Money inherited is money that wasn’t worked for. Don’t be surprised if it gets squandered.
NO. 2: WE GET one shot at making the financial journey from here to retirement—and failure is not an option, so we should save like crazy, avoid big investment bets and insure against major risks.
NEGATIVE BONDS. When we buy bonds, we lend to others and receive interest in return. Borrowing can be seen as a negative bond: Others lend to us—and we pay them interest. Typically, the interest rate we pay on borrowed money is higher than the yield we can earn by buying bonds. The upshot: Paying down debt is often the smartest “bond” we can buy.
NO. 2: WE FOCUS on today—and shortchange tomorrow. Our nomadic ancestors didn’t worry about the long term. Instead, they focused on surviving today, which meant consuming as much as they could whenever they could. Those instincts live on within us, driving our spending, saving and investing behavior—and causing long-term financial damage.
CHECK YOUR retirement readiness. Try the simple calculators from AARP and Vanguard Group. Neither requires you to create an account. Each will give you a somewhat different assessment—a reminder that such projections are a rough-and-ready business. Still, you should get a sense for whether you're on track for a comfortable retirement or off the rails.
NO. 2: WE GET one shot at making the financial journey from here to retirement—and failure is not an option, so we should save like crazy, avoid big investment bets and insure against major risks.
THE LETTER WAS IN a mountain of mail delivered the day after my wife and I returned from holiday. “Dear David Powell, Thank you for your recent application for a Bed Bath & Beyond Mastercard account. Your request… was carefully considered, and we did not approve your application….”
I’ve never been happier to receive a rejection.
We use exactly one credit card, pay it off each month and have never applied for another. This fraudulent application,
I WAS SITTING AT MY computer one lunchtime when an email popped up from one of my credit card companies, saying I’d just purchased nearly $12,000 of jewelry at a store in Toronto. Within minutes, I was on the phone to the card company.
I was quickly referred to the fraud unit. I told my story. The company credited my account, cancelled the card and mailed me replacements. Weeks later, I had to complete a form,
WHILE SITTING AT MY desk a few months ago, I received a text message from Citibank notifying me of “suspicious activity” on my primary credit card. I immediately logged onto my account and discovered someone that morning had attempted to use my credit card number at a luxury resort—one located several hundred miles from where I work. The charge had been denied, but the damage was done. I immediately cancelled the card. I also began notifying the companies I have automated payments with,
OUR COMMUNITY HAS a Facebook-like online forum called Nextdoor. I tend to ignore the posts, which usually involve things like items for sale and new restaurant openings. But a recent post caught my eye—because it was from the Montgomery County Recorder of Deeds.
The article said Pennsylvania’s Attorney General had initiated a lawsuit against a realty company for deceptive practices targeting elderly, low-income and minority homeowners. The realty company was offering a “Homeowner Benefit Program” that gives homeowners anywhere from $400 to $1,000 upfront to lock into a contract.
FOLKS FORGET passwords every day, an inconvenience that can usually be quickly fixed—but not always.
In January, The New York Times wrote about a German programmer living in San Francisco. A decade ago, he had been paid 7,002 bitcoins for making a video explaining how cryptocurrencies work. He stored them in a digital wallet on a hard drive and wrote the password on a piece of paper, which he has since lost.
A MEDIA-SAVVY IRS often announces that one of its top priorities is combatting criminals who steal tax-related information. The good news: Reports of tax identity theft have declined markedly in recent years. The bad news: Resourceful identity thieves remain active and constantly introduce new schemes.
One consistently remunerative ploy is to use stolen Social Security numbers and other information to file fraudulent tax returns that claim hefty refunds—claims that generally are submitted at the start of the filing season.
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The Opposite of HumbleDollar
Tasting Retirement
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Kind Hearts are More than Coronets
Going Against the Grain
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You’ve Come a Long Way, Baby by Marjorie Kondrack
RDQ Sorry folks, I still see annuities, including deferred annuities, as a viable option for creating steady retirement income.
You versus Social Security – Quinn is betting against you.