The S&P 500 didn't gain ground in 2015, so neither did retiree Bruce Stanton's spending money. That summer, the former teacher in Washougal, Wash., dialed back what he withdrew from his retirement account to reflect the lackluster market. Fluctuations in income aren't that rare. During his career as a chemistry teacher, Stanton would sometimes get a big raise and other times get none. "I'm used to going without them," says Stanton, 63.

A challenge for all retirees is creating an income stream that will last a lifetime even if a downturn takes a big bite out of their savings. Some, like Stanton, are tackling this by adjusting withdrawals based on the market's performance.

But market-linked approaches run counter to the long-standing 4% rule, which holds that your money will last for a 30-year retirement if you withdraw 4% of your nest egg the first year and adjust that dollar amount annually for inflation.

Some experts are now arguing for a lower initial rate—such as 3%—since stocks and bonds may deliver below-average returns over the next few decades. Yet for much of history, 4% has been conservative, according to financial adviser Michael Kitces.

So what's a retiree to do? As an alternative to withdrawing a fixed percentage, here's a look at four "dynamic" withdrawal strategies.

Read More

Managing your finances can be really stressful. There’s so much information to know, mastering all of it seems like an impossible task. Moreover, if you’ve developed some bad financial habits over the years, correcting them may seem extremely daunting.

Luckily, it is possible to improve your financial prowess. With a little effort, you will set yourself up for a better financial future, which can be a real benefit when it comes to starting a business. As you overcome your bad financial habits and instill new, good habits, you’ll learn how to manage not only your personal finances but business finances, too.

If you want to become more successful and get closer to starting your own business, you need to give up the five habits below. Some of them you’ll be able to give up today, while others will take a little bit longer to overcome. There might be some hard work involved to rewrite these five behaviors, but once you do, you’ll find that the work was well worth the outcome.

1) Living paycheck to paycheck

Very often, people have no idea what they’re actually spending all of their money on. Before they know it, their bank account is approaching zero, and they’re simply waiting for their next paycheck to come. The bottom line is this: without paying attention, it’s easy to spend the money you should be saving.

If you’d like to break out of this vicious cycle, the first step is to start tracking your expenses. If you don’t know where all of your money is going, you can’t give it a purpose. So, track every dollar, understand how much is going in and how much is going out. With this information in mind, you can overcome the bad habit of living paycheck to paycheck.

2) Avoiding a budget

Figuring out exactly how much money is coming in and going out is the first step to financial freedom, but it’s not the only step. Once you have a grasp of your monthly income and expenses, you’ll need to create a budget.

Whether you’re managing your personal finances or your new company’s money, you should always have a budget in place. Creating a working plan that outlines how you’ll cover your expenses and save for the future is key to financial well-being.

3) Neglecting your credit score

Knowing your current credit score and how you can improve it is paramount to success. Unfortunately, 30 percent of Americans have a bad habit of not checking and knowing their credit scores. Whether you worry about having bad credit or not, you should check your credit score at least once a year. Even if you are doing everything right, errors on your credit report might cause you to have an inaccurate score that threatens your financial health.

Although neglecting your cre...

Read the whole post...

Over the years, mutual funds have come across as a popular and fairly profitable instrument of investment. They have proved to be more hassle free and risk averse as compared to direct stock investments.

Here is an insight on how you can plan your mutual fund investment:

Short-term investment

What?

As the name suggests, these investments are made for short periods of time, typically for 12-month duration or even less.

When?

These investments are a boon in emergency situations. Be it a medical emergency or the sudden need of money for down payment of your car, short term mutual funds can bail you out.

What to keep in mind?

Since the investment is for a brief period, it needs to be ensured that your investment is insulated from market volatility. It is important as you would not want to see your investment numbers cut a sorry figure at the time of emergency. So, it is advised to invest in low-risk options -- liquid funds like Commercial Papers (CPs) and T-Bills or debt funds like government bonds, company debentures, fixed income assets etc.

Mid-term investment

What?

These kind of mutual fund investments are made for a period of 1-3 years

When?

If you are planning to launch a start-up or a business, mid- term investments are your best bet. Experts say that these investments can be helpful in case you are planning to buy property or real estate.

What to keep in mind?

In mid-term investments, your aim should be to have the best of both worlds. That is, you should eye to maximize your capital gains but at the same time you cannot afford to take too much risk as the period of investment in this case, is still not very long. So you can choose to stick with debt funds or maybe opt for Systematic Investment Plan (SIP) or monthly investments. SIP in mutual fund is recommended as a great way for a salaried person to invest in equity markets for long-term basis without understanding the working of equity markets.

Long-term investment

What?

Any mutual fund investment for a period of more than three years is termed as a long-term investment.

When?

As it is quite evident from the nature of the investment, long-term investments hold good if you are planning for the future. If you want to sort out your retirement plans, save for old- age health issues or nurture your child's education, you should definitely go for long-term investments.

What to keep in mind?

Since the investment is a long-drawn one, you c...

Read the whole post...

It may seem rather inappropriate to receive personal finance advice from wealthy people, considering they deal with tons of money whereas the ordinary person can hardly scratch a decent living. What use can you get from such advice as “Invest in gold rather than in silver” and others of that sort? Nevertheless, they can offer some sound advice for any kind of financial situation. After all, they have an uncommonly wide exposure to many money matters. Get these free tips from some friendly billionaires:

Begin as soon as you can

For a few years, a Mexican businessman named Carlos Slim Helú held the distinction of being the world’s richest person, until Bill Gates reclaimed the title recently. Slim offers personal finance tips shared by most finance experts; and beginning early is one of them. This may not apply to people of more advanced age as they need to begin now to “redeem the time”, so to speak. For the earlier you start getting serious about handling, saving and investing your money, the greater your chances of avoiding making mistakes that will impact on your future financial security. Slim, for instance, bought shares in a Mexican bank when he was only 12 and worked for his earning father’s business for 200 pesos weekly before he turned 20.

Discover Your Passion

It costs nothing to start believing in your own abilities and potentials. Oprah Winfrey, another billionaire we all know, said that we are what we believe and that what we are now is a product of everything we have believed. You can change any situation you are in now; and the first step is to believe in yourself.

Once a person believes in his or her own self-worth, discovering one’s passion – whether it is music, sports or photography – will only require a healthy dose of diligence and perseverance to achieve success.

Christopher Paul Gardner, although a "mere" millionaire, was a homeless single-father once. Asked what his secret was, Gardner said, "Find something you are so passionate about, you can hardly go to sleep to do it again." If your passion is to make space-saving furniture, educate yourself on that subject through online articles or books now and become as good in it as you can be.

No Need to Become Sophisticated

Do you know how Warren Buffett made his billions? He accumulated his investment fortune by focusing on the fundamentals, that is, by choosing firms with strong yearly cash flows and those firms not in the danger of losing technical relevance in the fast-changing world of technology. He also spent his early years in investing on insurance firms. For many, it is not a fancy way to earn; but it worked out well for him. No ma...

Read the whole post...

Are you doing a financial spring-cleaning this year? Scan your papers to keep an electronic bank of valuable documents. There are certain steps to observe according to the kind of expense, asset or transaction; but, in general, make sure that your digital files of your records are as legible and accurate as your hard copies and also as easily accessible when you need them.

So, what documents do you need to save or discard? Here is a rundown:

Taxes – You may need to keep your tax documents while the statute of limitations applies. These will include the following: W-2 and 1099 forms, invoices, receipts, cancelled checks, mileage logs, proofs of payment and other records pertaining to deductions, income or credits claimed on your return.

Student loans – Never ever discard your student-loan master promissory note because it the legal support for your loans. Keep it until the time you have repaid the debt.

Credit cards – It is wise to keep credit card statements for as long as 7 years.

In case you are already paperless, determine how long to obtain your statements online. This is easier than eventually having to request them via snail mail in the future.

Real estate - Your FICO score measures your qualification for a mortgage and the interest rate you need to pay. You have to reach a score of about 620 to be considered by any lender in order to qualify. If you are not qualified for an affordable rate, you may have to wait before buying a home for the time when your credit improves – it will take more than 7 years to have negative activity on your report.

Insurance – Many do not easily warm up to the need for life insurance for obvious reasons, one of which is the uncomfortable feeling of knowing how temporary life really is. However, accepting the inevitability of our own mortality should convince us of the importance of keeping our original documents, such as assignment of beneficiaries, always available on hand.

Banks/brokers – Regarding documents for brokerage accounts and banks, you probably already hold an edge: majority of financial institutions provide a completely digital alternative, facilitating ease of storage.

Bitcoin – If you have bitcoin or some kind of cryptocurrency, download the most recent records without discarding any. Incidentally, IRS has started cracking down on cryptocurrency holders; and there is still no specific rule or stand regarding how to treat these tokens. Moreover, cryptocurrency transaction logs are most probably likely...

Read the whole post...

Keeping your money in bank savings accounts at present will produce negligible interest rates. Hence, leaving all your money in banks may give you considerable safety but not much growth. On the other hand, investing your money in stocks may bring higher returns; but the risks are much higher. And you could actually lose part or all your money at times.

Try these few easy rules to help you remain strong in the market and gain big returns through a large long-term stock portfolio:

1. Spread your investment. Diversification distributes your risks through a number of stocks in various markets as well as in bonds, mutual funds and other instruments. Follow a rule of thumb such that each instrument or stock should not be more than 10% of your entire portfolio. Likewise, try to invest in diverse national regions, Asia, Europe, US and rising new markets areas. Also invest into hedge funds, commodity funds and property funds. This strategy provides a safeguard against any failure in any specific sector.

2. Investigate. Do your research in various industries and from diverse sources. Opt for firms with products and strategies you are familiar with. Browse or visit as many online resources that provide tips on evaluating and comparing investments. Although historical performance does not assure future performance -- in general, choosing a mutual fund or unit trust that showed a strong record in the last couple of years and which requires low management fees is a good move.

3. Invest back dividend payouts. A significantly big percentage of the entire gains in majority of portfolios is a result of reinvesting dividends and not from stock price increase. For instance, a 3% yield may seem paltry; however, in the long run, it will produce a huge profit. Opt for investments that have a sound record of dividend payouts and retain them as your long-term leverage.

4. Keep the performers and sell the nonperformers. Constantly check how your investments perform in relation to the market index. You will be tempted to sell when some of your holdings are doing well for a quick profit; however, hold on to them on a long-term basis to maximize gains. As for market nonperformers, get rid of them even if you have the urge to keep them for a possible upsurge or an increase of your holding at basement prices. That is not the best investment approach, as suffering a low setback early in the process is better than a big loss in the future. Never allow you emotions to convince you to hold on to your stocks.

5. Avoid mob rule. Although difficult to pull since most people rush headlong, buy whenever the stock market is down, sell when the stock market up your least performing stocks and invest into other instruments, such as bonds and property.

6...

Read the whole post...