Articles from the Archives #33

It's been over four years since I started My Wealth Builder. As I think about topics to write , I often remember, "I've written about that before," and decide to find a new topic. However, since many principles of personal finance are timeless, I want to include them in a recent post on My Wealth Builder. Therefore, I have started a series called "Timeless Articles from the Archives" which highlights posts from the same week in 2007-2010.


2007

Learning From Other's Experiences - Find an experienced person who as done it before to guide one to success.

Corporate Programs for Personal Use - One benefit of working for a large corporation is that hotel, airline and credit card premiums are sometimes made available to employees.

Another Cost Of Having Debt - Wealth Destruction - Having $25,000 of debt can cost one over $2,600,000 of wealth.

The "R" Word - Here are my areas of personal finance Responsibility.


2008

Personal Finance Simplification - Credit Card Consolidation - Our goal was to get to and maintain two cards, one for each of us. We were able to get to three.

Don't Forget To Include Non-Wage Income When Doing A Tax Return - People sometimes forget about 1099 income because they "didn't get to spend it," as in the case of CD interest or reinvested mutual fund dividends. However, the IRS considers 1099 income taxable and expects it to be reported when filing a tax return.

Three Events That Can Cause Wealth Destruction - There are sometimes uncontrollable events that can also lead to wealth destruction. Here are three types of events that have potential to cause wealth destruction.

Early Retirement Stories - While each early retirement story had different specifics, there seemed to be some consistent themes.

The Science Of Addiction - What creates addiction is the mechanism of intermittent reinforcement, where rewards are randomly related to the actions taken. As a result, rewards occur unpredictably, creating higher releases of pleasure inducing dopamine in the brain than when rewards occur predictably.

Intellectually, I know that I should just invest in low cost diversified equity index funds and accept the overall return of the market. However, I still enjoy buying individual stocks with a small portion of my savings and getting the occasional thrill when the purchased stock goes up significantly in one day or over a year:-)


2009

Kindergarten Decision Dilemma - Holding back our daughter a year for kindergarten turned out to be the right choice.


2010

Creating One's Financial Future - Although it is impossible to predict the future exactly, it is very possible to steer the future towards favorable financial scenarios by the choices made today.

To me, the content of these posts are still relevant today and worth reading again.

For more on The Practice of Personal Finance, check back every Wednesday for a new segment.

This is not financial, career, investing, political, retirement or saving advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2011 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

The Wealth Builder Carnival #34

Welcome to the thirty-fourth edition of The Wealth Builder Carnival. The purpose of this carnival is to collect articles from the blogosphere on building, preserving and keeping enough wealth for a comfortable retirement. For reference, I have tried to keep the carnival content tightly focused on wealth building and did not include submissions that were off topic. For reading convenience, the posts are listed with a brief summary or comment by the submitter and organized them into seven categories: Earning, Insuring and Protecting, Investing, Living Frugally, Retiring, Saving and Taxes.

Due to an error, the submission deadline was Friday instead of the Sunday, resulting in a much lower number of accepted posts than usual.

And now onto the Carnival:

Earning

None

Insuring and Protecting

None

Investing

Dividends4Life presents 12 Confident and Secure Companies Boosting Dividends posted at Dividends Value, saying, "If income investing were as simple as picking the stock with the highest yield, everyone would be an expert. Most assume (rightfully so) that yield is heavily influenced by risk, but much more goes into determining yield. The industry the company operates in, legal considerations (REITs and MLPs), maturity and growth potential all have an effect on an individual stock’s yield, along with the company’s ability to grow its dividend."

Boomer presents Benefits Of TFSA vs. Non-Registered Account posted at Boomer & Echo, saying, "Experts have long recommended that investors set up their portfolios to be as tax efficient as possible by utilizing both registered and non-registered accounts."

Living Frugally

None

Saving

None

Retiring

Mike Piper presents When Should I Take Social Security Benefits? (Single Investor) posted at The Oblivious Investor, saying, "Does it makes sense for unmarried workers to start taking Social Security retirement benefits as soon as they're eligible?"

Taxes

None

That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of The Wealth Builder Carnival using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

Technorati tags: the wealth builder carnival, blog carnival.

For more on Ideas You Can Use, check back every Tuesday for a new segment.

This is not financial, earning, insuring, investing, living, retiring, saving, tax, or wealth building advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2011 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Be Prepared to Die

"Death never takes the wise man by surprise, he is always ready to go." Jean de La Fontaine

When I go, I want my financial affairs to be in order, such that those that survive me won't be burdened by the inevitable administrative work. Here are the areas on which I've focused.

Titling of property. Before moving overseas, my spouse and I create two revocable living trusts. Upon returning, we've titled everything except for a joint checking account, our vehicles and personal property into the trust. If either of us pass away, the trust simply becomes irrevocable. Very simple. The only complication is that the trust will need to file a tax return each year.

Investment simplification. We keep most of our stock investments in managed accounts. We no longer use DRIPs. CDs an bonds are kept in our own trading accounts. We only use one bank. Our only miss is that we still use three brokerage accounts.

Our major outage in preparation is tax preparation. I currently still do our tax returns by myself. To be more prepared in this area, I should consider having our taxes done by a professional, preferable one that is much younger than me.

For more on Reaping the Rewards, check back every Friday for a new segment. This is not financial advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2011 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Was I Ever that Green?

"Was I ever that green?" ~ a comment I made about new hires.

Although I don't admit it, the answer is yes. However, I now know what many new hires don't know yet. And perhaps will never know. Sometimes I just want look them in the eye and impart the wisdom that has taken me decades to obtain. But I don't. I know they will just think of me as an old fuddy duddy that is out of touch with the world :-) Or they simply believe that they are just plain smarter than me.

I'm glad to provide perspective if anyone should ask. But in most case, I let the new hires learn the old fashion way, through experience.

For more on Crossing Generations, check back every Thursday for a new segment.

This is not financial advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2011 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Timeless Articles from the Archives #32

It's been over four years since I started My Wealth Builder. As I think about topics to write , I often remember, "I've written about that before," and decide to find a new topic. However, since many principles of personal finance are timeless, I want to include them in a recent post on My Wealth Builder. Therefore, I have started a series called "Timeless Articles from the Archives" and am highlighting posts from the same week in 2007-2010.


2007

Survivor Income Insurance- Social Security Provides Coverage - We became eligible for a new form of Social Security protection, survivor income insurance, when we adopted our daughter.

Maintaining A Margin of Safety - For me, a margin a safety is "additional protection" that one creates to insure against over estimating the value or against an unexpected issue.


2008

Personal Finance Simplification - Bank Account Consolidation - We now only have one bank..

Reviewing Our Risk - The following three risks help me remember to consider potential losses.

Rewards and Challenges of Early Retirement - Retiring in our forties has been great experience with both rewards and challenges.

Why I Don't Like A Big Tax Refund - It's my money :-)


2009

The Recession Has Stress Tested our Financial Situation - Overall, we survived the stress.

Expect Recessions to Occur - The average time between recessions is seven years.


2010

Being Prepared for an IRS Audit - Here are the things I do to be ready for an audit.

Independent Contractor versus Employee - A good skill to learn :-)

Top Three Things to Like about (Early) Retirement - To me, unless I have a substantial small business (e.g. six figure revenue), I prefer being an employee over being an independent contractor.

To me, the content of these posts are still relevant today and worth reading again.

For more on The Practice of Personal Finance, check back every Wednesday for a new segment.

This is not financial, tax, career, investing, retirement or saving advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2011 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

The Wealth Builder Carnival #33

Welcome to the thirty-third edition of The Wealth Builder Carnival. The purpose of this carnival is to collect articles from the blogosphere on building, preserving and keeping enough wealth for a comfortable retirement. For reference, I have tried to keep the carnival content tightly focused on wealth building and did not include submissions that were off topic.

For reading convenience, the posts are listed with a brief summary or comment by the submitter and organized them into seven categories: Earning, Investing, Insuring and Protecting, Living Frugally, Retiring, Saving and Taxes.

And now onto the Carnival:

Earning

Al Peters presents How To Become A Self Employed Plumber posted at Being Self Employed, saying, "If you are thinking about becoming a self employed plumber this post will tell you what you need to know."

Job-Interview-Site.com presents Best Degrees for the Future: Top Degrees in Demand posted at Job Interview Guide, saying, "What are the top degrees in demand: Best Degrees to get in College? Top Degrees to Make Money:"

Insuring and Protecting

Mike Ross presents Home Insurance Meltdown: Is Nuclear Radiation Covered? posted at Insurance, saying, "Would your home insurance cover radiation damage from a nuclear meltdown?"

Investing

Hussein Sumar presents Investing in S&P 500 High Yield Dividend Aristocrats Index posted at High dividend stocks, saying, "The S&P High Yield Dividend Aristocrats Index is a method of measuring the 60 highest dividend paying stocks in the S&P Composite 1500 index & only lists those companies that have consistently raised their dividends in the last 25 years, without missing a single year."

Dividends4Life presents 9 Dividend Stocks Sending More Cash To Shareholders posted at Dividends Value, saying, "We all are looking for the perfect dividend stock. In an utopian world, the perfect dividend stock would be one that is both high-yield and provide a high dividend growth rate. Its share price would appreciate ratable with its increasing dividend. All of this would be driven by increasing earnings and cash flow."

Darwin presents Price to Earnings Ratios Show US Headed Off a Cliff: MBA Monday posted at Darwin's Money, saying, "See how Price to Earnings Ratios (P/E) have predicted multi-year market movements for over a century and why we're headed for negative equities returns for over a decade if history repeats itself. No, this time isn't different."

Jim Yih presents An Inside Look Into Balanced Funds posted at Retire Happy Blog, saying, "A balanced fund is simply a fund that will invest in both equity investments like stocks and fixed income investments like bonds and cash."

Living Frugally

MoneyNing presents Five of the Worst Ways to Save Money posted at Money Ning, saying, "Not everything is worth the money, but some things are for sure."

Save Few Bucks presents How to Save Money on Electricity Bills posted at Save Few Bucks, saying, "Most of the gadgets and appliances sold today use electricity so it’s really practical to know ways on how to save money on your electricity bills."

Ryan @ CML presents Printer Ink – The Most Expensive Element Known to Man posted at Cash Money Life, saying, "Printer ink is exceedingly expensive. These tips can help you save a ton of money by using alternative printer ink sources."

Retiring

Outlaw presents Reverse Mortgages: How They Work, Plus Pros and Cons posted at Outlaw Finance, saying, "How a reverse mortgage works and what to watch out for."

Mike Piper presents Roth 401(k) vs. Traditional 401(k) posted at The Oblivious Investor, saying, "Conventional wisdom says that the "Roth vs traditional" question comes down to tax brackets. Is that true?"

Saving

The Investor presents What the Buffett family has always known about cash posted at Monevator.com, saying, "This 70-year old letter from Warren Buffet's grandfather reveals is that being careful with money runs deep in the Buffett family."

Taxes

Boomer presents Tax Filing With TurboTax Online posted at Boomer & Echo, saying, "This year Quick Tax rebranded to TurboTax and I decided to try their newly introduced on-line version"

Abigail presents 5 Ways to Save on Your Taxes posted at CreditDonkey.com Tips, saying, "It's that time of the year. Preserve and keep more money for retirement by saving on your taxes."

PT presents Where Should You Get Your Taxes Done? posted at Prime Time Money, saying, "Should you go to a CPA, or use software, or visit a retail tax prep place?"

Odysseas presents Paying Taxes on Debt? You Have Got to Be Kidding Me posted at Wallet Blog, saying, "I explain why and how you can be taxed on your credit card debt. Managing debt can be very overwhelming, especially when you're not aware of all the regulations surrounding various debt management solutions."

That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of The Wealth Builder Carnival using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

Technorati tags: the wealth builder carnival, blog carnival.

For more on Ideas You Can Use, check back every Tuesday for a new segment.

This is not financial, earning, insuring, investing, living, retiring, saving, tax, or wealth building advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2011 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Making an Employment Decision Regularly

"I work as if my employer decides whether to hire me every two weeks." ~ Research Fellow at my company.



I remember hearing this comment in the early days of my career and dismissing the idea. I thought that re-hiring every two weeks would to be too much stress. I preferred to work so that my employer wouldn't have a reason to fire me every two weeks. Sure, I did excellent work, but I didn't consistently push the envelope of my capabilities and contributions.

Now that I'm retired and working in part time jobs, I understand better what the quote means. I enjoy offering my best efforts, knowing that my supervisor or the company isn't required to hire me again the following year. I know what my skills and strengths are. If they aren't appreciated in my part time job, I definitely want to move on to something else.

Similarly, if I am unimpressed with my employer, I won't bother to reapply the following year. After all, making an employment decision should happen on both sides :-)

For more on Strategies and Plans, check back every Monday for a new segment.list

This is not financial or career advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2011 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

A Surprise Raise

Since retiring I've not taken my performance appraisals too seriously. I usually put minimum effort into completing them. After all, what benefit will I get? I already know my strengths and weaknesses, I'm happy with my current status, and I'm not going to get a raise. Right, Right and Wrong.

Here's how my post retirement performance appraisals usually go. My strengths and weaknesses are correctly identified. My improvement plan is limited to focusing on my own personal learning goals. I don't get a raise.

The outcome changed with my latest performance appraisal. My strengths and weaknesses relative to the job were correctly identified. I talked about improving one weakness area that I felt was important personally. I got a raise. I nearly fell over. Because I was rated "exceeds expectations" in all categories, I was awarded a 3% raise.

Overall, the experience was exhilarating. It showed me that my strategy of focusing on jobs that matched my strengths was an excellent approach for choosing part time retirement jobs.

For more on New Beginnings, check back every Sunday for a new segment.

This is not financial or career advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2011 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Focus on Being a Contributor

A mistake I've seen some new professionals make is to confuse "activity" with "contribution." Putting in time is not necessarily equivalent to making progress or making a difference. The difference between contribution and activity can be demonstrated in the words to describe the outcome.

Contribution is described by words which show direction or change: advanced, accelerated, progressed, or improved. For example, accelerating a schedule, advancing or progressing a project or improving a product are all contributions. Redirection in towards a better outcome is also a contribution.

Activity is described by words that show action but noe necessarily direction: studied, researched, completed or attended. For example, studying or researching a topic, completing a report or attending a meeting are all activities., but not necessarily contributions.

Of course, one can argue that most of work is really activity. True, and the challenge of work is to choosing the activities that will have a higher probability of creating contributions.

For more on Reflections and Musing, check back every Saturday for a new segment.

This is not financial or career advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2011 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Retirement and Divorce

During my career, I saw an increased frequency of divorce or separation as men got closer to retirement age. This has happened to several acquaintances, who had no idea it was coming. In one case, the husband went to work as usual and later was served divorce papers via the receptionists.

In most cases, I only knew the men. They were the classic successful workaholics. I suspected that the husband and wife had drifted apart. Without children keeping them together, it was easier to separate. Since my company splits the employee's retirement funds for divorces, it was also financial easier separate.

In two cases, I was friends with both the husband and wife. To me, both couples seemed to have a perfect marriage, even though both husbands were dedicated to their careers. In both cases, the wife initiated the separation and there was no relationship indiscretions by the husband. I and other friends were shocked that both couples separated.

Unfortunately, I don't have any great insights on what happened. The men that I knew well were usually baffled. For the two couples that I knew, the women didn't know my spouse or I well enough to confide in us. So I guess the reason for the marriage breakups will continue to be a mystery to me.

For more on Reaping the Rewards, check back every Friday for a new segment.

This is not financial or marriage advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2011 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Timeless Articles from the Archives #31

It's been over four years since I started My Wealth Builder. As I think about topics to write , I often remember, "I've written about that before," and decide to find a new topic. However, since many principles of personal finance are timeless, I want to include them in a recent post on My Wealth Builder. Therefore, I have started a series called "Timeless Articles from the Archives" and am highlighting posts from the same week in 2007-2010.


2007

IRA Choices - Roth or Traditional? - My conclusion is that the Roth is better, but YMMV.

Why I Don't Judge People By Their Car - I'm doomed to a life of being perceived as an dangerous driver who is not wealthy :-)

More On The Only Savings Strategy You'll Ever Need - Yes, we only needed one.

Our Saving Plan For College - We're saving at about 1/2 the needed rate.


2008

March Is Consolidation Month - I succeeded for the bank accounts, but not for credit cards and brokerages.

Front Page Of The Newspaper Test - A good rule by which to live.

Why We Will Spend More During Retirement - Our discretionary spending has increased.


2009

Finding a New Sweet Spot for Investing - I have invested in both areas.

Bear Market Maxims - Published 2 days after the bottom. How prescient :-)

Retirement Plans - 2009 will be a year of financial adjustments - It was good to have a plan B. We did everything except take a full time job.


2010

Experts with Whom I like to Consult - Here are five experts I use.

Our Daughter Negotiates a Raise - A good skill to learn :-)

Top Three Things to Like about (Early) Retirement - Some good reasons to retire early.

To me, the content of these posts are still relevant today and worth reading again.

For more on The Practice of Personal Finance, check back every Wednesday for a new segment.

This is not financial, tax, career, investing, retirement or saving advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2011 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

The Wealth Builder Carnival #32

Welcome to the thirty-second edition of The Wealth Builder Carnival. The purpose of this carnival is to collect articles from the blogosphere on building, preserving and keeping enough wealth for a comfortable retirement. For reference, I have tried to keep the carnival content tightly focused on wealth building and did not include submissions that were off topic.

For reading convenience, the posts are listed with a brief summary or comment by the submitter and organized them into seven categories: Earning, Investing, Insuring and Protecting, Living Frugally, Retiring, Saving and Taxes.

And now onto the Carnival:

Earning

Job-Interview-Site.com presents MBA Online Programs: Why Get an Online MBA Program? posted at Job Interview Guide, saying, "Should you consider applying for GMAT examination and then choose upon an MBA college? Or should you consider enrolling for MBA online programs?"

FMF presents Free Money Finance: Measure What Matters posted at Free Money Finance, saying, "The most important thing to measure is actual interviews for jobs. Everything else is secondary. If you get interviews, you’ll get a job. If you don’t, you won’t. It’s that simple."

Insuring and Protecting

Jim Yih presents Charitable Giving Using Life Insurance posted at Retire Happy Blog, saying, "Most often when we donate money to charities, we do it in the form of a direct contribution. The most attractive advantage using life insurance is that it allows one to make a much larger gift to a charity."

Ryan @ CML presents What Investment Losses Are Covered by the SIPC? posted at Cash Money Life, saying, "The SIPC guarantees investments if your brokerage firm goes bankrupt. It isn't the same as the FDIC, but it has some similarities."

Investing

Dividends4Life presents 10 Dividend Stocks Raising Their Payouts And Yields posted at Dividends Value, saying, "When you purchase individual stocks, risk is inherit. Sometimes bad things happen to good stocks. Eventually, every investor will hold a stock that falls out of favor and endures a double-digit decline. Understanding this from the onset makes it easier to deal with. To minimize the risk of significant declines, your core portfolio should focus on blue-chip dividend growth stocks."

Darwin presents Understanding Correlation of Various Asset Classes – MBA Monday posted at Darwin's Money, saying, "Here's a handy guide to figuring out correlation of various asset classes like stocks, gold, oil and more. It's key to understanding if your portfolio is REALLY diversified!"

The Amateur Financier presents Don’t Let Feelings of Safety Make You Take More Risk posted at The Amateur Financier, saying, "A cautionary note about not letting your feelings of confidence lead you to take on more risk than you can afford when investing."

Living Frugally

FIRE Getters presents Top 5 Ways To Trim Our Grocery Bills! posted at FIRE Finance, saying, "We decided to optimize our grocery expenses and pull the strings on our food budget even tighter. So we spent some time researching on ways to cut down our grocery bill. In the process we discovered some fascinating facts ..."

Wenchypoo presents Groceries for Gas--Can You Save? posted at Wisdom From Wenchypoo's Mental Wastebasket, saying, "These are a ripoff--you have to spend HUNDREDS to save CENTS at the pumps! If you're an extreme couponer, beware: only your final tally nets you points to use at the pump. It will take forever to earn enough points to qualify."

Annette Berlin presents The Complete Tightwad Gazette posted at Craft Stew, saying, "I’ve been a fan of the Tightwad Gazette, by Amy Dacyczyn, for ten years. Over the last decade, this book has helped me to save thousands of dollars on our housing, transportation, food and clothes."

Retiring

Mike Piper presents Planning for Uneven Retirement Spending posted at The Oblivious Investor, saying, "Most retirement planning articles assume that you spend the same amount from your portfolio every year of retirement. For most investors, that's not the case."

Tom @ Canadian Finance Blog presents Lesser Known Thoughts About Retirement Planning posted at The Canadian Finance Blog, saying, "Retirement planning is about more than just saving money for the future. Consider these lesser know facts when you plan for your retirement."

Saving

Boomer presents Financial Opportunities: Then And Now posted at Boomer & Echo, saying, "When I see all of the financial opportunities for young people to access today compared to when I was growing up, I’m amazed at the differences."

Taxes

Kyle Berks presents The Myth about Mortgage Tax Deduction posted at Integrated Loans, saying, "Numerous people think that mortgage interest deduction is one of the major benefits that you will get if you buy a home. Although this is not entirely wrong, keep in mind that just like all other financial rules, this statement is not universal and it does not apply to everyone."

Steve Norman presents Tax Codes for 2011 posted at Tax Codes, saying, "Our guide to the new tax codes in 2011/2012, particularly the tax code 747L"

Madison DuPaix presents TurboTax Review posted at My Dollar Plan, saying, "If you're thinking of filing your own taxes this year, check out this TurboTax review first."

That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of The Wealth Builder Carnival using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

Technorati tags: the wealth builder carnival, blog carnival.

For more on Ideas You Can Use, check back every Tuesday for a new segment.

This is not financial, earning, insuring, investing, living, retiring, saving, tax, or wealth building advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2011 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Be Careful about Assumptions

Merging onto a highway requires several skills: knowing what's in front, knowing what's coming and accelerating to a speed that allows an easy lane change. Like many others, I usually focus on the last two skills, assuming that it is clear ahead. However, someone once shared how he watched a merging car plow into a stopped vehicle that had unexpectedly stopped on the entrance ramp. Apparently, the driver was so concerned about the oncoming traffic and lane change that he forgot to glance ahead, even briefly.

My takeaway from the story was to acknowledge the risk with assumptions. I've almost made the same mistake myself on "yield" turns on suburban roads. I typically assume the driver will merge without stopping when there is no cross traffic. Sometimes, a driver chooses to stop anyway. Fortunately, I am generally looking ahead and have stopped in time.

After such an incident, I remind myself to not make assumptions about the actions of other drivers. By not making assumptions, I think I become a better and safer driver.

For more on Strategies and Plans, check back every Monday for a new segment.

This is not financial or driving advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2011 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Increasing Returning Clients

This is my fourth year of working at a seasonal part-time financial services job. My favorite part is serving returning clients that specifically request me for their appointment. About 50% of my 2011 clients are people I worked with last year. I enjoy getting to know a returning client's details so that I can provide the best service and advice for his/her situation. In addition, I am able to invest more time to research a specific situation since I will benefit from effort in future years.

My current plan is to build a loyal client base of 50 to 70, who request my services exclusively. That would enable me to fully schedule my work time next with returning clients that I already know.

For more on New Beginnings, check back every Sunday for a new segment.

This is not financial advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

© 2011 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Contemplating Career Advice to my Younger Self

What career advice would I tell myself if I could go back in time? That was the question that was posed to me by a manager at the company from which I retired. It's a great question, but one I haven't ever thought about much. While I try not to make the same mistake twice, I generally have a "no regrets" attitude about my past. So the advice to my younger self will take a bit of thinking.

Fortunately, I won't be meeting with the manager for two more weeks and can formulate an appropriate answer.

For more on Reflections and Musings, check back every Saturday for a new segment.

This is not financial or career advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2011 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Enjoying the Benefits of Telecommuting

The interim executive director role that I have accepted allows me to work primarily on a telecommuting basis. Most of my interactions have been via e-mail and phone. This has worked well for me. Even though I'm working as many hours as last summer, I don't feel over committed or as stressed as last summer. I can work about 40 hours a week in this job and still easily work 15 to 20 hours per week in the other part-time jobs I am doing.

Here's what I think is the difference:

Commuting time. Last summer I had three jobs with a 20 mile round trip commute that I did five to six days a week. That required about an hour a day of driving time. Currently, my commute is no more than three miles round trip for my part time jobs. The executive director position has zero miles commute since I work from home over 90% of the time.

Time flexibility. With the exception of meetings, I can do my work anytime of the day (or night). I have flexibility to work around other commitments, whether they be other part-time work or personal. Also, I can easily take a break to handing personal matters. For reference, I am paid on an hourly basis. I can clock out whenever I need personal time.

Family flexibility. Since I am at home most of the time, I can able to cover responsibilities such as getting our daughter on or off the school bus or being available for a delivery or repair appointment. Also, I can assist my spouse whenever she requires help. Again, I just clock out when needed.

Best of all, I feel like I'm around my family most of the time. So I don't miss being with them if I have to work long hours. I'm already home and can take breaks to spend time with them.

For more on Reaping the Rewards, check back every Friday for a new segment.

This is not financial advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2011 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Life Didn't Get Easier

"It's always something." ~ Rosanne Rosannadana

When I was young, I couldn't wait to get older. I always thought that life would get easier as I aged. First, I couldn't wait to go to school. Then I couldn't wait to graduate from college. Then, I couldn't wait until I started working. Then, I couldn't wait until I was promoted. Finally, I couldn't wait until I retired. At each stage, I expected life to get easier.

However, life didn't get easier. The world changed and became more complex, uncertain, and ambiguous. What worked in the past wouldn't necessarily work in the future. The world became more competitive. I expect I'll be continually challenged the rest of my life.

It's a change in mindset from my youth. It is a lesson I hope to pass on to our daughter.

For more on Crossing Generations, check back every Thursday for a new segment.

This is not financial advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2011 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Timeless Articles from the Archives #30

It's been over four years since I started My Wealth Builder. As I think about topics to write , I often remember, "I've written about that before," and decide to find a new topic. However, since many principles of personal finance are timeless, I want to include them in a recent post on My Wealth Builder. Therefore, I have started a series called "Timeless Articles from the Archives" and am highlighting posts from the same week in 2007-2010.


2007

A Very, Very, Bad Retirement Plan - It's one of the bad personal finance decisions that I make several times a year.

Investing 101 - Lump Sum Performs Better Than Dollar Cost Average - Unfortunately, I used this advice in October 2007 :-)

Lessons From My Daughter - "New One" - How might I make new the norm instead of the exception?


2008

How Our Emergency Fund Helped Us Retire Early - Luckily, we never had an emergency need while we were earning a wage income.

Account Proliferation Or Consolidation? - For me, consolidation simplifies my life.

Why We Will Spend More During Retirement - Our discretionary spending has increased.


2009

Dealing with Retirement Planning Uncertainty - Here's how we're adjusting.


2010

I'm on a Roll - For me, part time job prospects improved significantly in 2010.


To me, the content of these posts are still relevant today and worth reading again.

For more on The Practice of Personal Finance, check back every Wednesday for a new segment.

This is not financial, tax, career, investing, retirement or saving advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2011 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

The Wealth Builder Carnival #31

Welcome to the thirty-first edition of The Wealth Builder Carnival. The purpose of this carnival is to collect articles from the blogosphere on building, preserving and keeping enough wealth for a comfortable retirement. For reference, I have tried to keep the carnival content tightly focused on wealth building and did not include submissions that were off topic.

For reading convenience, the posts are listed with a brief summary or comment by the submitter and organized them into seven categories: Earning, Investing, Insuring and Protecting, Living Frugally, Retiring, Saving and Taxes.

And now onto the Carnival:

Earning

Gerry Sandis presents 79 Sample Job Interview Questions posted at RESUMEMag, saying, "Preparing and practicing for potential interview questions ahead of time can greatly increase your overall interview presentation. This post contains 79 typical interview questions you should be prepared to answer."

Insuring and Protecting

CreditCardGuru presents Credit Card Payment Protection Insurance Worth It? posted at credit card forum [the blog], saying, "Credit card companies are usually quite aggressive in peddling their payment protection plan. The reason why is because it's a big money maker for them (and probably a waste of money for you)."

Investing

Janet Russell presents Inferior Mutual Fund Performance No Load Mutual Funds Best No Load Mutual Funds posted at Best No Load Funds, saying, "The investment research literature does provide some modest evidence that substantially inferior past mutual fund performance is more likely to lead to inferior mutual fund returns in the future. Excessive costs and high management expense ratios are the likely culprits, when explaining sub-par diversified investment fund returns."

Dividends4Life presents 23 Stocks With A Vision Of Higher Dividends posted at Dividends Value, saying, "To succeed as a dividend growth investor you must identify and purchase stocks with sustainable dividend growth. Inertia is powerful force. Once a company has established a track record of growing its dividend over the decades and developed a shareholder base that expects higher dividends each year, it becomes increasing difficult for management to cut or fail to raise their dividend."

Mike Piper presents Picking Mutual Funds: Don’t Just Look at the Winners posted at The Oblivious Investor, saying, "When researching mutual funds, many investors only look for characteristics common among winning funds. But that's only half the picture."

Jim Yih presents Do You Have Any Global Real Estate? posted at Retire Happy Blog, saying, "The challenge is that once you invest in the real estate, deciding to sell may not provide you with instant liquidity. In addition, investing in real estate in other countries adds additional tax concerns as well as local laws."

2 Cents presents End of QE2 Marks D-Day for the Markets: Bill Gross posted at Balance Junkie, saying, "PIMCO's Bill Gross thinks the end of the latest round of quantitative easing will be significant for the markets. But will we see QE3?"

Dividend Growth Investor presents Dividend Champions - The Best List for Dividend Investors posted at Dividend Growth Investor, saying, "The dividend champions list is by far the most comprehensive list of dividend growth stocks available for free. It breaks down the dividend growth universe into dividend champions, dividend contenders and dividend challengers."

Living Frugally

Paul Foley presents Training at Night posted at Life and Times Living with In-Laws, saying, "Applying the Training at Night method to Personal Finance"

Jeffrey Weber presents 4 Reasons Retail Credit Cards Are a Bad Idea posted at Credit Card Wisdom, saying, "Retail credit cards are simply a bad idea in most cases. They encourage overspending (and increasing debt) while charging sky high interest rates and adding yet another bill to worry about every month."

Madison DuPaix presents Cheap Movie Deals from Groupon, Redbox, and Amazon posted at My Dollar Plan, saying, "Read about some great options for cheap entertainment."

David presents The Rundown on Foreign Transaction Fees Credit Card Offers IQ posted at Credit Card Offers IQ, saying, "Everything you need to know about foreign transaction fees."

Money Crashers Team presents Income vs. Wealth - What's the Difference? posted at Money Crashers, saying, "“Income” and “wealth” have incorrectly become synonymous in American culture. While the two concepts often go hand in hand, using the terms interchangeably is misleading. America’s most wealthy individuals don’t necessarily draw the highest levels of income."

Ryan @ MFN presents The Case for Automating your Finances posted at The Military Wallet, saying, "This articles makes the case for automating your finances to save time, money, and headaches. It is based on a missed credit card payment I had that occurred when I was relocating to a new state. The problem would not have happened if I had automated this account."

Odysseas presents Save Money on Food posted at Wallet Blog, saying, " I think your frugal readers will find my submission useful this week because I explain a few simple – but extremely helpful – do's and don'ts on how to save money when it comes to food."

Retiring

FMF presents Instant Gratification Killing Retirements posted at Free Money Finance, saying, "If you want to build up enough for retirement, you're going to need to sacrifice at least a bit during your working years. It appears that many Americans are not willing to do this."

Boomer presents Defined Benefit Plan posted at Boomer & Echo, saying, "The defined benefit plan (commonly referred to as a “gold-plated pension”) has been on the decline over the last two decades, but it still represents a fairly large sample of the Canadian work force."

Savings

None

Taxes

Tom @ Canadian Finance Blog presents TurboTax 2010 Review posted at The Canadian Finance Blog, saying, "A TurboTax review of TurboTax Standard 2010 tax software with a comparison to the Premier, Home & Business and Basic versions of TurboTax."

Ryan @ CML presents 7 Simple Tips to Legally Pay Less Tax posted at Cash Money Life, saying, "These 7 tips can help you legally pay fewer taxes when you file this year."


That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of The Wealth Builder Carnival using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

Technorati tags: the wealth builder carnival, blog carnival.

For more on Ideas You Can Use, check back every Tuesday for a new segment.

This is not financial, earning, insuring, investing, living, retiring, saving, tax, or wealth building advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2011 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Getting the Facts Quickly

I had a lot of interesting discussions today where a lot of "facts" were used liberally to support the points. Initially, we got caught up in the correctness of the facts and the debate was about the facts. I realized that we should have just checked on the Internet about the "fact"and confirmed or refuted it.

For example, one person claimed that health insurance premiums for family coverage was $12,000 and that employees couldn't be expected to pay that much. I disputed that employees would need to pay $12,000 per year. As it turns out, the person was correct that insurance costs $12,000 (actually closer to $14,000) but I was also correct since the average premium paid by employees is $4,000 to $5,000.

If we had checked the facts, we could have debated the merits of the health care bill instead of the facts. Next time, I'll know to quickly check the facts so the we can focus more on the issue.


For more on Reflections and Musings, check back every Friday for a new segment.

This is not financial advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2011 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Timeless Articles from the Archives #29

It's been over four years since I started My Wealth Builder. As I think about topics to write , I often remember, "I've written about that before," and decide to find a new topic. However, since many principles of personal finance are timeless, I want to include them in a recent post on My Wealth Builder. Therefore, I have started a series called "Timeless Articles from the Archives" and am highlighting posts from the same week in 2007-2010.


2007

When AMT Tax Is Triggered - Stop and Delay Deductions - The reason is that once the AMT tax is activated, additional AMT preference deductions have ZERO impact on one's tax liability.


2008

Creating Great Childhood Memories - I feel the fun times with my parents were the best. I still remember playing horsey, flying kites, ice skating, and fishing with my dad. I remember reading books and imagining about growing up with my mom.


2009

Reduce Spending without Sacrificing Lifestyle #5 - Enjoy What You Already Have - Our fifth, and final, approach is to enjoy what we already have instead of buying more stuff.

Successful Dieting Really Hasn't Changed - No matter the diet, what's really important is restricting the calories.

The Story of Two Envelopes - A funny leadership story.

Stocks Fall to 12 Year Lows - I almost picked the bottom. Unfortunately, I only bought a few stocks.


2010

How Living Only on Base Salary Funded our Early Retirement - Here were the compensation elements that we did not include in our spendable income.

A New Paradigm for Home Ownership - A home is no longer a guaranteed appreciating investment.

DIY Home Repairs that Saved Us Money - Because of easy Internet access to drawings, I was able to do my own repairs on appliance that previously would have required a service call.

To me, the content of these posts are still relevant today and worth reading again.

For more on The Practice of Personal Finance, check back every Wednesday for a new segment.

This is not financial, tax, career, investing, retirement or saving advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2011 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

The Wealth Builder Carnival #30

Welcome to the thirtieth edition of The Wealth Builder Carnival. The purpose of this carnival is to collect articles from the blogosphere on building, preserving and keeping enough wealth for a comfortable retirement. For reference, I have tried to keep the carnival content tightly focused on wealth building and did not include submissions that were off topic.

For reading convenience, the posts are listed with a brief summary or comment by the submitter and organized them into seven categories: Earning, Investing, Insuring and Protecting, Living Frugally, Retiring, Saving and Taxes.

And now onto the Carnival:

Earning

Lee Phillips presents Do I Need an LLC Lawyer? posted at LLC Wizard, saying, "When you compare an LLC, or Limited Liability Company, to a sole proprietorship or a corporation, it has many advantages: limited liability, great tax advantages, and that it is very easy to set up and dissolve. Many people think that they must involve a lawyer to set up an LLC, but that is not the case. The process of forming an LLC is quite simple, there are only a few requirements."

Insuring and Protecting

CreditCardGuru presents American Express Premium Car Rental Protection Review posted at credit card forum [the blog], saying, "An in-depth look at the new "Premium" car rental protection which is an optional upgrade offered on all American Express cards. Find out when this extra upsell is and isn't worth it."

Khaleef @ KNS Financial presents 4 Credit Card Benefits You Should Not Ignore posted at Faithful With A Few, saying, "There are many credit card benefits to consider before cutting up those cards! Find out the 4 most common credit card benefits, and if they are right for you!"

Investing

Hussein Sumar presents Risk Adjusted Return & its Applicability to Mutual Funds Investing posted at Best Mutual Funds, saying, "Risk Adjusted Return aims to measure the return on investment (ROI) of a particular asset compared to its peer assets with similar risk profiles. Risk adjusted return helps to analyze whether an investor is getting the highest possible return for the least possible risk on a particular investment."

Dividends4Life presents 25 Dividend Stocks Raising Their Yield On Cost posted at Dividends Value, saying, "There are income investors and Dividend Growth investors. While the distinction is rather simple, it slips past many casual observers. Income investors are investing for maximum current income, while dividend growth investors are looking to maximize income over an extended period of time — usually sacrificing current income for potential greater future earnings."

Michael Pruser presents Ally Bank’s 10-Day Rate Guarantee on CD’s posted at The Dough Roller, saying, "Boring ole CD's may not give the greatest returns, but show me something else this guaranteed."

Living Frugally

MoneyNing presents Is There Such a Thing as Good Debt? posted at Money Ning, saying, "Do you think there is any type of debt that's actually good? Why?"

Michael presents Advantages of Buying a House With Cash posted at Consumerism Commentary, saying, "If you can afford it, there are some extreme advantages to buying a house with cash."

Retiring

Steve presents The Benefits of a Roth IRA posted at 2008 Taxes, saying, "A Roth IRA is the best retirement plan for almost all tax payers in the US."

Charles Tran presents 6 Secrets to Building and Preserving Wealth for Retirement posted at CreditDonkey.com Tips, saying, "Build and preserve wealth for your golden years"

Boomer presents Defined Contribution Plan posted at Boomer & Echo, saying, "Defined benefit pensions have been in decline over the past two decades in favour of the defined contribution plan, where plan membership has doubled over the same time period."

2 Cents presents Safe Retirement Withdrawal Rates and Probable Outcomes posted at Balance Junkie, saying, "Secular stock cycles and valuations can have a significant effect on the longevity of your retirement savings. Many advisors miss these factors in their calculations."

Saving

LaTisha D Styles presents Manage Your Money Like a Banker posted at Financial Success for Young Adults, saying, "What we can learn about money management from one of the biggest banks in the world."

Ryan @ MFN presents Your Actions Show Your Financial Priorities posted at The Military Wallet, saying, "Many people talk a good talk, but don't back it up. Setting strong financial priorities, and more importantly, following through with them, is essential to become financially independent."

Taxes

PT presents Alternative Minimum Tax Patch for Tax Year 2010 posted at Prime Time Money, saying, "Confused about the Alternative Minimum Tax? Here is a clear explanation about the AMT and 2010's patch to the tax."

Madison DuPaix presents 8917 Form for Tuition and Fees Tax Deduction posted at My Dollar Plan, saying, "If you or a dependent is in school, you may have some valuable tax deductions available."

Odysseas presents Not Even the Unemployed are Exempt Come Tax Time posted at Wallet Blog, saying, "I explain how I helped a friend try to lessen the burden on his financial situation after finding out that he will still have to pay taxes on his unemployment benefits."

That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of The Wealth Builder Carnival using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

Technorati tags: the wealth builder carnival, blog carnival.

For more on Ideas You Can Use, check back every Tuesday for a new segment.

This is not financial, earning, insuring, investing, living, retiring, saving, tax, or wealth building advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2011 Achievement Catalyst, LLC