This week, I’m talking about how gratitude changes your outlook on money. Today, I’m talking about how gratitude helps disconnect your happiness with having more stuff. If you sat down and made a list of the 10 things in your life that you’re most grateful for, my guess is that the top of your list would be occupied by life’s essentials - the people you love, your home, your job, good food and clean water. Probably not your latest purchase. 

Deep down we all know that real and lasting happiness can’t be found in a pumpkin spice latte, yet we are still tricked into believing that the pleasure-seeking variety of happiness, which is always short-lived, will make us happy. 

We we aren’t grateful, we quickly become discontent, which can lead to trying to find happiness in having more stuff, or even filling our days with more busyness and doing more, going on vacation, which are more subtle but still fall into the pleasure-seeking category. I’m not saying that going on vacation is wrong, but that it won’t lead to authentic happiness. 

So when we are able to disconnect happiness with having more stuff, and understand that we will never find happiness in having more stuff, but find contentment in what we already have, we can spend money in a more responsible way. And when our spending isn’t used as a means to buy happiness, we can better use our financial resources to achieve bigger and more important goals - things like saving enough for your kids' college, getting out of debt, paying off your mortgage, or saving enough for retirement. 

That’s it for today. But before you go, you probably know someone who is close to retirement and could benefit from listening to this podcast. If so, please share this podcast with them and encourage them to check it out by adding it to their flash briefing in Alexa or subscribing wherever they listen to podcasts! 

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, finances, financial planning, retirement planning, saving money, personal finance, wealth management, money tips, fee only financial advisor, financial planner, financial podcast, retirement podcast, financial independence podcast

Welcome to a new week and a new theme here on the One Minute Retirement Tip! 

This week’s theme is how gratitude changes your outlook on money. 

I was a little caught off guard this morning before I sat down to write out my talking points for the podcast this week. Every morning, I sit down and pray, and read from a daily gospel passage. Today’s gospel passage speaks directly to this week’s topic of gratitude. 

In Luke, ch. 17, Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem when he meets 10 lepers. Jesus heals all 10 of them, yet only one of them returns to say thank you. Jesus said to him “Where are the other nine? Has none but this foreigner returned to give thanks to God?”

To me this seems very odd. You would think that these lepers who had been suffering, and who had been outcast from society, would be falling over themselves to say thank you for being cured. Leprosy was no joke - especially 2000 years ago when there wasn’t a cure - you would have blisters and pain in the joints, nerve damage, loss of fingers. And on top of that, the intense loneliness and hopelessness that came from being cast out. 

Yet, 9 out of 10 of these cured lepers didn’t bother to say thank you. I think this points to a couple of truths. First of all, I think because of our human nature, we aren’t wired for gratitude and it takes work and an awareness to foster gratitude. Each of us may think that we would be the 1 who returned to give thanks, but most of us probably spend way more energy complaining and grumbling then we do giving thanks. 

The problem of our ingratitude leads to less than ideal outcomes - both for our happiness and how we manage our money.

So this week I’ll be talking about how gratitude can help you be happy with less, help you become more patient with your money decisions, and help you make financial decisions that are consistent with your values. 

That’s it for today. But before you go...I just want to wish you a happy Thanksgiving week. This week is going to look a lot different for many of us, and my sincere hope is that if this week is especially difficult or lonely for you, that you will find some peace in looking for ways to be more grateful rather than dwelling on what you wish were different this year.  

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, finances, financial planning, retirement planning, saving money, personal finance, wealth management, money tips, fee only financial advisor, financial planner, financial podcast, retirement podcast, financial independence podcast

It’s Sunday, which means...It’s recap time! This week’s theme was index card personal finance. If I could only give you a few pieces of advice - all of which would be able to fit on a 3x5 index card, what would I tell you? 

Here’s what I would put on that index card and what we covered in each episode this week:

• Make your advisor commit to a fiduciary standard 
• Max out all of your savings accounts available to you - HSA, 401k, & IRA accounts
• Pay off your credit cards every month
• Spend less than 70-80% of your income
• Stay invested for growth for the long-term 
• Pay off your mortgage before retirement 

My hope is that you come away from this week with more knowledge about what habits, behaviors, and actions will move the needle the most for you in helping you achieve your most important financial goals. 

Tomorrow, we are starting a brand new theme: how gratitude changes your outlook on money. 

It’s Thanksgiving week after all, so it’s only fitting that we talk about gratitude. Plenty of research now suggests that gratitude has a big impact on your happiness and sense of meaning and fulfillment, so I’ll talk next week about how gratitude can also help you be more content with your income, your lifestyle, and your place in the world as it relates to money. 

And if you haven’t already, be sure to check out my YouTube channel - True North Retirement, where I cover a wide variety of retirement planning topics - everything from whether or not you should pay off your mortgage before you retire to understanding the lifetime gift tax exclusion to inherited IRA rule changes for 2020. 

That’s it for this week! Thanks for listening and I hope you have a blessed Sunday! 

My name is Ashley Micciche and this is the “One Minute Retirement Tip”.

----------

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----------

Tags: retirement, investing, money, finance, finances, financial planning, retirement planning, saving money, personal finance, wealth management, money tips, fee only financial advisor, financial planner, financial podcast, retirement podcast, financial independence podcast

This week, I’m talking about index card personal finance. If I could sum up the best advice on personal finance onto an 3x5 index card, what would be on there? 

That’s what we’re covering this week. I would change a few of these have different pieces of advice for people in their 20s or 30s, but since most of you are in your 50s and 60s, this week’s tips focus on the best advice I can give you at your stage in life. 

Today’s rule is to pay off your mortgage before retirement. 

Mortgages tend to be big debts. You might still owe $100,000 or more on your house by the time you enter retirement, so it’s no small feat to pay off your house. 

Now, many people say that the mortgage interest tax deduction helps them with their taxes. That may be true, but you are still handing over your hard-earned money - principal and interest over to the bank every year and the tax deduction is just a portion of that, so it just isn’t that compelling when you compare it the flexibility in your finances with not having a monthly mortgage payment at all. 

So yes, I think it’s wise to pay off your mortgage before retirement if you can make that happen. Especially if you’re like most American households where your mortgage is your largest monthly expense and it makes up about a third of your monthly expenses.

If you can free that up in retirement by paying off your mortgage, imagine what kind of breathing room it will give you with your finances?! What would you be able to do because you no longer have that mortgage? Could you travel more? Enjoy life more? Give more? 

Rather than paying off your mortgage with a big lump sum, it’s almost always preferable to pay it off gradually. To do this, you’ll need an amortization calculator which you can find easily online. 

An amortization calculator will tell you how much you would need to add to your monthly payment to pay off your mortgage the same month that you plan to retire. Or maybe if that’s not possible, but you can pay off your mortgage within the first few years of retirement, you can enter extra payment amounts to figure out how much you would need to add to your mortgage every month to pay it off early by a certain date. 

When you actually run the numbers with an amortization, you might be surprised to learn that knocking 5 or 6 or 10 years off your mortgage is totally doable, and not as burdensome as you might have expected.

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, finances, financial planning, retirement planning, saving money, personal finance, wealth management, money tips, fee only financial advisor, financial planner, financial podcast, retirement podcast, financial independence podcast

This week, I’m talking about index card personal finance. I’m summarizing the best advice on personal finance and sharing with you what I would squeeze onto a 3x5 index card. 

Today’s rule is to stay invested for growth for the long-term.  

I have about 25 401k plans as clients, and part of my job as the advisor to these 401k plans is to hold employee education meetings, twist people’s arms about saving more, and meet with people individually to address their unique needs when it comes to saving for retirement and balancing that with all of their other financial obligations and priorities. 

One of the biggest issues I see behind employees not saving enough for retirement, is a a 401k portfolio that is inappropriately invested. At the extremes, I’ve seen 20 somethings with everything invested in cash who have no hope of long-term meaningful growth, to 60 somethings with everything in the stock market, desperate to catch up and take on more risk to make up for lost time and being behind on their savings.

So it’s absolutely critical that you have the right mix of stocks, bonds, and cash in your retirement portfolio. The general advice for 20, 30, and 40 somethings is that you need to maximize your growth opportunities by maximizing your stock exposure. Once you hit 50 and retirement inches closer every day, the portfolio mix needs to be fine tuned and regularly reviewed to ensure that you have the right balance of stocks and bonds for your age. 

If you don’t know what your target asset allocation to stocks, bonds, and cash should be, I’m happy to share with you the age-based asset allocation cheat sheet that we use as a starting place with our clients to determine the right target for each client. I’m happy to share it with you for free. Just send me an email - [email protected], that’s [email protected], and I’ll send along the cheat sheet so you can figure out the asset allocation that’s right for you. 

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, finances, financial planning, retirement planning, saving money, personal finance, wealth management, money tips, fee only financial advisor, financial planner, financial podcast, retirement podcast, financial independence podcast

This week, I’m talking about index card personal finance. I’m summarizing the best advice on personal finance and sharing with you what I would squeeze onto a 3x5 index card. 

Today’s rule is to spend less than 70-80% of your income every month.  

When you only spend 70-80% of your income, everything else seems to fall into place. You’re able to save enough for retirement, maintain a healthy emergency fund. You’ll also be able to set aside money every month for large purchases, so you can pay cash for things like home remodel projects, your next car, your daughter’s wedding.

And importantly, you’ll be able to give to the causes and organizations that are important to you. Restrained spending, healthy saving and giving are key to aligning your money with your values and giving you the breathing room necessary to not stress about money and not fight about it if you’re married. 

And it all starts with living off of 70-80% of your income, since without doing that the saving and the giving just won’t happen.

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, finances, financial planning, retirement planning, saving money, personal finance, wealth management, money tips, fee only financial advisor, financial planner, financial podcast, retirement podcast, financial independence podcast

This week, I’m talking about index card personal finance. If I could sum up the best advice on personal finance onto a 3x5 index card, what would be on there? 

That’s what we’re covering this week. I would change a few of these have different pieces of advice for people in their 20s or 30s, but since most of you are in your 50s and 60s, this week’s tips focus on the best advice I can give you at your stage in life. 

Today’s rule is to pay off your credit cards every month. 

Being able to pay off your credit cards every month is a critical money rule for living within your means, restraining your spending, and keeping the long-term view in mind. It will also prevent you from paying astronomical credit card interest rates. 

And when you transition into retirement and are living off your investments and social security, paying high interest rates on credit card debt can seriously jeopardize your finances in retirement, so it’s critical to fix the problem before you retire. 

If you cannot pay off your credit cards every month and this is an ongoing problem rather than a one-time emergency situation, you likely have a spending problem. You’ll want to ask yourself some tough questions about why you maintain balances on your credit cards. Getting to the bottom of the issue without making excuses is critical, and you’ll likely need to track your spending closely over the course of 1-3 months to pinpoint the areas where you are overspending. 

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

----------

>>> Subscribe on iTunes: https://apple.co/2DI2LSP

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>>> Check out our blog: https://truenorthretirementadvisors.com/blog/

----------

Tags: retirement, investing, money, finance, finances, financial planning, retirement planning, saving money, personal finance, wealth management, money tips, fee only financial advisor, financial planner, financial podcast, retirement podcast, financial independence podcast

This week, I’m talking about index card personal finance. If I could sum up the best advice on personal finance onto an 3x5 index card, what would be on there? 

That’s what we’re covering this week. I would change a few of these have different pieces of advice for people in their 20s or 30s, but since most of you are in your 50s and 60s, this week’s tips focus on the best advice I can give you at your stage in life. 

Today’s rule is max out all the retirement savings accounts available to you. There’s a hierarchy to this too, so if you have a health savings account you’ll want to start there. If you’ve been a listener of the One Minute Retirement tip for a while, then you’ve heard me beat you over the head with this one. Why a Health savings account? Tax deductible contributions, tax-free growth, and tax-free withdrawals when used for health care expenses that qualify. Health savings accounts are the best retirement savings vehicle from a tax-advantaged standpoint, so if you qualify for one, use it and also be sure to take the long-term view with it and invest at least a portion of the account for long-term growth.

Next you’ll want to max out your 401k or your Roth 401k if you have one available through your work. This year and next year, you can put up to $19,500 into a 401(k) plan at work, plus another $6,500 if you’re aged 50 and over.

If you’ve maxed out those accounts, and you still can afford to save more, look into Roth and Traditional IRA investments. Depending on your marital status, your income, and your access to a 401k plan at work, you may be able to contribute to your IRAs as well.

I didn’t mention saving inside of a traditional investment account like a trust or a joint account. The advantages here are that you can save any dollar amount inside of these accounts each year, but the tax treatment varies and you’ll be taxed on income and capital gains every year, so I typically don’t advise clients to add to these accounts until after maxing out the HSA, 401k, and/or IRA accounts. 

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, finances, financial planning, retirement planning, saving money, personal finance, wealth management, money tips, fee only financial advisor, financial planner, financial podcast, retirement podcast, financial independence podcast

Welcome to a new week and a new theme here on the One Minute Retirement Tip! 

Back in 2013, University of Chicago social scientist Harold Pollack asserted that you can fit all the financial advice you'll ever need on a single index card. The result was a photo of nine pieces of advice that he squeezed onto one 3x5 index card. The photo went viral and Pollack wrote a book about it:  The Index Card: Why Personal Advice Doesn't Have To Be Complicated. 

It’s a really interesting concept - forcing you to choose what’s most important and also discarding other things that might seem important, but in reality, maybe you shouldn’t worry too much about it. So this week, I’ll borrow a couple of Pollack’s ideas and share with you a few of my own in this week’s theme - index card personal finance. 

Let’s get into it with rule #1, which is borrowed from Pollack’s list: Make your financial advisor commit to a fiduciary standard. A fiduciary is required to put their client’s interest ahead of their own, avoid conflicts of interest, they cannot accept commissions, and generally are held to the highest standard possible. 

The reality is that the vast majority of financial advisors are NOT fiduciaries, and that’s a problem for consumers. When your advisor doesn’t act as a fiduciary, you better make sure you trust your advisor to do the right thing - navigating that is a mine field though, because non-fiduciary advisors who sell insurance and different mutual fund products have disordered incentives to sell you something that will pay them more but may not be in your best interest. 

So be sure that if you’re interviewing an advisor you ask if they are always acting as a fiduciary and get that in writing. I strongly believe in the fiduciary standard for all advisors, and I don't think we’ll get there until  more consumers are aware of the differences and demand that their advisor be a fiduciary in all circumstances at all times. 

That’s it for today. But before you go...you probably know someone who is close to retirement and could benefit from listening to this podcast. If so, please share this podcast with them and encourage them to check it out by adding it to their flash briefing in Alexa or subscribing wherever they listen to podcasts!

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

----------

>>> Subscribe on iTunes: https://apple.co/2DI2LSP

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>>> Check out our blog: https://truenorthretirementadvisors.com/blog/

----------

Tags: retirement, investing, money, finance, finances, financial planning, retirement planning, saving money, personal finance, wealth management, money tips, fee only financial advisor, financial planner, financial podcast, retirement podcast, financial independence podcast

It’s Sunday, which means...It’s recap time! This week, we looked at 2020 year end tax planning tips that you’ll want to consider before the end of the year in an effort to minimize your taxes.

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

• Creative ways to take Advantage of Charitable Deductions 
• Smart planning For Higher Future Taxes
• Fix Your Withholding and how to know if you’ll need to do this
• Don’t Miss Opportunities To Gift In 2020
• And lastly, How To Review Your Gains & Losses 

My hope is that you come away from this week with a few ideas on how you can and why you should review your income, tax situation, and investment portfolio before the end of the year. 2020 was a unique year and the CARES Act along with low tax rates based on historical norms make this year a really important year to look seriously at tax planning before year-end. 

Tomorrow, we are starting a brand new theme: index card personal finance. Back in 2013, University of Chicago social scientist Harold Pollack asserted that you can fit all the financial advice you'll ever need on a single index card. The result was a photo of nine pieces of advise that fit onto one 3x5 index card. The photo went viral and Pollack wrote a book about it:  The Index Card: Why Personal Advice Doesn't Have To Be Complicated. 

So next week, I’ll be sharing with you my own version of the index card for personal finance and dive deep on the 5 key pieces of advice for financial success. 

And if you haven’t already, be sure to check out my YouTube channel - True North Retirement, where I cover a wide variety of retirement planning topics - everything from whether or not you should pay off your mortgage before you retire to understanding the lifetime gift tax exclusion to inherited IRA rule changes for 2020. 

That’s it for this week! Thanks for listening and I hope you have a blessed Sunday! 

My name is Ashley Micciche and this is the “One Minute Retirement Tip”.

----------

>>> Subscribe on iTunes: https://apple.co/2DI2LSP

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>>> Check out our blog: https://truenorthretirementadvisors.com/blog/

----------

Tags: retirement, investing, money, finance, finances, financial planning, retirement planning, saving money, personal finance, wealth management, money tips, fee only financial advisor, financial planner, financial podcast, retirement podcast, financial independence podcast