This week I’m talking about how to pay for your kid’s college bills and save for retirement at the same time. Most parents get slammed with tuition bills just before retirement, when you should also be socking away as much as possible for your own retirement. 

Today I want to talk about why these 2 competing priorities are such a challenge - not just because of the financial strain it often causes, but also because of the real heartache and feelings of guilt it can cause when you can’t support your children through college in the way you hoped.

I was talking with a dad of a high school junior not too long ago, and he made a promise to his daughter that he would pay for half of her tuition. But this was a promise he couldn’t keep. His income was not high enough to cover half of her college bills. He is a single, working class man and it just wasn’t going to pencil out. Not only that, but he was saving nothing for retirement at the time, and he would have needed to go deeply into credit card debt or work 2 other jobs and never sleep to make good on that promise.

Paying for college and reducing or eliminating the need for your children to accumulate student loans is an incredibly loving sacrifice that you can make for your children, so I completely understand his conviction about making good on his promise. 

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! 

This week I’m talking about how to pay for college & save for retirement. A big problem that many people face as they approach retirement is that right around the time you’d like to retire, you’re also staring at expensive college bills for your kids right in the face. 

I’ve seen many parents make mistakes in their decisions on paying for their kids college, and I’ve also seen many parents set themselves and their children up for long-term success because of the smart decisions they made. 

Since you can’t go back in time and start saving for college like you planned to when your kids were still in diapers, my tips this week are addressed to the majority of parents who didn’t save enough over the years to cover expensive tuition bills. You want to support your children and help pay for college so they’re not burdened with debt until they’re 45 years old. 

But when it comes down to it, how do you balance the competing needs of trying to get your kids through college without mountains of debt with your own needs to save for retirement? That’s what I’ll be talking about this week - how you can keep both of these 2 competing priorities in their proper place. 

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, we looked at how investing is different in an election year and what you need to know about investing in what is always an uncertain and stressful time. 

No matter who wins this fall, Presidential election years are always so full of turmoil and uncertainty that it’s easy to lose your cool and abandon your long-term strategy and sit on the sidelines to wait and see what happens. But as I discussed this week, that’s usually a mistake. 

However, the smart and savvy investor will also not bury their head in the sand and will pay attention to how the next 4 years will likely look like under both a Trump and a Biden scenario, and will take action accordingly. 

This week, I tried to pinpoint some of those areas that may see the most change if Biden wins the White House.

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

• How COVID and the civil unrest have put the election in 3rd place at the moment, but how that’s also likely to change over the next couple months
• How election years typically impact the stock market 
• What’s different about this election year and how you can plan and prepare for 2021 and beyond if Democrats control the White House, and especially if they control Congress as well
• There are some policies, especially tax policies that are likely going to change, and certain industries that may be hurt by the upcoming election, and I talked about what to pay attention to there and what to do about it now
• And lastly, I talked about the biggest mistake that you can make in 2020

Hopefully after listening to the One Minute Retirement Tip this week, you know more about how the election cycle influences not only policy, regulation, laws, and taxes, but also the stock market and your retirement portfolio, so you can make smart decisions about how to invest and how to plan for retirement during a time of heightened uncertainty, strife, and turmoil. 

Tomorrow, we are starting a brand new theme: How to pay for college AND save for retirement! When you’re in your last working years, planning to retire, you’re typically also hit with big college bills. So next week, with a return to school (hopefully!) just around the bend, I’ll be talking about how you can prioritize saving for retirement and helping junior with his or her college tuition and bills. 

And...be sure to check out my YouTube channel - True North Retirement, where I cover a wide variety of retirement planning topics - everything from should you pay off your mortgage before retirement to the hidden danger of index funds. Just search for True North Retirement on YouTube. 

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 investing in an election year. A lot of people are nervous about investing during an election year, and for good reason. Election years bring uncertainty, and the likelihood for changing policies, laws, and regulations. 

Today, I’m talking about the biggest mistake you can make in 2020, which is to make big changes to your investment strategy. 

Some people are so fearful about what lies ahead politically, that they make big changes to their investments. Allowing fear to dictate your decisions is almost always a mistake, especially when it comes to investing. 

So the worst thing you can do is abandon your long-term plans during or after a presidential election year. I know people on both sides of the political spectrum who think that the world is going to hell in a handbasket, but who’s right? Probably neither. 

As I’ve mentioned earlier this week, you need to pay attention to a few things and make some changes if necessary while you still have time - especially when it comes to taking advantage of today’s tax environment, but outside of planning and making sure you don’t have all your eggs in one basket with a particular stock and a particular industry, an election year is not a time to abandon your long-term plans by going to cash or putting everything in canned food, gold coins, and lots of guns.

While it is natural and normal to want to protect yourself in times of uncertainty, keeping a cool head and thinking rationally will always help you make smart decisions that don’t include abandoning your long-term strategy. 

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 investing in an election year. A lot of people are nervous about investing during an election year, but there are actually several reasons why election years are great for the stock market and great for your retirement portfolio! 

Yesterday, I focused on the likelihood of higher taxes in 2021 if Biden is elected president. This has implications for tax planning now, but also for gifting and estate planning and wealth transfer if you are wealthy. So it’s important to pay attention to these changing winds and take action in 2020 to help insulate yourself from higher taxes in the future, especially if you are wealthy. 

As seen in the civil unrest, wealthy individuals and business owners are increasingly vilified, with law enforcement having little incentive or little power to protect property rights. 

Aside from higher taxes, another likely change, if someone new is in the White House next year is increased regulation. This will likely impact certain industries. Healthcare and energy come to mind. With continued pressure to fix healthcare in America though government intervention and the popularity on the left of initiatives like the green new deal, certain industries are more likely to be impacted in a negative way in a democrat-controlled Washington. 

If you have a heavy concentration in a particular industry or you have a concentration in a particular stock, you’ll need to understand how changes in policy, taxes, and regulation may help or harm that particular company or industry, so you can take steps now to minimize any potential future losses. 

The bottom line here is that while presidential years are generally no different than any other year for the stock market, it’s important to listen to what each party is campaigning on to give you a sense of how the policy, tax, and regulatory environment may change and impact you no matter who controls Congress and who is in the White House for the next 4 years. 

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 investing in an election year. A lot of people are nervous about investing during an election year, but there are actually several reasons why election years are great for the stock market and great for your retirement portfolio! 

Yesterday I talked about how election years typically impact the stock market and the short answer so you don’t have to go back and listen to yesterday’s episode is - not that much. 

Today, I’m talking about the unique landscape of the 2020 Election and what you should pay attention to. 

First of all is taxes. If Biden is elected, and especially if Congress is controlled by democrats as well, you’re likely to see higher taxes. Biden has already been campaigning on this, and especially with all the money being pumped into the economy because of COVID, taxes seem very likely to quickly change course and go higher. 

This means that 2020 is an important year to do some planning and gifting, especially if you are wealthy. As I talked about a few weeks ago on the podcast when I covered gift taxes, 2020 is an ideal time to do some gifting and estate planning, especially if your estate will likely be worth millions, you have a valuable business or other assets that may be subject to high estate taxes down the road. The clock may be ticking to pass along wealth in a tax-efficient way to the next generation if you don’t take advantage of the current gifting and wealth transfer environment. 

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 investing in an election year. A lot of people are nervous about investing during an election year, but there are actually several reasons why election years are great for the stock market and great for your retirement portfolio! 

Today, I’m talking about how election years typically impact the stock market...and hence your retirement portfolio. 

Surprisingly, if you go back almost 100 years to the 1930s, you don’t see much impact on the stock market during an election year. In fact, the stock market was usually higher during an election year. 

If the incumbent is re-elected, the stock market for the following year was higher by about 6.5% and if a new President is in the White House, returns were only slightly lower at 5%. 

So the point here is that although and election year means potential changes to policy, laws, taxes, regulation, etc., the stock market’s reaction tends to be pretty muted, no matter what happens. 

And this is usually because no matter what happens, at least the stock market has some certainty over the political landscape over the next 2-4 years as well. 

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 investing in an election year. A lot of people are nervous about investing during an election year, but there are actually several reasons why election years are great for the stock market and great for your retirement portfolio! 

As long as you know what to expect, you’ll be able to stay focused on what matters and not worry about everything else. 

Today, I’m talking about the elephant in the room - Coronavirus and the civil unrest that began after the killing of George Floyd. Typically in a Presidential election year, it’s all we’d be talking about at this point with the election less than a few months away. 

But COVID and the civil unrest changed all of that. The stock market and the economy have obviously reacted strongly to COVID, but at this point the markets have had almost zero reaction to the protests, despite their daily dominance in the news and social media. 

Historically, when you look at other times of civil unrest - think large Vietnam war protests, the LA riots, etc. - the market doesn’t respond to these types of events. This year it’s been no different. The stock market was up slightly in the month of June as the civil unrest, protesting, and the country of CHAZ emerged, probably because this unrest is unlikely to do any significant economic damage. 

COVID on the other hand, will still bring uncertainty to a year otherwise dominated by PResidential debates, rallies, and overly politicized facebook feeds. 

As the election approaches - inside of 2-3 months - you’ll likely see the news shift more into this arena, with the protests likely to have mostly subsided and COVID taking a backseat as well. 

So while this Presidential election year is vastly different than previous election cycles, we should see some typical patterns begin to emerge as the election draws near, and I’ll talk about what those are tomorrow. 

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! 

This week I’m talking about investing in an election year. A lot of people are nervous about investing during an election year, but there are actually several reasons why election years are great for the stock market and great for your retirement portfolio! 

Now, coronavirus and the last several months of civil unrest have pushed the significance of the election into 3rd place at the moment, but at election day approaches, the headlines will turn more and more to the upcoming election and so it’s helpful to have an understanding of what a Presidential election year means for you and your portfolio.

So this week, I’ll be talking about several of those election year forces that influence your retirement portfolio and what you’ll want to know to keep a cool head as election day approaches. 

That’s it for today, but before you go...If you haven’t already left a review for the One Minute Retirement Tip, please consider leaving an honest review in Amazon or iTunes. I read them all, so feel free to leave any feedback or topic suggestions there too. 

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, Nick True from Mapped Out Money was here for a guest takeover of the One Minute Retirement Tip. If you liked his tips and insight this week, which I hope you did - he had a lot of great nuggets of wisdom to share - I hope you’ll check out his Alexa brief by searching for "30 Second Money" in your Alexa app. There, you’ll be able to hear his daily tips about money and budgeting! 

So this week, Nick shared his top tips on the importance of budgeting. 

Here’s what Nick covered this week: 

• A Budget Is Simply Making A Plan
• Discovering How Your Purchases Align With Your Values 
• How A Budget Gives You Peace of Mind
• Using Your Money For What Matters Most
• And lastly, how you can budget Accurately For Retirement 

Hopefully after listening to the One Minute Retirement Tip this week, you have more clarity about your finances and better insight on how budgeting can be a powerful tool to help you achieve the lifestyle that you envision for yourself and your family...both now and in retirement. 

If you missed any of these episodes or if you want to revisit any of them, you can find them on iTunes, Spotify, or Google Play by searching for the “One Minute Retirement Tip with Ashley”. 

Tomorrow, we are starting a brand new theme: Investing In An Election Year. 

A lot of people are nervous about investing during an election year, but there are actually several reasons why election years are great for the stock market and great for your retirement portfolio! I’ll talk about several of those election year forces that influence your retirement portfolio next week. 

Now coronavirus and the last several months of civil unrest have pushed the significance of the election into 3rd place at the moment, but at election day approaches, the headlines will turn more and more to the upcoming election and so it’s helpful to have an understanding of what a Presidential election year means for you and your portfolio.

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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----------

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