Keith Whelan

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Want to Reach Your Retirement Savings "Threshold"? Be Sure to Heed the Signs Along the Way!

In an earlier piece, with a reference to Albert Einstein, I wrote about “compounding” the compound interest on your retirement savings by making regular contributions. That’s a key first step to ensure a steadily growing savings balance, particularly if there’s an employer match to go along with your contributions. But for that savings growth to take a sharp turn upward there’s also an important second step: WAITING.

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Cash Flow Management Advice from Ben Franklin, Part 1: Prepare for the Worst

Way back in the ‘60s the TV show “Bewitched” was mandatory viewing for baby boomers like me. After all, how could you resist a series that regularly showcased the latest model sports cars (Chevrolet sponsored the show), driven by two completely different looking husbands with the same name, while also featuring guest appearances by Napoleon, Willie Mays (who we learn is actually a warlock) and, in one of my favorite episodes, Benjamin Franklin?

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Ideas to Help Our Youth Get a Strong Financial Head Start, part 1: Outrun the Debt or Don't Be In A Pickle!

In an earlier article I quoted James Taylor, but since the topic here is youth let’s borrow a line from James’s younger brother Livingston: “I could barely hobble when I needed to run.” What does that have to do with America’s youth getting ahead? Well, when it comes to their finances, hobbling is what most of our children find themselves doing as they enter adulthood, mostly due to high levels of debt. But it doesn’t have to be that way. It’s still possible for them to move through the dangerous Debt Accumulation stage of the Financial Life Cycle quickly – if they run a smarter race.

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Unsure About Retirement Account Contributions? Consider Einstein’s Theory. Compounding Compound Interest

I’ve always admired Albert Einstein. After all, he was a fairly intelligent fellow. In science, he changed our understanding of light and of gravity, helped prove the existence of molecules, and explained the nature of space and time. In politics, he was influential as a promoter of peace and freedom. All in all, a very strong resume’. But for our purposes, his most impressive contribution was in the field of finance.

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Cash Flow is Better, But Wealth is Still Good. You Need Both to Complete the Picture

You might have noticed that we devote much of our time and attention to the topic of cash flow. It’s the lead subject of our e-booklet, a key component of our measurement tool, and is regularly featured in our blog articles. We do this in large part because cash flow tends to be neglected in most personal finance plans and resources. Instead, the focus is usually on wealth building…increasing your net worth.

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Ideas to Help Our Youth Get a Strong Financial Head Start, part 2: Open a "Team Savings & Investment Account" with Your Child

Ideas to Help Our Youth Get a Strong Financial Head Startr Part 2: Open a “Team Savings & Investment Account” With Your Childr Going From 0 to $15,000 Before Getting a Driver’s License

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Ideas to Help Our Youth Get a Strong Financial Head Start. Part 3: Moving Ahead in the Financial Life Cycle with the Help of Rental Income

Ideas to Help Our Youth Get a Strong Financial Head Start. Part 3: Moving Ahead in the Financial Life Cycle with the Help of Rental Incomer Creating a Cash Flow Source in Your 20s or 30s OK, so let’s say you’re in your 20s and with the help of a family savings and investment account (see Part 2 of this series) you have little or no debt and $20-25,000 in liquid accounts (savings, stock). What can you do to build on your momentum and start generating monthly cash flow from a source other than your salary? One option to consider is a rental property.

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Is Leasing Your Next Car A Good Idea?

Is Leasing Your Next Car a Good Idea? Have you ever heard someone say that a car, or a truck, is a big investment? I disagree. Yes, it can be a big outlay. But a vehicle isn’t an investment, because investments are supposed to appreciate, or increase in value. Vehicles definitely don’t do that. Instead they depreciate, or lose value. And they do so very quickly. A better way to think of a vehicle is as an expense, not an investment. And if you fall for (or into) the lease trap, this expense can become even more costly, slowing your progress towards financial independence.

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The Money Pit, part 2: Beware A House That's Too Small!

I think we can call this “The Goldilocks principle of housing”. A few articles back, I wrote about misadventures during an earlier housing bubble, when we bought a house much larger than our family needed. With a super-sized mortgage, high property taxes and maintenance costs, it put a real strain on our monthly cash flow. We had trouble building equity and, just as important, that single high-cost asset kept us from paying down other debts or making other, better investments.

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To Manage Your Finances You Need to Measure Them. But What Are the Measures?

Have you noticed that our schools taught us about writing, math, history, arts and science but surprisingly little about managing our finances? Yet in the life we live after our formal education ends, financial management becomes one of our highest priorities. It’s no wonder, then, that so many of us feel unprepared to plan for our financial future. Where do we even begin? Well, there is an expression: “In order to manage it, you need to measure it.” And that’s where to begin the financial management process – with measurement. Almost anything can be measured. For example:

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Should Your Retirement Goal Be Measured Only by Net Worth?

Recently our family went out to eat, and while waiting for our entrées one of our sons asked us what we’d like to do when we retire. A good question…one that was fun to answer. My wife said travel and dine out. I agreed, but added that since I am a boy and boys like their toys I absolutely need to a retirement house (not retirement home – not yet anyway) with a play room. Of course any respectable play room requires a pool table, audio-visual gadgets, the obligatory big scree TV, and so on.

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Net Worth is Good, but Cash Flow is Better

You might have seen some TV ads recently where people literally carry their retirement “number” with them. Each person’s number varies, but it’s usually in the $1-2 million range. I like these ads because they reinforce the importance of setting a measurable retirement goal. But merely having a “number” like the ones in these commercials isn’t enough. Why not? Well, in the first place we don’t know what the number represents. Is it net worth? Is it investable assets?

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