Minding Your Money 360 - Quick tips to manage your money for success

It’s Friday and time for the Word of the Week! Our word this week is Vote.

I chose vote because we are so close to the election and if you haven’t voted already...

It’s Friday and time for the Word of the Week! Our word this week is Vote.

I chose vote because we are so close to the election and if you haven’t voted already, you need to make that move. My ancestors literally fought for the right to vote and so I take this responsibility very seriously. So much is on the line in this election and if you don’t vote, you don’t have the right to complain if things don’t work out the way you want them to.

But there’s another reason to vote and that’s to mind your money. Carefully consider all the candidates and the issues and vote for those you think will make it easier for you to achieve your goals. Voting is not a spectator sport – it’s personal.

Our word of the week: Vote. Remember, this is your world and voting is your voice. Use your voice or someone else will be happy to do it for you.

And, that’s the minute for today. Not signed up for the minding your money movement yet? If not, make you way to my website at www.psworth.com and sign up. It’s an easy way to show your support for the cause and build your financial skills at the same time.

Thanks for listening and as always remember that minding your money really is the path to a richer life!

Today on the Minute – I want to report on a new IRS ruling that could say you big time.

The IRS has a ruling regarding IRAs that allows for a 60-day rollover to move money indirectly from one retirement account to another...

Today on the Minute – I want to report on a new IRS ruling that could say you big time.

The IRS has a ruling regarding IRAs that allows for a 60-day rollover to move money indirectly from one retirement account to another, something you might do when switching jobs, retiring or you need some temporary funds (which I discourage this last one), for example. In a typical 60-day rollover, a person will take a distribution from one of their retirement accounts via a check made payable to them personally. Then, within 60 days, they deposit it into another retirement account. There are a couple of things to note here. First, if it’s not completed within 60 days it will be deemed to be a distribution subject to taxes and penalties if you are under 59 1/2. Second, if taxes are taken out, you will need to replace the entire amount to avoid taxes and penalties. Now it used to be that if you missed that 60-day window – the only way to get out of paying the taxes and penalties was to go through an appeal process that could cost thousands of dollars and take months to get an answer regarding your appeal.

Now the friendlier, kinder IRS has made the process smoother by accepting 11 approved excuses why you couldn’t get the money transferred in time.

These 11 excuses range from my dog ate the check – just kidding – they range from a death or an illness in the family to incarceration … at which point you probably have bigger problems on your hands. Other popular excuses include financial institution error, a distribution check was misplaced and never cashed, the rollover was accidentally deposited into the wrong account, postal errors and the severe damage to a principal residence. The takeaway here is to avoid this in the first place by having one institution directly transfer the funds to the other without putting you in the middle.

And, that’s the minute for today. I have included all 11 in today’s post so you can visit the minding your money minute website to view them all. Have you signed up for the minding your money movement yet? If not, make you way to my website – psworth.com and sign up. It’s easy an easy way to show your support for the cause and build your financial skills at the same time.

Thanks for listening and as always remember that minding your money really is the path to a richer life!

RESOURCE:

11 'excuses' the IRS will takeTo self-certify a late 60-day rollover, your delay must be attributable to one of the following:

- Financial institution error

- You misplaced your rollover check and it was never cashed

- You deposited your distribution into an account you thought was a retirement account and it remained there until you completed your rollover

- Your principal residence was severely damaged

- There was a death in your family

- You or one of your family members was seriously ill

- You were incarcerated

- Restrictions were imposed upon you by a foreign country

- A postal error occurred

- Your distribution was made on account of an IRS levy and the proceeds of the levy have been returned

- Despite reasonable efforts to obtain information, the distributing company did not provide information required by the receiving company

Source: IRAhelp.com

Today on the minute – digging your way out of debt

On Monday I talked about debt and I got a question about the steps to get out of debt.

Today on the minute – digging your way out of debt

On Monday I talked about debt and I got a question about the steps to get out of debt. So here’s a quick recap of my 5 steps to get out of debt:

Step 1: Stop charging: you can’t get out of debt if you keep charging.

Step 2: Make a list of all of your debts – loans and credit cards including interest rates, minimum payments, due dates and the current balance.

Step 3: Determine how much extra money you have available to put towards paying off your debts each month. In other words, when you subtract all of your necessary expenses from your income, what’s left over? A budget is a good tool to use here.

Step 4: Develop a payoff strategy. You can start with the highest balance, the lowest balance, the highest interest rate or the one you just have to get rid of. Then list all of your debts in the order you want to pay them off.

Step 5: Make the minimum payment on all of your cards and put the extra dollars on the debt at the top of your list. As you pay off each debt, the amount of money you have available to pay off your remaining debts will continue to grow and you will be able to pay them off faster and faster.

The thing that drives all of this is how important it is for you to shed your debt – because it’s not easy, especially in the beginning. But once you do it – make a plan not to go back.

And that’s the minute for today. Have you signed up for the minding your money movement? If not, make you way to my website – psworth.com and sign up so you can get a dose of money savvy delivered direct to your inbox each week.

Thanks for listening and as always remember that minding your money really is the path to a richer life!

Today on the Minute – Debt = Compound Interest in Reverse

As we get closer to the end of the year, I always get a lot of letters from people who are in debt but they don’t want to go into the New Year that way.

Today on the Minute – Debt = Compound Interest in Reverse

As we get closer to the end of the year, I always get a lot of letters from people who are in debt but they don’t want to go into the New Year that way. In many cases, the debt they have is “good debt.” But I have some news for you debt is debt. And there is no such thing as good debt if you can’t pay it off.

Now I’m not advocating that you never borrow or take on debt but what I am advocating is that when you do go into debt that you have a plan to pay it off. Debt is not fun. In fact, it can lead to many sleepless nights and the 2am wake-up call because debt grows like your money grows when you take advantage of compounding only this time it’s in reverse. So how do you stop it – how do you get off of this fast moving train? Well, you begin by changing your mindset around debt and then you make a plan to slow the train, bring it to a stop and throw it in reverse.

Wayne Dyer once said, “when you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.” Now that’s a little deep but I take that to mean that you need to examine the things that got you into debt and then find other ways to be happy that don’t take you back there.

And, that’s the minute for today. You know I love helping people with all aspects of their money. Check out my website at www.psworth.com and while you’re there don’t forget to sign up for the minding your money movement.

Thanks for listening and as always remember that minding your money really is the path to a richer life!

Today on the minute – Investment Food for Thought

Here’s some food for thought. You know that commercial for Charles Schwab the one where the couple asks so many questions...

Today on the minute – Investment Food for Thought

Here’s some food for thought. You know that commercial for Charles Schwab the one where the couple asks so many questions about everything they do – buying a car, picking a school for their kids, buying a phone and so on until they are finally sitting in front of their financial advisor and he says “I think we should put you in our new fund” and they look at each other and then say okay. And the announcer says, “are you asking enough questions about how your money is managed?” Well, as it turns out that’s one of the times that you really should be asking questions and here’s why:

Because no has to look out for you – no one has to put your best interests first. Up until now there haven’t been any laws in place to protect you. Financial advisors are free to put their own interest first and if you don’t ask questions how are you going to know. However, beginning in April 2017 that’s all going to change at least to some degree. Starting in April 2017, financial professionals who provide advice about 401(k) and IRA investment decisions will be legally required to recommend funds that are in the client's best interest, not the investments that make the most money for the advisor. The new rule will apply only to retirement accounts, and advice provided about taxable investment accounts may not be held to the same standard.

The takeaway here is to give your financial advisor and your money management the same concern that give other things in your life – cause it’s really important.

And that’s the minute for today. I love helping people with all aspects of their financial lives. Visit my website at www.psworth.com and sign up for the Minding Your Money Movement.

Thanks for listening and as always remember that minding your money really is the path to a richer life!

It’s Friday and time for the Word of the Week! Our word this week is Money.

I chose money because sometimes I think we forget what it really is.

It’s Friday and time for the Word of the Week! Our word this week is Money.

I chose money because sometimes I think we forget what it really is. When I teach classes, I always ask what is money and eventually someone gets around to saying that it is a medium of exchange – something an employer will pay me for the work I do and something I pay others for goods and services that I buy.

But most people have taken money to a whole new level – assigning all kinds of emotional baggage to it. It’s a sign of my self-worth. It can make me happy when I’m sad. You have to work really hard to earn it. Rich people are lucky. Money doesn’t grow on trees, and on and on. Because our perception of money is colored, we often make bad decisions with our money – debt is a part of life. Investing is too hard for me to understand. I’m never going to be rich so I might as well stop trying to save and just enjoy life now.

But at the end of the day, money is a medium of exchange. And, what you do with your money does make a difference. You may be right, you may never be rich, but you can certainly be wealthy.

Our word of the week: Money. What will you do with yours?

And, that’s the minute for today. Not signed up for the minding your money movement yet? If not, make you way to my website at psworth.com and sign up. It’s easy an easy way to show your support for the cause and build your financial skills at the same time.

Thanks for listening and as always remember that minding your money really is the path to a richer life!

Today on the minute – When you think about retirement, what comes to mind?

I remember when my father retired, he was ready for a carefree life, hangin' with his buddies and just shooting breeze.

Today on the minute – When you think about retirement, what comes to mind?

I remember when my father retired, he was ready for a carefree life, hangin' with his buddies and just shooting breeze. And that lasted for about six months. After that it wasn’t so much fun anymore – he had worked all of his life and he was bored -- doing nothing was driving him crazy.

But retirement today is a lot different. We have both more and fewer choices. We have more choices because there is not the pressure to leave the workplace at age 65 – we can, within reason work as long as we want. In fact, we can retire from our full-time job and start a whole new career or a new business or if we have the money we can do whatever we like.

On the other hand, we have fewer choices because we are totally responsible for ourselves and our well-being. Few of us have a pension to fall back on and so many of us have not saved enough so working longer or building a new career is often a necessity not a luxury. Regardless of where you fall on the spectrum, when you think about retirement, what comes to mind? Begin to capture what you want your retirement to look like and then create a plan and take action. Nothing happens without action.

And that’s the minute for today. Have you signed up for the minding your money movement? If not, make you way to my website – www.psworth.com and sign up so you can get a dose of money savvy delivered direct to your inbox each week.

Thanks for listening and as always remember that minding your money really is the path to a richer life!

Today on the Minute – Are You Guilty of WWF?

So what’s WWF? WWF is working while female. It’s no secret that gender inequality exists in the US and around the world...

Today on the Minute – Are You Guilty of WWF?

So what’s WWF? WWF is working while female. It’s no secret that gender inequality exists in the US and around the world, but I find it hard to believe that it will take 170 years to fix it. That means I probably won’t be around to see it. I was reading this report by the World Economic Forum's Global Gender Gap Report, an annual study that measures the relative gaps between women and men in education, health, economic opportunity and political power in 144 countries. I’m not sure why, they don’t give any explanation, but the number of years until gender equality jumped 53 years from last year when it was only going to take 118 years. So where do you think the US stands? Well, the top 5 slots are held by Iceland, Finland, Norway, Sweden and the African nation Rwanda. Nicaragua rounds out the top 10. Okay, so we’re not there. Turns out we are #45 having slid 17 points from last year.

The U.S. does earn a No. 1 ranking for educational equality –with equal numbers of men and women enrolled in primary education and more women than men enrolled in higher education – but we’re 73rd in political empowerment, 62nd in health and survival, and 26th in economic participation and opportunity. Women are severely underrepresented on the boards of publicly traded companies, which are 81% male.

The takeaway here is something we have always known – as women we have a long way to go to be on equal footing economically so we need to be on a mission. I don’t know about you, but I can’t wait 170 years – there has got to be something we can do today. I’m not going to just sit around and wait for things to change, I’m going to do everything I can to change them now and I hope you will join me.

And, that’s the minute for today. Have you signed up for the minding your money movement yet? If not, make you way to my website – www.psworth.com and sign up. It’s easy an easy way to show your support for the cause and build your financial skills at the same time.

Thanks for listening and as always remember that minding your money really is the path to a richer life!

Today on the minute – Who’s Minding Your Money?

I watched an episode of 60 minutes on Sunday where they talked about how some

Today on the minute – Who’s Minding Your Money?

I watched an episode of 60 minutes on Sunday where they talked about how some financial advisors had taken advantage of players in the NFL and racked up loses of over $43 million. To make matters worse these advisors were listed by the players associations list of advisors giving the illusion that they had checked them out and it was safe to invest with these advisors. However, when you look deep in the forms, there was a disclaimer that said that they were not responsible for the skill, the honesty or basically anything else related to the advisors on the list. And, it looked like they did little in the form of due diligence because a deceased advisor was still on the list.

So why do I bring this up? I bring this up because minding your money is not something that you can just hand off to someone else and forget about. You have to be in the game when it comes to your money – a part of the decision making process. There were red flags all over these investments – “money for the rest of your life” – NFL players investing in a gambling establishment – and when the investment went bust, some players lost everything. Everyone knows or should know that if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. In the end, one of the players said that he took responsibility and that the players as a whole needed to wake up and take responsibility. Enough said.

And that’s the minute for today. I love helping people with all aspects of their financial lives. If you have a question, send it to me at [email protected].

Thanks for listening and as always remember that minding your money really is the path to a richer life!