By: Laura Walton AFC® These last few days of 2016 are a time of both reflection on the year just ending and anticipation of the year to come. The following is meant to prompt some fun as well as thoughtful answers as we look back and ahead. If you had to give 2016 a theme,…
By: Laura Walton AFC® I’m intrigued by the idea of Tiny Habits®, a concept trademarked by Dr. B. J. Fogg, who believes that we’re more likely to change behaviors in baby steps, not giant steps. For example, he’s down on New Year’s resolutions… “What a mistake – the whole idea around New Year’s resolutions. People…
By: Laura Walton AFC® Grab a friend, family member or co-worker and challenge them to this 30-question financial literacy quiz. Find the 30 questions at WalletHub’s WalletLiteracy Survey. It takes just a few minutes. Most respondents scored a B or B+. It’s not a slam dunk – I learned a thing or two – I’ll share…
By: Laura Walton AFC® That’s what friends of ours said Friday night as we shared dinner. I was telling them about the 3rd Decade program which we’d just kicked off and it sparked a memory. Now in their 60’s, she’s a retired elementary school teacher and he continues consulting with colleges and universities. He reflected back…
By: Laura Walton AFC® We hear those words often. If only I had started saving sooner, had saved more, had spent less, had not bought that house…you fill in the blank. Those two words are the motivation for the Foundation’s new and exciting project – the 3rd Decade! This program makes available to young adults in their 3rd Decade…
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,…
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® 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,…
The more classes we teach, the more questions we get on when and how to best use Roth IRAs. Questions also include the recently instituted Roth 401(k) that many businesses have started offering in the last two years. The purpose of this week’s blog will be to try and simplify not only what these Roth…
By: Laura Walton AFC® Have you heard of them? Joshua Fields Millburn and Ryan Nicodemus?? They’re in Tucson tonight on their WordTasting Tour 2015 promoting their recent book, “Everything that Remains”. They each gave up six-figure careers and all the trappings to see if life was more meaningful with less stuff. Their finding? A resounding…