MONEY matters

The financial and emotional implications of a life crisis affect women more than men, according to new research findings from AARP Financial Inc. A survey of 600 men and 600 women age 40-79 looked at four life crises; divorce, death of a spouse, long-term job loss, and serious illness or disability. In all four instances, women struggled more than men.

Both men and women rarely seek professional financial advice in a crisis, rather, they rely more often on friends and family. But women who do seek professional advice usually feel well served, more so than men.

Paul Krugman, Nobel Prize Winner, recently held a Q & A with his New York Times readers. If you’re interested in reading the latest news about the global economy , especially the U.S economy, click on the link below and it will take you to his responses. I highly recommend taking the time to read it.

From everything he said in the Q & A, the most intriguing to me was the following:

That’s the title of the lead story on the Huffington Post website today, 9/25/09.  I encourage you to watch the 5 minute interview with Inspector General of TARP-Neil Barofsky. It’s not good news, but it’s the truth. Kudo’s to the Huffington Post for their excellent investigative journalism-well done.

Click this link to watch the interview:

As stock markets around the globe start to rev up again, the siren call of higher returns will get louder and louder. The recent crash may have jolted you out of your slumber in terms of your asset allocation; you probably have more in bonds than you did before the crash, but that new pragmatic approach to investing may not stand a chance against the temptation of higher returns. Of course, with higher returns comes higher risk.

Before you make any significant changes to your portfolio, I highly recommend reviewing your short-term and especially your long-term financial goals. Taking on more risk while the stock market is doing well may feel like the smart thing to do, but the question to ask yourself is this: What’s the least amount of risk I need to take in order to reach my goals?

As our country racks up more and more debt, the U.S. Dollar depreciates further and further. Right now it’s a slow, drip, drip drip. It may be the case; that the dollar gradually heads lower during the next decade. Or, we could see this process accelerate overnight. No one knows for sure.

Over the past few years, I have formed strategic relationships with some key firms that offer well thought out and sound approaches to investing in currencies other than the U.S Dollar. These are firms with excellent reputations and decades of proven performance.

There’s a large amount of investors sitting on the sidelines, parking their money in treasury bills, CD’s or money market accounts too scared to make a move. For those that lost a lot of money during the recent crash and need their investments to grow in order to fund their retirement, this may not be your best move.

If you lost a lot of money in the recent crash, you were probably too heavily invested in stocks. Now’s the time to take a good and honest look at what happen, see what lessons you learned from the experience and make plans for the future. The past is just that, the past and now it’s time to plan ahead.

Imagine having peace of mind. How does that make you feel? What image or thought enters your mind? I think for many people, it’s a feeling of abundance, of having enough of what you need and then some. Perhaps most importantly, in this state of consciousness, money worries are non-existent and you feel financially secure. So how do you get here?

First, you need to ask yourself how much is enough? If you have a significant other, this is a money and lifestyle conversation that offers you both an incredible opportunity to set common goals and work as a team.

There’s a new flurry of Your Money or Your Life readers discovering or in some cases rediscovering this amazing jewel of a book. This is great news on many levels and I’m grateful to be hearing from many of you. From the recent calls and emails I’ve received, what’s most on your mind seems to be how to achieve financial independence (FI) early rather than later in life. Early semi-retirement is a huge boomer trend by the way and one I feel that’s still operating below the radar screen of mainstream media, but I’m sure, not for long.

If you work in the corporate world, you know you’re in trouble when the leadership of the organization starts talking about the need to “increase productivity”. This is a clever euphemism for working two, sometimes three jobs for the price of one. Profits stay high for the corporation while your quality of life sinks.

Now that the dust has settled from the Great Recession and people are finding the courage to look at their investment statements once again, a new reality is setting in for many people as well as many new questions.  How do I retire with enough financial security so I don’t have to worry about money and how long will it take to rebuild my nest egg?

It’s hard to know how long it will take for the stock market to fully recover and the same holds true for the real estate market. Even jobs that once felt very secure no longer feel that way in this post crash economy. With so much out of your control, what can you control? The answer is and always will be your spending.

As stock markets around the world, including ours, continue to rise, investors that pulled their money out of the market last year are beginning to get restless. It’s reported there’s between $3-5 trillion dollars in cash sitting on the sidelines. If you’re someone preparing to invest in the market again, be mindful of the following: