State of the Nation
Bracing for a Silver Tsunami
By 2050, there will be, for the first time, more older persons (age 60+) than children under the age of 15 worldwide and the number of older persons is projected to more than double from 900 million currently to nearly 2 billion. The older population itself is also ageing. The group of persons aged 80 or over, which currently accounts for 14 per cent of older persons, will grow to 21 per cent in 2050. Read more
Our Current Savings
Only a few of us are saving enough for retirement. A 2017 survey by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) of 2,000 adults found that only 31 percent of us have savings accounts separate from tax-exempt savings. Another 34 percent of adults participate in employer-based retirement accounts, primarily 401(k)s which allow participants to delay paying tax on their income from the savings accounts. However 35 percent of American adults have no savings accounts at all. Read more
Lifetime Wealth
US Income & Spending 1960-2003
Whether you have a formal pension plan or not, building the stores of provisions for a sunset cruise is no easy feat. Extensive and in-depth money skills are needed to make reasonable guesses at what we will be needed. It involves estimating your lifespan, your lifetime income and your lifetime spending needs. Here is how we Americans make money and spend it over our lifetimes. Read more
Estimating Your Lifespan
In estimating the numbers, the first dilemma is trying to forecast how long you are likely to live. Most people look at the age when their parents died and then adding a few years to account for improvements in the technology of modern medicine. There are also other ways. Read more
Estimating Your Income & Spending
The most difficult part of long-term financial planning is estimating the income for the remaining length of one’s working life. The next task is to estimate spending needs for your remaining lifetime — and that is far more difficult. But there are some useful tools available. Read more
Money Personalities & Relationships
Two Questions
When you think about money, what pops into your head? What is your relationship with money? Everyone has a different emotional association with money and everyone has their own relationship. You need to keep yours in mind as you decide how to spend your hard-earned funds and invest in yourself. Here’s how other people answered those two questions. Read more
Money Personalities
Personality plays a role in influencing how you maintain your relationship with money. Of the five major dimensions of personality — conscientiousness, openness, agreeableness, extraversion and neuroticism – only conscientiousness stands out as having a major impact on people’s relationships with money. But all personality types can learn to be smart about money. Read more
Money Personality Quiz
You – and your partner — might also want to take my Money Personality Quiz. But please note, this is just for fun. There’s (almost) no scientific research behind this part. Try it here.
Staying Smart, Successful & in Control
Rules of Thumb
You do not need good numbers skills to be a smart and successful captain of your money boat. They help – but they are not necessary. The recommended strategy is to learn ways to activate your rational brain … before your reptile brain hijacks your money voyage. This section shows how take the helm and successfully navigate through waters either calm or stormy. Read more
Hold Onto Your Wallet
Test Your Market Smarts
Part of smart investing is understanding the rewards — and risks — of investing in the markets. If you are investing in the stock market or picking individual stocks for your hard-earned cash (or perhaps thinking about buying gold futures), take the investor literacy test here. Or you might try this (somewhat easier) financial literacy test. Both tests come from the Financial Industry Regulatory Agency.