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Are You Ready To Take Charge of Your Financial Life?
Think you’ll be able to retire early with gobs and gobs and money? Well, you might……if you actually save.
In case you missed that…..YOU HAVE TO SAVE!
For some reason, people tend to miss that. The couple in this video missed it completely.
Hence, my Financial Rant…..
Read this article →Potato, potahto. Tomato, tomahto. Fee Only Vs. Fee Based. The same difference, right?
Not quite.
If you’ve ever interviewed or hired a financial advisor, chances are you you have no idea how you are paying them. Advisors can get paid way in many different ways.
Mainstream media loves the “fee only” advisor. No conflict of interest, no commissions, certainty of what you are paying.
But then you have the “fee-based” advisor. The fee-based advisor earns a fee, but then can also earn a commission. Say what? Yes, it’s all together confusing and that’s why I attempt to explain it here:
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Each day my inbox gets flooded with hundreds of emails.
Offer this, buy this, accept my guest post this. Ugh!
I’ve been working more diligently to check my email only a few times per day, but there’s one email in particular that I’m glad that I noticed.
About a year or so ago, I signed up for a free service called Credit Sesame. Credit Sesame is an online site that specializes in informing their customers of their credit score changes or any possibilities that they can maybe save money on refinancing a home or any of their debt.
Since it was free, I thought what the heck, I’ll try it out. Once you sign up, they occasionally email you when they feel that there is an opportunity that you can benefit from.
Please note, their emails are very infrequent, so don’t worry about getting flooded with hundreds of offers.
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Who doesn’t like the idea of getting cash back on your normal every day spending?
No special miles that need to be redeemed on the 15 non-blackout dates on the airline. No special branded points that can only be used in a special credit card company online “mall”.
Just straight cash back — essentially a pure discount on your spending — in categories that you use every single month. That sounds like a win to me.
If it sound like winning to you, go ahead and apply now for the American Express Blue Cash credit card.
(Otherwise, keep reading…)
You’ve been investing in your 401k for quite some time and are probably still clueless in where your money is going. (Don’t worry…you’re not alone)
But you’re thankful that they offer these “target date” or “life cycle” funds that make investing in your 401k so easy.
What are target date funds? You know… the funds where all you have to do is choose the year you plan on retiring and voila – you’re all set.
Winner, winner, chicken dinner…..how easy is that?
Here’s the BIG problem. Target date funds, although easy, can sometimes eat away at your returns.
Or stated just a bit more bluntly– They suck!
*You know I hate Target Date Mutual Funds when I take the time to record a video.
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Are you currently struggling to keep up with your credit card minimum payments? Are you paying interest in the 14.99% to 24.99% (or higher) range?
You need to pay attention.
Imagine what dropping your interest rate down to 0% could do for your financial situation. That $5,000 balance that you’ve been chipping away at for months with no progress could be wiped out in 12 months if you really put your mind to it.
Don’t believe me? Let’s do some easy math.
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It’s one of those things that you think will never happen to you.
To walk into the kitchen and find the love of your life lying lifeless on the floor; dead on the cold kitchen tile.
It’s been over three years since I heard this story. A fresh widow sitting in my office clenching the box of tissues that I offered her, sharing her sad story with me.
She had been married to her husband for over twenty years. They had two wonderful kids and loved spending each day with each other.
The husband was a hard worker. He loved his family and gave each day his all. He had no preexisting conditions. As a doctor himself, he was very conscious of his health and took care of himself.
Stories like this happen more often than we want to believe. You see it in the news, you see it in blogs, you even hear about it on Oprah.
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During the heady years prior to the financial crisis of 2008, many people thought that they could “afford” bigger homes.
Unfortunately, as low-rate mortgage reset, it became painfully obvious that those homes weren’t affordable at all.
But we don’t have to go nearly that big. In college, I assumed I could afford something because it fit neatly on my credit card.
Often, I bought items immediately, telling myself I could afford it because I could just pay it off with my next paycheck.
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“One million dollars…..baawaahahahahah!”
One million dollars...
I can’t help but chuckle when I think of Dr. Evil saying that in the classic series Austin Powers.
For many people, one million dollars sounds like a lot of money – and it is!
But a common misconception is that one million dollars of term life insurance is very expense.
That couldn’t be further from the truth.
To demonstrate, I attained quotes from the top insurance carriers using my new handy dandy free life insurance quoter.
Yes, I realize you could have entered the info yourself and found it on your own. I thought I would be a nice guy and find out for you. 
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Have you ever struggled to manage your credit card use? Have you been frustrated to be charged interest on your every day items while you try to pay down your balance?
A new set of software by Chase Bank called Blueprint aims to help you manage your credit card use and pay off your debt with a plan. This is an exclusive benefit to having certain Chase credit cards. Your other credit card companies can’t offer you access to Blueprint, and not every Chase card qualifies.
Blueprint is an online program that Chase credit cardholders get access to. It helps you handle a variety of credit card tasks: from avoiding paying interest to paying off a big balance with a dedicated debt-reduction plan. [.....]
Read this article →Say what you want about Tebow… he has proven he is a competitor, a winner and the most important thing to him – a strong Christian that doesn’t ever stop believing.
I won’t sit here and pretend to you that I’ve always been a Tim Tebow fan. I used to think that he would never play in one NFL game. Heh.
Insert foot in mouth.
Tebow’s strong beliefs and work ethic deserve respect – no question. And he certainly has mine now.
So what can we learn from Mr. Tebow when it comes to our finances? Here’s a few thoughts….
Read this article →
Scottrade is one of the most solidified discount brokers in the industry.
They offer competitive trading costs as well as great customer service. Scottrade has a standard fee for every transaction of $7 dollars. It also doesn’t hurt that they are headquartered in my favorite baseball town of St. Louis – Go Cardinals!
They also offer the ability to trade options for $7 per trade, plus $1.25 per contract.
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Jeff Rose is a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ professional and founder of Alliance Wealth Management, LLC.
Learn more on Good Financial Cents. Read more on my about page and learn more on personal finance, financial management and how to dump your debt.
Alliance Wealth Management, LLC
Jeff Rose, Certified Financial Planner™
115 S. Washington St.
Carbondale, IL 62901
(866)267-2591
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