The theme this week on the One Minute Retirement Tip podcast is How to get the most out of your 401k plan. You may be saving and getting the match, but are you fully taking advantage of all the amazing benefits that your 401k has to offer you? 

Today, I’m talking about maximizing your 401k contributions. Occasionally, I come across people in the 401k plan who think they’re maxing out, but they aren’t. I see a 401k flat dollar contribution amount of $16,500, and I have to gently break it to them that they were maxing out...10 years ago. 

Since the 401k maximum increases about every 1-2 years, if you’re one of those power savers who maxes out your 401k contribution, it’s important that you adjust your contribution and verify that you’re on track to max out in the current year. 

In 2021, the maximum contribution is $19,500. If you’re over 50 years old, you can set aside an additional $6,500 as a catch up, so if you can afford to max out, be sure you take advantage of the maximum allowable contribution in 2021. 

That’s it for today, but before you go, if you missed yesterday’s episode, you missed the exciting upcoming virtual event I’m hosting with guest speaker, Chad Morganlander, on investing in uncertain times. For more info and to grab your free spot, head over to truenorthra.com/tickets. 

Thanks for listening! My name is Ashley Micciche and this is the One Minute Retirement Tip. 

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Tags: retirement, investing, money, finance, financial planning, retirement planning, saving money, personal finance

I work with a lot of 401k plans as the plan advisor. In that role, I wear a lot of hats, but my primary jobs are selecting and overseeing the plan investment options and providing education and guidance to the employees in the plan. 

And often, I see employees who leave money on the table and don’t maximize the benefits of their 401k. In fact, even though about 60% of Americans have access to a 401k plan, only 32% of Americans are even participating in the 401k. So the first step is obviously taking advantage of a 401k that’s offered to you by saving as much as you can afford to, but once you’ve got the basics down - you’re participating in the plan, you’re getting the matching contribution, and you have picked a solid investment lineup, what’s next? 

So this week on the One Minute Retirement Tip podcast, I’m talking about how you can get the most out of your 401k plan. If you're like most people, you may not be aware of ALL the plan features that you can and should be taking advantage of. I’ll talk about the mistakes and missed opportunities that I see over and over again, to help you get the most out of your 401k plan. 

That’s it for today. But before you go, I have a special treat for you. We’re hosting a virtual education event via Zoom on Tuesday May 25th, 2021 at 6:30pm (PST) - This event, “Investing in Uncertain Times”, features guest speaker Chad Morganlander, senior portfolio manager and co-founder of Washington Crossing Advisors. Chad is a regular on various media outlets, including CNBC, Bloomberg, Fox News, & The Wall Street Journal. 

Investing in uncertain times is certainly a timely topic right now! You’ll hear his perspective on investing and what he’s learned over the years managing nearly $9 billion in assets. 

The event is free and you can register by going to truenorthra.com/tickets. 

Thanks for listening! My name is Ashley Micciche...and this is the One Minute Retirement Tip. 

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Tags: retirement, investing, money, finance, financial planning, retirement planning, saving money, personal finance

It’s Sunday, which means...It’s recap time! 

The theme for this week was explaining Non-Fungible Tokens, or NFTs. 

Here’s what we covered in each episode this week: 

• What are NFTs? I talk about fungible vs. non-fungible and what makes NFTs so unique and literally, one of a kind. 
• Then we looked at NFTs compared to their close cousin, physical art and collectibles
• Once we laid the foundation for better understanding NFTs and why some have sold for millions of dollars, we switched to talking about NFTs as it more closely relates to this podcast - which is the opportunity or lack thereof of NFTs as an investment vehicle. 
• Even though I think NFTs are a terrible investment by almost any measure, I think they’re worth exploring and better understanding, since they are most likely here to stay and the application of NFTs will probably adapt and grow and will likely continue to morph over time as people find new ways to monetize the uniqueness of NFTs. 

Hopefully after listening to the One Minute Retirement Tip this week, you better understand this new adaptation of cryptocurrencies, and are better able to assess an investment when you remove the newness, excitement, and novelty from the NFT. 

Tomorrow we’re starting a brand new theme: how to get the most benefit from your 401k plan. I’ll talk about several 401k plan features that are common, but underutilized. If you have a 401k plan at work, be sure to come one back tomorrow when I dive into important plan provisions and features that will help you maximize this important retirement benefit. 

And if you haven’t checked out my YouTube channel - True North Retirement - head over to YouTube and subscribe. I post a new video on Sundays, and each video is aimed at helping you live a fulfilled and financially secure retirement. I just hit 500 subscribers, which is still teeny tiny, but very exciting...so if you’re enjoying the podcast, I know you’ll love the YouTube videos as well.

Thank you so much for listening this week! My name is Ashley Micciche and I hope you have a blessed Sunday.

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----------

Tags: retirement, investing, money, finance, financial planning, retirement planning, saving money, personal finance

The theme this week on the One Minute Retirement Tip podcast is Non-Fungible Tokens (or NFTs)...explained. 

Over the last couple of days I’ve been coming down pretty hard on NFTs. I think it’s a really interesting, completely new type of asset or product which is worth exploring, but as an actual investment, I think it’s garbage. 

But what if you’re one of those people who loves collecting things, or you love flipping garage sale finds, or scouring eBay for deals on rare trading cards. If you invested in beanie babies in the 1990s, then NFTs might be for you. 

By the way, I’m not being judgemental about this at all. I owned a lot of beanie babies in the 1990s and held on while their values plummeted and people lost interest and moved on to the next fad. Interestingly enough, certain beanie babies still fetch a few thousand dollars today. I think I still own peanut the elephant and iggy the iguana somewhere in my mom’s attic. Perhaps I can list those on eBay to pay for some first class tickets to Maui once the Covid restrictions ease up a bit. 

We all have quirks about how we spend our money and what brings value to us in how we spend money, but I just want to be clear that a good NFT speculator can hope to break even and that’s it. In all likelihood, most people will lose money investing in NFTs. 

Today, I’m talking briefly about buying and selling NFTs. A quick disclaimer about this. I haven’t actually bought or sold NFTs myself, so what I’m telling you is based on my research into this topic, not my actual experience. 

The first thing you need to know is that you buy and sell NFTs with Cryptocurrencies, like bitcoin or ethereum. 

One of the larger platforms for buying Non-fungible tokens is a website call Open Sea. O-P-E-N S-E-A. All the NFTs on this platform are priced in ethereum, which is interesting because it’s pretty volatile. It’s not like browsing eBay where everything in priced in dollars which is a very stable currency. 

If you’re curious about NFTs, I think it’s a pretty cool site for exploring and seeing what’s out there. I can buy a fun pair of blue checkered shoes for roughly $121, but remember, I won’t actually receive the shoes. It’s just a digital image of the shoes that belongs only to me. If it sounds absurd, that’s because it is. But if nothing else, it gives you something interesting to talk about next time you hang out with your best friend. 

That’s it for today, Thanks for listening! My name is Ashley Micciche and this is the One Minute Retirement Tip. 

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----------

Tags: retirement, investing, money, finance, financial planning, retirement planning, saving money, personal finance

The theme this week on the One Minute Retirement Tip podcast is Non-Fungible Tokens (or NFTs)...explained. 

Yesterday I talked about where I think NFTs may fit into your life and your investment portfolio. To summarize, you might look at it like a fun hobby, similar to scouring estate sales to find that one-of-a-kind gem. I think that’s the correct way to view NFTs. 

Today, I’m taking it a bit further and discussing whether or not you should actually buy NFTs. 

NFTs may have practical applications, but for as an investment, I think they’re highly speculative and garbage. I wouldn’t give them a second thought as an investment, actually. Will there be people you hear about who strike it rich in NFTs? Yes, and it’s already happened. I read about a woman who paid $1 for a NFT and was offered $50,000 for that NFT the SAME DAY! 

Talk about making a profit! But what you won’t hear about are the millions of NFTs that are sold and never return to their original value. It’s challenging to see the appeal of NFTs as an investment because it’s so speculative, especially when you don’t even get to take possession of the item you bought. 

When I evaluate an investment, whether that’s a piece of art, or a stock, a bond, or real estate, I’m looking at the future growth prospects as well as the income or cash flow it provides. You wouldn’t invest in a stock or a business that is not going to provide any income or cash flow. There’s no fundamental reason for owning the investment like the profitability of the business or the income potential of the property. 

Your only hope in making money in a NFT is to find someone dumber than you who is willing to pay more for the NFT than you did, and sell it to them. So it’s all very speculative and not driven in the slightest by actual fundamentals. 

That’s it for today, Thanks for listening! My name is Ashley Micciche and this is the One Minute Retirement Tip. 

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----------

Tags: retirement, investing, money, finance, financial planning, retirement planning, saving money, personal finance

The theme this week on the One Minute Retirement Tip podcast is Non-Fungible Tokens (or NFTs)...explained. 

Today, I’m exploring the question: Are NFTs just another fad? Or I guess to put it another way given the sky high selling prices of certain NFTs, is this market a bubble that’s ready to burst? 

In the short-term, it certainly looks like a bubble. When you have art selling as a NFT in the millions of dollars and just getting a unique token in return that proves your ownership, it certainly looks, talks, walks, and smells like a bubble. 

Investor and market commentator Howard Lindzon recently was quoted in the NY Times saying that the attraction of NFTs is driven by a “pent-up cycle where the money has nowhere to go, so it’s doing stupid things”. 

As an investment, NFTs have no income or cash flow, the value is highly subjective and isn’t backed by any real asset of value in most cases. You’re only hope to make money as a NFT investor is to score a deal on a NFT and flip it for a profit. 

Similar to investing in other collectibles or scarce items, the market is driven by another’s willingness to pay a higher price.With the massive growth in popularity of NFTs as well, the market is likely to be flooded with new sellers and people looking to get rich quick, and that is likely to dilute the value of NFTs when there is just so much more of them to go around. 

NFTs may be here to stay, but the appeal is likely to be more of a niche market and very similar to investing in other collectibles and art. Most people who invest in art and collectibles know that they aren’t going to get rich by investing in art. They do it because they enjoy it, but for most art investors, it’s just not profitable. So if you’re into collectibles, art, or antiques, or you have a niche interest in collecting items from a particular person or artist, then NFTs may have their place in your life. 

But if you’re looking at it as a potential investment opportunity, you’re probably a lot more likely to get burned by jumping on the bandwagon now. 

That’s it for today, Thanks for listening! My name is Ashley Micciche and this is the One Minute Retirement Tip. 

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----------

Tags: retirement, investing, money, finance, financial planning, retirement planning, saving money, personal finance

The theme this week on the One Minute Retirement Tip podcast is Non-Fungible Tokens (or NFTs)...explained. 

Today, I’m talking about the difference between collectibles and NFTs. On the surface, it seems like NFTs and collectibles are basically the same thing. And I think that’s a good way of thinking about NFTs, but with one clear difference. 

When you buy a physical collectible, like a one-of-a-kind piece of art, that collectible is a physical item. You would never buy that piece of art if you couldn’t take possession of it and hang it in your home or office or wherever. 

What’s different about NFTs is that you buy the piece of art, like in the case of Mike Winkelman’s art that recently sold for $69 million as a NFT. Someone paid $69 million dollars for a piece of art that they don’t even physically own. They just own the proof of ownership that exists with their non-fungible token.

If it sounds downright absurd to you, that’s because it is. If you go on YouTube, you can watch a video of Mike Winkelmann himself explaining the absurdity of his art fetching that kind of price tag. 

Similar to collectibles though, the sky high prices for some NFTs can be better understood by looking at the collectibles market. Value is in large part driven by scarcity and uniqueness of the collectible, and the same is true for NFTs. 

There are some practical applications for this. Digital files like artwork, memes, and audio or video files can be easily and endlessly duplicated. If you downloaded songs illegally and directly to your computer in the 1990s via Napster, you know how easily digital files can be copied. 

With NFTs, artwork can be "tokenised" to create a digital certificate of ownership that can be bought and sold, solving a lot of the problems that currently exist for creators of digital art. Seems like a good solution if you’re an artist trying to sell your work, which is probably not most of you listening. So tomorrow we’re going to turn to the investment implications of NFTs and discuss whether NFTs as an investment makes sense. 

That’s it for today, Thanks for listening! My name is Ashley Micciche and this is the One Minute Retirement Tip. 

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----------

Tags: retirement, investing, money, finance, financial planning, retirement planning, saving money, personal finance

The theme this week on the One Minute Retirement Tip podcast is Non-Fungible Tokens (or NFTs)...explained. 

Today, I’m talking about what exactly is a NFT? A NFT or Non-Fungible token is a unique digital token that is attached to a digital item. This digital item could be any number or things, like a piece of art, a song, or even a festival ticket. 

It’s a type of cryptocurrency, because the token is stored on a digital ledger or blockchain, and it’s 100% digital. You’re receiving not the digital item itself, but a unique token that is kind of like DNA for that digital item and proves that you own it. 

So if you buy a piece of art or Jack Dorsey’s autographed first tweet, you won’t actually receive the item. You’ll have the digital token instead that proves the one-of-a-kind item belongs to you. 

Each non-fungible token is truly unique, which is where the non-fungible name comes in. Non-fungible means that it is unique, one-of-a-kind, and cannot be divided up into smaller pieces. 

Other cryptocurrencies, on the other hand, are fungible; one Bitcoin can be replaced by every other Bitcoin and they all have the same value. The same is true for traditional currencies, gold coins, etc. 

On the other hand with Non-fungible tokens, it’s the uniqueness that makes these tokens non-fungible. 

That’s it for today, Thanks for listening! My name is Ashley Micciche and this is the One Minute Retirement Tip. 

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----------

Tags: retirement, investing, money, finance, financial planning, retirement planning, saving money, personal finance

What inspired this week’s topic was a recent article I read in BBC News which reported that a “digital-only artwork sold at Christie's auction house for an eye-watering $69 million”. But, get this...the winning bidder will not receive a sculpture, painting or even a print.

Nope. Nothing. Instead, they will receive a unique token known as a NFT, or non-fungible token. Think of NFTs as the cryptocurrency equivalent of investing in collectibles. 

Instead, you’ll receive a on-of-a-kind token. And that one-of-a-kindness - there’s only one of these, is what makes NFTs so intriguing, I think. Unlike other collectibles, coins, or mass-produced beanie babies, when you buy a NFT, there’s just one. 

Whether it’s Twitter founder Jack Dorsey’s first-ever tweet signed him which recently sold for over $2.9 million, memes selling for hundreds of dollars, or your very own one-hit-wonder song you’ve decided to write and sell for $5, the curiosities in NFTs abound. 

So this week on the One Minute Retirement Tip podcast, I’m talking about Non-Fungible Tokens (or NFTs). A very new cryptocurrency investment that has all sorts of applications. I’ll explain what they are, how they compare to other cryptocurrencies, and we’ll discuss some interesting examples, applications, and opportunities that exist in this brand new investment.  

I find NFTs fascinating and frankly, head scratching, so I’m thankful for all of you here with me this week as I stumble around in the dark learning about this brand new kind of investment...this podcast and you my loyal listeners have been a real gift...you’ve inspired me to better understand NFTs when honestly, I would normally just read some weird article about how someone paid $400 for a 52-minute recording of farts - which really happened by the way, and dismiss it outright as a silly waste of time without a second thought. But I’m not so sure after researching this topic in more detail.  The uniqueness of NFTs has really piqued my interest, and I’m excited to be sharing with you what I’ve learned in this week’s episodes. 

That’s it for today. Come on back tomorrow, where I dive into the details of NFTs and explain what they are. 

Thanks for listening! My name is Ashley Micciche...and this is the One Minute Retirement Tip. 

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----------

Tags: retirement, investing, money, finance, financial planning, retirement planning, saving money, personal finance

It’s Sunday, which means...It’s recap time! 

The theme for this week was: How To Consolidate Old Investment Accounts

Here’s what we covered in each episode this week: 

• 5 reasons to consolidate you old investment accounts 
• The ABCs of consolidating 
• A step-by-step tutorial on how to consolidate your old 401ks to your IRA
• And lastly, how to pick the right financial institution and the right advisor to consolidate your accounts with - not an easy decision, but an important one. 

Hopefully after listening to the One Minute Retirement Tip this week, you are motivated to simplify your life and finally consolidate your old 401k accounts and other investment accounts that have just been drifting for years like a rudder-less ship. 

Tomorrow we’re starting a brand new theme: WTF are NTFs? Have you heard of NFTs? It stands for non-fungible token is a unit of data stored on a digital ledger, and if you still have no clue WTF I’m talking about, you’re not alone, so I’ll do my best to explain this type of crypto investment next week. Frankly, I’m not even sure that I want to tackle this because it’s super confusing and pretty strange, but it’s worth a breakdown since you’ll likely be hearing more about this in the months to come. 

And if you haven’t checked out my YouTube channel - True North Retirement - head over to YouTube and subscribe. I post a new video on Sundays, and each video is aimed at helping you live a fulfilled and financially secure retirement. 

Thank you so much for listening this week! My name is Ashley Micciche and I hope you have a blessed Sunday.

----------

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----------

Tags: retirement, investing, money, finance, financial planning, retirement planning, saving money, personal finance