8 Ways to Help Close a Retirement Income Gap | Wells Fargo

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Have you discovered a gap between the income you’d like to have in retirement and the income you think you’ll get based on your investments and current savings rate? It happens to lots of people.

“They have a number in mind about how much they need to save before they can retire,” says Will Larson, Retirement Planning Strategist at Wells Fargo Advisors. “Sometimes they can get there and sometimes they can’t.”

As concerning as it might be to discover a retirement income gap, knowing it’s there is the first step in closing it — usually by increasing your income and assets, reducing retirement spending, or both.

— Read on communications.wellsfargoadvisors.com/lifescapes/8-ways-close-retirement-income-gap/

Spend Less Than You Earn

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If you want to get out of debt and build wealth…spend less than you earn.

The wider the gap between what you earn and what you spend can remain constant or grow, the greater your cash flow and the more financial success you’ll achieve.

WEALTH = WHAT YOU EARN – WHAT YOU SPEND

Frugality is an important part of personal finance. When you decrease your expenses, your cash flow increases.

“Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen six, result happiness. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pound ought and six, result misery.”  Charles Dickens

There’s no magical way to change the fundamentals of personal finance. Although. there is one irrefutable financial truth…to build wealth, you must spend less than you earn.

Spend less than you earn is a golden rule of personal finance.

Paying Yourself First

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“Why would you wake up in the morning, leave your family, not do what you want with your day, go to work all day long for 8, 9, 10 hours a day, commute back home, get up and do it all over again? Why would you do this 5 days a week, 4 weeks out of the month, 12 months out of the year? Why would you do all that to earn money and not pay yourself first? Most people pay everyone else before themselves: the government, their creditors, and their bill collectors. Everybody else gets paid first and then if anything’s left over, then they pay themselves. That system stinks and is designed for you to fail financially. If that’s the system you’re using right now, and you don’t have money, that’s why. The odds are set up against you. It’s too tough for you to get rich if you’re paying everybody else first. You need to change this. You need to completely redirect your income so the first person who gets paid is you.” David Bach, The Automatic Millionaire

Paying yourself first is often referred to as “the golden rule of personal finance.” Paying yourself first means saving before you do anything else with your paycheck, like paying bills, buying groceries, or shopping. You allocate a percentage of your pay or income to a savings or investment account. Paying yourself first prioritizes savings and investing, but not at the expense of necessary expenses like housing, utilities and insurance.

Prioritize savings

If you deposit money directly into savings or brokerage account every time you get paid, you may be less likely to spend it on your everyday expenses. Following this system can help you foster a habit of saving that will add up over time and help you be prepared for retirement or unexpected expenses.

A good target is to save 10 – 15% of your take-home pay and put it toward your savings and investment goals. Saving even $125 or $150 a month is one small step you can take to help you get into the habit.

The first bill you pay each month should be to yourself.

By paying yourself first, you make saving a top priority. You make it a priority to pay your savings and investment accounts first, before making the first monthly payment or paying the first bill.

Most people say they don’t save enough money for retirement, or invest enough, or save a big enough emergency fund, because they don’t have the money to save more. That’s why personal finance advice says that you should pay into those savings and brokerage accounts first. Treat it like a bill. Approach it the same way that you treat your phone bill or your electric bill.

Most people wait and only save what’s left over after paying bills or spending on other discretionary items—that’s paying yourself last. Conversely, before you pay your bills, before you buy groceries, before you do anything else, set aside a portion of your income to save. Put the money into your 401(k), your Roth IRA, or your savings account.

Automate Your Savings

A quick way to begin paying yourself first is by setting up an automatic transfer to a savings or retirement account every time you receive a direct deposit, like a paycheck.

Most people wait and only save what’s left over after paying bills or spending on other discretionary items—that’s paying yourself last. Conversely, before you pay your bills, before you buy groceries, before you do anything else, set aside a portion of your income to save. Put the money into your 401(k), your Roth IRA, or your savings account.
Paying yourself first makes saving money and investing in assets a priority without sacrificing other financial needs and obligations. No matter what your level of earning or responsibilities are, you can afford to pay yourself first with a few small changes.

Most people wait and only save what’s left over after paying bills or spending on other discretionary items—that’s paying yourself last. Conversely, before you pay your bills, before you buy groceries, before you do anything else, set aside a portion of your income to save. Put the money into your 401(k), your Roth IRA, or your savings account.
Most people wait and only save what’s left over after paying bills or spending on other discretionary items—that’s paying yourself last. Conversely, before you pay your bills, before you buy groceries, before you do anything else, set aside a portion of your income to save. Put the money into your 401(k), your Roth IRA, or your savings account.

Most people wait and only save what’s left over after paying bills or spending on other discretionary items—that’s paying yourself last. Conversely, before you pay your bills, before you buy groceries, before you do anything else, set aside a portion of your income to save. Put the money into your 401(k), your Roth IRA, or your savings account.

Most people wait and only save what’s left over after paying bills or spending on other discretionary items—that’s paying yourself last. Conversely, before you pay your bills, before you buy groceries, before you do anything else, set aside a portion of your income to save. Put the money into your 401(k), your Roth IRA, or your savings account.

Paying yourself first should really be called investing in yourself first.

The Best Investing Advice For Beginners (From 13 Experts)

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Taking the first steps and getting started investing is the hardest thing to do. There’s fear. There’s the unknown. There’s the idea that millions of other people know more than you and you’ll get taken advantage of.

Approach investing for the first time the way you would approach learning to drive for the first time – focus on the basics and get those right. For investing, that means starting by setting a financial goal (i.e. what you want to buy, when you want to buy it, and how much it will cost). [Note that “investing” by itself is not a financial goal!]

Most people who participate in plans that offer a match will contribute up to the match (although according to 401k plan manager Financial Engines, 25% of plan participants miss out on their employer match). However, that’s probably not good enough. The estimated amount that a person needs to save for 30 years in order for the nest egg to cover half their expenses for a 30 year retirement, assuming that expenses keep pace with inflation and don’t increase over time, is 16.2%.

When you are just starting out, your first priority should be building up an emergency fund, and consider investing once that’s established. It’s important to form saving and investing habits by setting aside money on a regular basis. Your assets will build over time, and you’ll gain momentum and feel encouraged as you watch your balances grow. Before starting to invest, reflect on your objectives, timeline and risk tolerance.

Keep the following three D’s in mind when it comes to investing: Discipline, Diversification and Diligence. As studies have shown over the years, the huge gap between investment returns and investor returns is due to investor behavior, or the tendency of all investors, professional and beginner, to shoot themselves in the foot. Behavioral Finance has become a huge field for this very reason. Diversification is the only free lunch in investing, and thus is a must for all portfolios. Investing requires Diligence since we are talking about real money. Know what you own and why, and keep on top of how it is doing without driving yourself and engaging in unnecessary trading.

It is best for individuals to begin saving as soon as possible in the first job after graduating college. Many recent grads will make excuses to not save, or desire for spending money on entertainment and lifestyle as opposed to prioritizing the future. The first step in creating and executing a savings plan involves goals. After goals and earmarking how much you should save, the next important consideration is how you will invest your money. If you’re young and just starting out, be as aggressive as possible as hopefully you won’t touch the money until retirement.

The best investing advice for beginners from 13 experts on investing and financial planning share how new investors need to automate, save, and not worry.
— Read on thecollegeinvestor.com/16553/the-best-investing-advice-for-beginners/

CES 2020 | Las Vegas

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Thursday, January 9, 2020 | 2020 Consumer Electronic Show (CES) in Las Vegas. ( #CES2020 )

Today, I wandered through the Amazon display located in the Venetian Hotel and must say I was astonished by the numerous Alexa powered IoT devices on display. Now, Alexa powers smart bathroom mirrors, kitchen refrigerators and family room televisions, to name a few.

Amazon also featured the relatively small Echo Flex. Echo Flex has all the functionality of Amazon’s Echo Dot, but half the size and can plug directly into a hallway or utility room wall electric outlet. The rep stated that the Flex is great for areas without horizontal surfaces such as hallways.

After a brief stop at the Amazon display, I visited the Dell Experience also located in the Venetian Hotel. There, I learned about the Dell work at home products and the gaming products they offered on the market. Additionally, Dell offered an opened bar that help take the dye off a full day at CES 2020.

American Express Lounge

American Express has annually sponsored a lounge during CES in the North Hall of the Las Vegas Convention Center. During #CES 2020, the lounge was intended for American Express Business Card clients and their guest. It was a place to relax and disconnect from the hectic pace of CES. The lounge offers a very popular and high demand venue for WiFi, refreshments and snacks, everything someone might need to unwind.

5G Network

5G technology is slowly reaching the consumer market with promises of revolutionizing our daily lives. New and innovative technology such as autonomous automobiles and drones will rely on the capabilities offered by 5G technology.

There are three attributes of 5G millimeter wave technology provides: speed, capacity and latency.

One engineer explained that if 4G was a two lane road; 5G would be an eight smart superhighway. The speed of 5G will be more than tenfold faster than the current network. The capacity to carry data would also significantly improve. Also, there would be relatively zero latency with 5G network.

Yet, for all the fanfare behind 5G, the network remains just a concept and vision of the future. The reality once deployed may be far different.

7 reasons to consider this little-known retirement saving strategy – MarketWatch

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Despite enjoying the longest-running bull market in history, most preretirees have a substantial retirement savings shortfall.

The average 65-year-old in the U.S. will outlive their savings by almost a decade, according to a new report by the World Economic Forum. And the typical household nearing retirement has only saved enough in their combined 401(k)s and IRAs to provide them at most $600 a month, according to the most recent Federal Reserve Survey of Consumer Finances.
— Read on www.marketwatch.com/story/7-reasons-to-consider-this-little-known-retirement-saving-strategy-2020-01-09

CES 2020 | Las Vegas

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Wednesday, January 8, 2020 | 2020 Consumer Electronic Show (CES) in Las Vegas. ( #CES2020 )

Spent the morning hearing about Quibi, the new short form video platform designed to operate only on mobile devices. Quibi is short for quick bites.

Quibi plans to create quality and compelling video content to be viewed on the go. The company’s technology will feature content that can be viewed either in landscape or portrait orientation on a user’s mobile device. While in landscape, the picture will show wide screen video image. In portrait, the view narrows allowing viewer to see the content from an alternate perspective that’s optimized for portrait.

Meg Whitman

Corporate Social Responsibility

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has garnered significant attention and discussion during CES 2020. The prevailing premise regarding CSR is that it has become a must do mission by corporations. Even major corporations are embracing the call for action.

‘The Look‘ is a short video created by P&G, which is intended to shine light on unconscious bias prevalent in American society. It conveyed a powerful message about a problem the culture that unfortunately persist in America.

Yet, many tech companies from all appearances are only giving ‘lip service’ to diversity and inclusion of people of color.

In a session yesterday discussing corporate values and purpose, the moderator commented “don’t read people’s lips; watch their feet”. The words mouthed by corporate executives regarding CSG appear transformative, yet the associated actions for the most part by corporations have been lacking and plagued with excuses and lack of accountability.

Unconscious Bias in Technology

An unconscious bias that most senior managers and executives of color have witnessed first hand is the blatant inequality in the hiring process. A classic example is when a majority male candidate can be hired for a position without the prerequisite skills or experience under the assumption that they can learn the job and acquire the required skills and experience for the position.

In stark contrast, women and people of color must possess the prerequisite skills and experience for the prospective position in order to land on the final hiring slate. In short, this unconscious bias is a leadership problem and issue. Basically, organizations can come up with a million reasons why they’re not achieving diversity and inclusion.

One hope is that the seemly sincere CSG conversations occurring among corporate executives at CES 2020 will result in observable and measurable action on diversity and inclusion by CES 2021. And, ‘unconscious bias’ and ‘blaming the pipeline’ will no longer be excuses for lack of action and progress. Instead, corporate executives will accept that diversity and inclusion are deliberate choices and are ultimately good for their business’ bottomline.

CES 2020 | Las Vegas

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Tuesday, January 7, 2020 | 2020 Consumer Electronic Show (CES) in Las Vegas. ( #CES2020 )

The #CES2020 day was kicked off by Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian and several dozen employees of Delta.Ed Bastian, CEO, Delta Airlines[/caption]

From the dark days following the 2001, 911 terrorist attacks, Delta has strived to become the best in Class for innovation and service.

During the keynote, Ed informed the assembled CES attendees that Delta interacts with 600K customers every 15 minutes. Additionally, Delta has worked to cancel cancellations and eliminated involuntary bumping.

Their objective is to reduce or eliminate the moments of stress flying to CES, especially if attendees flew on Delta.

During the address, he discussed the importance of the “Fly Delta app”. Delta’s intent is to evolve the app into a true digital flight concierge. When the app is fully enhanced, it will be able to track bags real-time.

Aspirational, Delta intends to alleviate the stress of travel and in the near future in the future provide a service to pick up bags from a passenger’s home and delivered them to their hotel.

Another Delta initiative is to provide virtual queueing that informs you when it time to board. It alleviates the necessity of passengers congregating an clogging in the gate boarding area.

Research shows people enter an elevated emotional state when traveling and flying. Delta’s goal is to effectively reduce the level of flying stress.

Two partnerships that Delta has pursued are with John Zimmer, co-founder of Lyft. They partnered with Delta since the future of travel will be multimodal…offer self-driving vehicle, bikes and scooters. Additionally, Wheels Up – democratizing private aircraft travel. Replace 1/3 of main line fleet in five years.

HBO Max

Snap shot, or initial, at launch, HBO Max will have double the content than currently available HBO Now and will continue to grow contest offerings. It is not a direct competitor with Disney or Netflix.

Measure of success will be 50M subscribers in five years. Non measurable metric is to create a streaming service that matters to global audience. Non ad supported viewership does not have a standardized measure. If you want to sale advertising, will need a standardization.

Walking

The one reality regarding CES 2020 is that you walk and you walk a lot . Today, for example, I walked over 8.8 miles in the exhibition halls and attending key nite addresses.. Also, I played spent a few minutes on a high tech self-powered treadmill.

How much money you’d have if you invested $500 a month since 2009

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CNBC calculated how much you’d have now if your investments had grown at a 4%, 6%, or 8% rate of return over the past decade.

In order to beat inflation and ensure that your savings will work for you long term, it’s crucial to invest in the stock market, whether through an employer-sponsored 401(k) plan, a traditional or Roth IRA, an individual brokerage account or somewhere else.
— Read on www.cnbc.com/2020/01/07/how-much-money-youd-have-if-you-invested-500-dollars-a-month-since-2009.html

How To Stop Living Paycheck To Paycheck – Fidelity

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Nearly 8 out of 10 workers (78%) live paycheck to paycheck, according to a new survey from CareerBuilder.com.1 That’s up from 75% last year, and it applies even to those making 6 figures: 1 in 10 workers making $100,000 or more say they live paycheck to paycheck.

“In working with many clients over the years, I have found that most people tend to spend their entire paycheck if it is available in their bank account, regardless of whether they are at a low/middle level or are highly compensated,” says Marc Kodomatsu, a financial planner in Lake Oswego, OR.

If you’re putting away adequate savings for your goals and you have a healthy emergency fund, living paycheck to paycheck isn’t necessarily a disaster. But a quarter of Americans have no money saved for an emergency, according to Bankrate, and 20% have less than 3 months of living expenses in the bank.

“The events in Houston are a stark reminder of the perils of living paycheck to paycheck,” says Thomas Balcom, a financial planner in Lauderdale-by-the-Sea, FL. “For those folks who have flood insurance, they may not have the funds available to cover their deductible or tie them over until they return to work.”

Breaking the paycheck-to-paycheck cycle takes discipline and a plan. Here’s what top financial experts recommend as the best steps toward more financial independence:
— Read on www.fidelity.com/mymoney/how-to-stop-living-paycheck-to-paycheck