Financial Fellow

Written by J.P. Wicklein

I read an article in Time last week advocating the death of the 401k. Their rationale was that 401k’s are failing to prove themselves as an effective retirement savings vehicle for the masses. In light of the recent financial meltdown the argument to replace the 401k with another retirement savings vehicle, such as a federally-controlled pension system, has gained attention. Although there may be rationale for providing a government-controlled retirement savings option, beyond Social Security, eliminating the 401k would be a travesty.

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Written by J.P. Wicklein

Uncle Sam is hurting for money. Currently the U.S. is facing a staggering $1.6 trillion budget deficit. Add on to that the incredibly expensive, and increasingly insolvent, Social Security and Medicare programs and the picture is even worse. To close the deficit, and continue to fund future obligations, the federal government will almost certainly raise income taxes.

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Written by J.P. Wicklein
          By setting up a custodial IRA for your teenager, and contributing to it regularly until they graduate college, you can make your kid a millionaire.  Here are the details:
Step 1:  Get your kid a job
     To contribute to a custodial IRA a child needs to have “earned income” – either [...]

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Written by J.P. Wicklein
     Whether you’re looking to create wealth, or just add a few bucks to your bottom line, I’d suggest exploring sources of residual income. 
What is residual income?
     Residual income is money you earn over and over again without performing any work.  A common example of residual income is the interest paid [...]

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Written by J.P. Wicklein

This is the 100^th post since FinancialFellow.com was launched in October 2008. In light of the milestone I thought it fitting to call attention to my 5 favorite articles. Some articles offer my perspective on retirement savings, others provide suggestions on how to save, or earn, hundreds of dollars with minimal effort. Enjoy!

10% Annual Return is Unrealistic When discussing how much money you will have at retirement age many financial articles assume that you will attain an average annual return of around 10%. This assumption is misleading for two reasons…

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Written by J.P. Wicklein

     Recently I received a couple questions from readers about how I invest my retirement funds. I thought it would be useful to share my answer with everyone. Don’t view my approach as advice on how to invest your retirement money. When investing you need to weigh factors such as your age and level of risk tolerance. As such, what’s best for me, may not work for you. Hopefully, though, reading about my approach will help you to consider some things when determining how to allocate your retirement dollars. Here’s how my retirement asset allocation shakes out:

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Written by J.P. Wicklein

     Too often Americans stretch themselves to buy the nicest house they can qualify for, go out of their way to drive a luxury car, or borrow to the hilt just to keep up with the Jones’s. In the process these people place themselves in a situation with few options. They can’t afford to lose their job, stay home with kids, change careers, or retire early. Often, they find themselves worrying or arguing about money. I don’t want to go down that road. I’m willing to forgo many of the trappings of an upper middle class life in exchange for the freedom to make decisions that aren’t driven by money. Here’s how I plan to do it:

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Written by J.P. Wicklein

     Recently a friend of mine asked me whether he should take money out of his 401k account to use as a down payment on a home. There are two ways you can tap into your 401k for a down payment on a home: 1) Simply withdrawal the funds or 2) take a loan from your 401k. Should my friend take the money from his 401k? If so, which option should he choose?

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…………………Photo by: urban data………………………………  Written by J.P. Wicklein

…..Recently I wrote a post on my biggest financial blunders. In the article I discussed buying a home too soon, maintaining a credit card balance, having minimal short term savings, and battling a short stint with gambling. Those actions were far from the smartest things I’ve ever done. That said every coin has two sides. Here’s the other side – my biggest financial achievements:

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   Written by J.P. Wicklein
     The following summarizes each of the Financial Fellow articles for November 2008 in two sentences or less.
1)   How to Avoid a Big Tax Refund:  If you wish to increase your take home pay throughout the year, while decreasing your annual tax refund, you can do so by increasing the number of [...]

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