By: Laura Walton AFC® A speech by Janet Yellen motivated NPR’s Chris Arnold to start a listener driven series “Your Money and Your Life”. Chris heard her say that half of American families with children have nothing…nothing…saved for retirement. Chris was inspired to create a series featuring actionable information to help people start to save and invest. So actionable,…
By: Laura Walton AFC® Did you know that, once a year, Famous Dave’s BBQ Restaurant offers a free lunch to diners named Dave? You have to show your driver’s license of course. My husband’s name is Dave so we joined another couple and took advantage of the offer. Coincidentally, the other couple had owned a…
By: Robert Swift Over the last 18 months as The TCI Foundation has gotten up and running, I find myself thinking and learning more and more about budgeting…..boy, I never saw that coming! As I hang around with Laura Walton, our Executive Director and professional budgeter (yes, I declare that is a word), as well…
By: Laura Walton AFC® Morgan Housel writes for the Motley Fool and Wall Street Journal while contributing to The Huffington Post, Business Insider and USA Today. He’s talented at expressing financial truths in a way that hits home. I’ve picked my favorite 13 of Morgan’s observations from his February 10, 2014 post titled “77 Reasons You’re Awful…
Please read and share with anyone you know in their 20’s Whatever you have properly invested by age of 30 will likely grow to 16 times itself by age 66. Whatever you have properly invested by age 39 will likely grow to 8 times itself by age 66. Whatever you have properly invested by age…
By: Laura Walton AFC® I wonder at what tension setting my spinning instructor has her bike set? Not that I could match it, she’s a very fit long-distance rider, but it would give me something to shoot for. Financial benchmarks can help us in the same way – something to shoot for. Let’s review a…
By: Laura Walton AFC® We tend to copy those around us either consciously or subconsciously. If you yawn, I yawn. I find myself crossing my arms when talking to someone whose arms are crossed. This instinct can even affect our decision making. If I don’t have enough information to make a decision on my own,…
By: Laura Walton AFC® People are calling Jerry Schlichter, a consumer rights lawyer in St. Louis, the 401k Lone Ranger. He’s successfully sued several large employers for mishandling their 401k plans; Boeing is his current target. When I heard the story on NPR, it was the 28% difference that really got my attention. Schlichter said,…
By: Laura Walton AFC® has fallen 10% in the last week as measured by the Dow Jones Industrial Average. The news is better this morning; the market opened up 300+ points. This is what we should expect from the market – volatility – but volatility can be hard to watch when it affects your investments.…
By: Laura Walton AFC® James Montier, a respected global economist, took a break from the world of finance to look at happiness. He condensed the results of his study of studies into a list of ten ways to improve happiness… They are, in no particular order… 1) Don’t equate happiness with money. People adapt to income…