When we think about saving up for our golden years, we often consider 401k contribution limits, Roth IRA tax benefits, and withdrawal rates. However, one major component of planning for one’s future is usually missing; most people fail to consider both marriage and retirement when thinking ahead.

Marriage And Retirement Planning: The Need For Communication

Just like in other areas of household finances, little communication exists between a husband and wife when it comes to retirement planning. Considering the fact that many Americans have neglected proper planning and analysis when it comes to the future (or even the present, if you judge that based on our greed), it should come as no surprise that many people have not discussed the details of retirement with their spouse. Take a look at these alarming numbers from a recent Market Watch article:

Almost two-thirds of couples don’t agree on the age at which they’ll retire, and one-third of couples disagree or don’t know where they’ll live once they retire, according to a survey of 648 married couples (a total of 1,296 people), conducted for Fidelity Investments by Richard Day Research Inc.

Those numbers are pretty scary. It’s hard to imagine a couple never discussing something as basic and foundational such as when and where they would like to retire. The fact that they don’t agree on these issues is cause for great concern. For instance, how can they know how much money they will ultimately need, if they do not know how much longer they will be working or how much it will cost for them to live?

Unfortunately, the disagreement and confusion doesn’t stop there:

Forty-seven percent of couples don’t agree on whether they’ll work in retirement, according to the survey of people aged 46 to 75 with household income of at least $75,000 or investable assets of $100,000 or more. Of the couples surveyed, 196 already were retired. The survey respondents were not told that Fidelity sponsored the survey.

I would have to say that this is the most surprising result of this survey. Almost half of those married couples who are less than 20 years away from retirement and have a decent amount of wealth, can’t agree on whether or not they will work in their retirement. This isn’t just a financial issue, but it also affects many other aspects of their lives!

The idea of working during retirement can greatly change the way in which you currently save. If you plan to sit around and do nothing in your golden years, then you will probably use every available penny to invest in your future. On the other hand, if you plan to work during that time, then you may not even be compelled to invest up to the IRA contribution limits early on (although, that may still prove to be a huge mistake).

Of course, given all of this confusion when it comes to retirement and marriage, there is no way that we can expect couples to have solid plans for the future. In fact, the results were worse in this category than the others:

Seventy-three percent of the couples surveyed disagreed on whether they have completed a retirement-income plan, and more than half of the couples surveyed disagreed on what their top source of retirement income would be.

This should serve as a wake up call to all couples out there! Apparently, marriage and retirement talks don’t go hand in hand. People are planning on spending the rest of their lives together, but for some reason, they fail to discuss major financial topics that will impact their future.

Marriage, Retirement & Women

Even though more and more women are working and are involved in the family finances, there are still a large number of wives who don’t feel as knowledgeable about their financial situation as their husbands. Consider these numbers:

Only 35% of the wives said they could take on full responsibility for the couple’s retirement finances if needed, versus 72% of the husbands.

While 20% of the husbands described themselves as “investors,” just 5% of the wives did. Instead, they tended to say they were savers or spenders.

I’m sure that out of the 65% of women who do not feel as though they can take over the retirement finances, many of them aren’t married to men who are purposefully keeping this information from them. Even still, this level of comfort and confidence can only be gained through repetition and constant communication. Last year, when I gave my thoughts about marriage on our anniversary, I identified things that I wanted to bring to our marriage and I’m sure that I wasn’t able to do everything. But, I have a responsibility to keep pushing until I get it right!

It will not be easy to break out of the mindset of focusing only on the short-term, and simply assuming that things will “work themselves out” in the long run. However, here are a few things which you can do to solidify both your marriage and retirement.

What You Can Do

Plan A Huge “Retirement” Talk – Take a look at all of these items and anything else that is important to you, then list your goals regarding each topic. Talk these things out until you are on the same page. Of course, this may take more than one session, but since you can’t make any moves until you have concrete goals, you have to keep at it!

Meet With A Financial Advisor – If you need help in developing a plan that will allow you to meet your goal, then enlist the help of an adviser. Be open and honest in establishing your goals, and the motivation for those goals when you meet. Be sure to meet with him together!

Schedule Regular Financial Meetings – Once you have your goals in place, set up regular meetings to check on your progress. My suggestion would be to hold quarterly meetings and make sure that all of your questions are answered.

Review Statements & Documents Together – Whenever you receive a new statement or other important document regarding a retirement account, take time to go over it with your spouse. You can incorporate this into your regular meetings.

As you can see, the answer to this problem is to communicate and work together. There is no magic formula – it will take hard work, diligence, and patience; but then again, so does marriage!

photo by Ambro

When I was growing up, people talked about three main economics groups within society. There were the rich (upper class), the poor (lower class), and everybody in between (middle class). Investopedia recently posted an article looking at 6 signs that you’ve made it to middle class.

As I looked at some of the signs on their list, I began to wonder how exactly should we define what it means to be a part of the middle class. If we use a broad definition to describe the middle class, we come up with something like this – “a family that brings in too much money to be considered poor, but not enough to be considered rich”.

Well, let’s look at this list and decide whether these things actually demonstrate a family crossing the line from poverty into semi-abundance.

Signs That You Are Middle Class?

Home Ownership

The article proclaims that, “The step up from renting to owning signifies prosperity and achievement”. Most people who know me, already know how I feel about this subject. This idea of home ownership being a meaningful step in someone’s life is just not true.

My problem with using home ownership is that in order to be considered a homeowner, one only has to beg a loan officer to give him money apply for a loan to buy a house. Borrowing money to buy something, and then taking 30 years to pay the loan back is definitely not the same as buying an item. This is especially true when considering whether someone has “made it” to middle class or not.

Let me add that if someone has saved up enough money to buy a house without a loan, but then chooses to acquire a mortgage for other reasons (such as the ability to earn a higher guaranteed return on an investment then the interest rate on the loan), they have definitely crossed over into the middle class (and probably even higher)!

Automobile Ownership

This is a even more laughable than home ownership. Even though there are a lot more people who are able to purchase a car with their own money than compared to a house, there is still a lot to consider.

Firstly, many people who use automobile ownership as a status symbol, have a particular set of makes in mind. Some will only consider luxury cars to be a sign of moving up, others will include sports cars or even more “standard” cars with lots of accessories. The point is, this category is so subjective, that it can’t really be a clear sign that one has moved up from poverty to the middle class.

Secondly, many people borrow money to buy new cars. Actually, many people borrow money to buy used cars as well. Once this happens, you run into the same problem as with houses – you can’t borrow money to buy something and then use that purchase as proof that your economic status has changed!

The ability to purchase a reliable car, with cash, and without depleting your emergency fund, is a good indication that you have crossed over into a new economic class!

College Education For The Kids

I’ll save you the, “borrowing money to buy an item doesn’t count” speech and just say this – if you are able to pay for your child(ren) to receive a quality education from a college or university, then you are definitely not poor!

Obviously, we are not counting grants, scholarships, and other forms of assistance in this evaluation, since those are often the product of low income or high academic achievement. Having a significant amount of college savings speaks very highly of one’s financial condition!

Retirement Security

This is a tough one because it involves more than just the means and ability to save for the future. Many people had a significant amount of money saved up for retirement, but then lost some or most of it due to bad performance in their investment vehicles, or bad decisions.

I do believe that having enough disposable income to build up adequate retirement savings indicates that you [at least] belong in the middle class. The fact that someone would know both the IRA contribution limits, 401k contribution limits, and take advantage of both, is more than what most people accomplish in this area!

Health Care Coverage

This is another difficult one because most people do not pay for their health care (at least not directly). Most people are part of a group through their employer, and so their employer pays a large portion (sometimes all) of the insurance premiums. Therefore, health care coverage is not always a function of income. In fact, most companies will pay a lower income because your health care coverage is also a part of your total compensation package. They may even offer a flexible spending account to sweeten the pot!

However, many people who don’t have health insurance through their employer often work at low paying jobs, or only work part time. Therefore, there can be a correlation between net worth and level of health care coverage.

Family Vacation

I really don’t know too many families that fail to take vacations, regardless of income level or net worth. This is another category where debt has leveled the playing field. Also, I don’t think this is a good indicator because there are too many ways that a “poor” family can come across $1,000 or $2,000 (tax refund, bonus, etc.).

My Thoughts

The fact that most people have access to debt makes it very difficult to determine who is poor and who is middle class. Because of this, examining possessions alone is an incomplete way to evaluate someone’s economic status. We must consider their level of income and debt as well as their possessions before making such a determination.

photo by renjith krishnan

Reader Questions

1. Do you think that the three main economic classes are still applicable today?
2. Do you think that debt has changed the way people view these classes?
3. Where do you consider yourself to by, and why?

One of the most popular pieces of financial advice that we hear today is that we need to start saving for retirement. The IRS even gives us the benefit of tax-deferred retirement savings accounts, in order to provide us with an extra incentive to save for retirement.

However, according to a recent article by Market Watch, most Americans are far behind on their retirement savings:

The gap between what Americans need for retirement and the amount they have saved is a staggering $6.6 trillion, Retirement USA, a coalition of workers’ groups, said in a study published Wednesday.

“The retirement income deficit is the gap between the pensions and retirement savings that American households have today and what they should have today to be on track to maintain their living standard in retirement,” said Karen Friedman, executive vice president and policy director of the Pension Rights Center, in a conference call with reporters.

This means that as a nation, we are so far behind when it comes to saving for our golden years, that it almost seems hopeless. These abysmal numbers are due to a number of common mistakes, and the most common one is starting too late.

When to Start Saving For Retirement?

The answer to this question is quite simple…today! With all of the other financial priorities in our lives, why should we put them aside and begin saving for retirement today?

The Power of Compound Interest:

Albert Einstein is known for saying this regarding compound interest:

Compound interest is the eighth wonder of the world. He who understands it, earns it … he who doesn’t … pays it.

Allow me to quote another “genius” (me ) to further explain what compound interest actually is:

Simply stated, compounding interest describes what happens when interest is calculated on a principal amount of money, and then that interest is added to the principal and now interest will be calculated on this new higher amount.

For instance, if you save $10,000 and it earns 10% interest over the course of a year, you have earned $1,000, meaning you now have $11,000 in your account. If we are dealing with compound interest, the next year will begin with a new principal amount of $11,000 and your 10% interest will now earn $1,100 in the second year!

So every year both the principal amount that you invested as well as your earnings from those investments will continue to grow (unless your account loses money). That means that every year you decide to put off saving for retirement, you lose all of the potential growth on your investment as well as the earnings on that growth for the next 20 to 40 years!!

Let’s say that you wish to retire at age 65, but you decide to wait until you are 40 before you begin saving for retirement. Save the current IRA contribution limit of $5,000 each year for the next 25 years and you’ll end up with $365,529.70!!! That is assuming an annual rate of return of 8% (of course your actual return will fluctuate each year, but assuming a steady rate makes it much easier to present an example), and that you deposit the $5,000 as a lump sum at the end of the year.

Now, let’s see what your result would be if you started saving at age 25 – and all other inputs remained the same. If 25 years got us about $365k, then it would be safe to assume that adding another 20 years would get us around $292k. However, starting at age 25 would leave us with $1,295,282.59!!! That’s why it is the 8th wonder of the world!

Take a look at one more example in order to see how important it is to start saving for retirement today:

If you choose to invest $5,000 into your IRA for 10 consecutive years, you would have $72,432.81 (assuming the conditions above). If you choose to not invest another penny, and just allow that amount to grow over the next 30 years, you will end up with $728,867 in your retirement account! That is almost double what you would have if you only give yourself 25 years to invest. Because, in this example, you started early and took advantage of compound interest, you only had to contribute to the account for a total of 10 years to see this result!

If you look at the 401k contribution limits, you’ll see that you can save up to $16,500 for your retirement. Do that for 25 years and you’ll be up to $1.2 million. However if you start early and give yourself 40 years, you will bring your account up to almost $4.3 million!!!

Giving Away Free Money

Most companies that offer 401 (k) plans will also offer a 401k employer match. What this means is that your employer will match the amount that you put into your plan up to a certain percentage of your salary.

The current limit for an employer match is 6% of the employee’s pre-tax salary. That means that if you make $100,000 per year, then by not saving for retirement through your 401k, you are missing out on $6,000 of free money each year!

Of course you also have to consider what your real loss would be once you factor in compound interest. Just that $6,000 each year would bring you over $1.55 million in 40 years!

So not only are you passing up free money, but you are also forfeiting the affect of compounding on that free money!

Even if you do not have another 40 years left until your desired retirement age, it’s not too late to get back on track with your retirement planning!  Maybe consider using the 2011 payroll tax holiday as a chance to save for retirement!

photo by Hygiene Matters

Reader Questions:

1. Do you think you are currently on track with your retirement savings?
2. If you are currently not saving for retirement, what is stopping you?
3. Have you seen the power of compound interest work in your behalf?

It’s been a crazy couple of weeks around the R2 household and office!  There seems to be just a lot of stuff going on.

I’m really looking forward to some rest this weekend!

But, it’s another week in the books and it’s time for a quick tour.  

This Week in Personal Finance takes a look at interesting articles, posts and news from the past week in the personal finance arena.

So give these articles from a few Yakezie Challenge Members a click!

• Free Money Finance has a great and convicting post on giving that exposes our lack of it!
• Peak Personal Finance offers up a look at the new Credit Card Act and the resulting increase in bank fees to be on the look out for!
• Personal Finance by the Book takes a look at the Fair Tax and whether it’s too good to be true!  Great overview by Joe!
• Jacob from Early Retirement Extreme talks about his Extreme Retirement Method over at Monevator – he’s got an interesting story so be sure to check it out!
• Not Made of Money cautions against store credit cards - but it’s so tempting to get an additional 10% off!
• Cool to Be Frugal asks about your family’s money dynamic and if you’re able to talk freely about money or if it’s a taboo subject!?
• Free From Broke takes a look at the different Bank Cards and Their Uses
• Daniel from Sweating the Big Stuff writes about the correlation between debt and credit – an interesting look at debt’s affect on credit scores!
• Jeff at Deliver Away Debt is talking about Christmas in April – but he’s talking about a debt-free Christmas, which is GREAT!
• Canadian Finance Blog asks, “Which Car is Right for You?” and takes a look at how to answer that question as well!

R2 Around the Web

This week I had a post called Can You Afford Retirement up at Christian PF.

For some reason I get this question a lot, so I thought I’d provide a little clarification on IRA withdrawal rules.

Individual Retirement Arrangements or IRAs were designed to provide an opportunity for folks to save for retirement on a pre-tax, tax-deferred basis.  In other words, the money grows without having to pay any taxes on the gains.

Of course, with an IRA you have to pay the Piper at some point in time.  That means when you get into retirement and start your IRA withdrawals, you’ll have to pay taxes.  This can create a “tax-time bomb” in retirement, but I won’t get into that here.

The short answer to when you can take your IRA withdrawals is – any time! 

People are often shocked by that answer, but it’s true. 

You can access your money through an IRA withdrawal any time you’d like, but you just better be aware of the tax and penalty ramifications.

If you take your IRA withdrawal after age 59 1/2 you won’t have to worry about any penalties, just the taxes. 

There are some exceptions to taking money out before age 59 1/2, so let’s take a look at an early IRA withdrawal:

Your IRA Withdrawal Prior to Age 59 1/2

The general rule is that if you take an IRA withdrawal before 59 1/2 the IRS whacks you with a 10% penalty.  So, ideally you need to wait on your IRA withdrawal until you reach that age.

As with most IRS rules, there are some exceptions:

IRS publication 590 lists these exceptions to the 10% penalty for early IRA withdrawals:

• You have unreimbursed medical expenses that are more than 7.5% of your adjusted gross income.
• The distributions are not more than the cost of your medical insurance
• You are disabled.
• You are the beneficiary of a deceased IRA owner.
• You are receiving distributions in the form of an annuity.
• The distributions are not more than your qualified higher education expenses.
• You use the distributions to buy, build, or rebuild a frist home.
• The distribution is due to an IRS levy of the qualified plan.
• The distribution is a qualified reservist distribution

These exceptions to the early IRA withdrawal rules have some qualifiers on them so it’s important to look at the IRS publication to make sure you fit into one of these categories before you take the money out.

For example, the exception that says you can take the money in the form of annuity – basically what the IRS means here is that you must take “substantially equal period payments”  – in other words a set amount per year for either a) five years or b) til 59 1/2, whichever is longer.

Also, be aware that these exceptions are for the 10% premature distribution penalty NOT taxes!  You still have to pay taxes on any IRA withdrawal.

Your IRA Withdrawal After Age 59 1/2

Reaching the magic age of 59 1/2 is one retirement milestone you should look forward to.

Once you reach this age, you can begin to take your IRA withdrawal penalty free!  At this point you can take out as much as you want, whenever you want.

Again, there is no escaping the taxes (unless of course you open a Roth IRA) so just be aware that every dollar you pull out will be as if you earned that money for the year – it counts as ordinary income.

By the way, you literally must reach age 59 1/2 – not 59, 5 months and 15 days. You can take the money any time on the day you turn 59 1/2 or after.

Just because you turned 59 1/2 doesn’t mean you have to take the money out though.  You may not want to.  If you’ve done a good job establishing other sources of income, you may decide to wait.

Your IRA Withdrawal at Age 70 1/2

If you do decide to wait however, you won’t be able to leave that money in your IRA forever.

At age 70 1/2 you will be required to take a minimum distribution ( also known as RMD, which uses a formula set up by the IRS to determine the amount) and pay taxes on those withdrawals.

But, what if you don’t need the money and you’d rather wait?  That’s fine, but just know that good ol’ Uncle Sam will uppercut you with a 50% penalty on the amount that should’ve been distributed along with the normal taxes due.

They want to make sure they get their tax revenue some how. So be aware that sooner or later you HAVE to take money out of your IRA.

So remember, you can always take an IRA withdrawal, but you need to know the right rules and regulations to determine when a distribution will be right for you.

This was a post I originally did for ChristianPF.com and thought I’d share it here as well.

Friday’s  here!  But Sunday’s coming!!  Welcome to the the Good Friday edition of TWIPF.  

It’s a great day to reflect on what Jesus did 2,000 some years ago as His life of 33 years was about to be ended.  But He would soon conquer sin and death with his resurrection just three days later.

If you’re not a Christian, it’s also a great day to check the claims that this Jesus of Nazareth made!  

He said some pretty bold and amazing things that only some good moral teacher would say – He was radically different and it’s worth doing some investigative research into whether these things were true or not.

I’m looking forward to our church’s Good Friday service tonight – it is really one of the highlights of the year.

But, it’s another week in the books and it’s time for a quick tour.  This Week in Personal Finance takes a look at interesting articles, posts and news from the past week in the personal finance arena.

So give these articles from a few Yakezie Challenge Members a click!

• Financial Samurai: Insuring The Uninsured Is Worth It – Sam delivers hard-hitting viewpoints and gets lots of discussion going on his blog, this one’s no different.
• Eliminate the Muda!: What Sacrifices are You Willing to Make?
• Planting Dollars: Where Do You Store Your Financial Records?
• Free From Broke: Certificate of Deposit–What Is It?: 
• Sweating the Big Stuff: How Much Do You Need For Retirement?
• Canadian Finance Blog: What is Financial Literacy? Part 3:
• Money Energy: How would you change your investment strategy if the Chinese Yuan becomes a reserve currency?
• 20′s Money: Disparity in Economic Recovery: Unfair or Unhealthy?
• Fiscal Geek: Why Tax Deferral May Be A Sucker’s Bet!
• Out of Your Rut: Over 50 – No Pension or 401k – What Now?

Don’t miss another post!  Get Redeeming Riches delivered straight to your inbox!

Carnivals I Participated In

• Economy and Your Finances Carnival included my post 5 Tips to Pay Off Your Credit Card
• Last Week I was in the Yakezie Challenge Carnival which used my post How to Grab and Extra $150,000 for Retirement.
• This Week the Yakezie Challenge Carnival included my 5 Tips to Pay Off Your Credit Card post

Guest Posts

Head on over to ChristianPF.com to check out my posts:  3 Things Moses Teaches Us About Money, Are You Making These 4 Credit Card Mistakes

According to Wikipedia, Baby Boomers are those who are born between 1946-1964 – meaning they range in age from 46-64 years of age.

Retirement is certainly on their minds and they are concerned about how much they need for retirement savings.

As baby boomers approach the magical age, there are some pretty important things to keep in mind about saving for retirement.

Let’s take a look at five things to keep in mind about retirement savings:

Retirement Savings Is Up to You!

Ok, so this is no breakthrough – I’m not pretending to discover a cure for cancer by any means, but this point needs to be stressed over and over again.

Years ago, you could work for an employer for 30 or 40 years, retire with a nice pension provided by the company and collect your social security and be pretty comfortable in retirement.

Not anymore!  Companies are dumping their pensions left and right, Social Security will need a massive overhaul to avoid going defunct – so what does that mean for you?

You are on your own for retirement savings – and that’s OK.

When Can You Access Your Retirement Savings?

This is something that all baby boomers should get really familiar with.  Accessing your retirement savings is generally what’s going to provide you an income in retirement, unless you have other business income etc.

Most people recognize 59 1/2 as the magical age to access your retirement savings, but get familiar with the rules surrounding your withdrawals.  Here’s a couple of them to remember:

• You can access your IRA at any time, but be aware of the penalties.
• You can withdraw from your 401k savings prior to 59 1/2 without penalty if you are at least age 55 when you retire.
• You can take out Roth IRA contributions at any point in time, but the earnings must left alone until age 59 1/2.

What is Your Retirement Savings Number?

A few years back, Lee Eisenberg wrote a book called The Number, where he talks about what you’ll need for the rest of your life and what it will cost.  It’s an entertaining and informative look at what the rest of your life will look like.

You should be asking questions like, “Is a million dollars the magical number?”  Many people think they need much, much more than that, but is that right?

In light of this, you’ll need a good retirement calculator and you’ll want to sit down with your loved one and figure out your income versus expenses and determine how much retirement savings you need?

How Will You Diversify Your Retirement Income?

This is one that boomers probably have in the back of their minds, but some careful consideration should be done.

Will you have a pension, social security, 401k savings, IRA money, or annuities to help supplement your retirement income?

What about starting a business or turning a hobby into an opportunity to make some side money?  Have you considered other ways to make money and diversify your income in retirement?  You probably should.

Once again, retirement savings is up to you, therefore you need to be prepared and should have multiple lines in the water so that you’re not relying on the fish always biting from one particular source.

How Will You Diversify Your Retirement Savings From a Tax Standpoint?

Tax diversification is extremely important and is something that everyone should get familiar with and take a look at for their own situation.

In essence, tax diversification takes a look at the tax status of investing into three different vehicles.  You have tax-deferred, taxed-as-you-go (or non-qualified) and tax-free.

No one investment vehicle is right in every circumstance, but I think it’s very important to spread savings out among these three types of accounts because the greater the flexibility you have for accessing retirement savings, the greater the options you have for lowering your tax burden in retirement.  Plus, after reading why tax-deferral may not be all that it’s cracked up to be you might agree with me.

If taxes are high in some years, you have other money to withdraw from besides your 401k.  If tax rates are low, then why not pull money out of your IRA and consider a Roth conversion etc.

How About You?

Readers, what are some other things to consider for retirement?

It’s been a busy week, but a great week – we’re finally getting over our sicknesses at the R2 household! 

It’s also a great week because the NCAA tournament begins!  I love March Madness - the games are always full of good sports drama and usually very exciting! 

But, it’s another week in the books and it’s time for a quick tour.  This Week in Personal Finance takes a look at interesting articles, posts and news from the past week in the personal finance arena. 

So give these articles a click!

Don’t miss another post! Get Redeeming Riches delivered straight to your inbox!

• Consumer Boomer talks about all kinds of rules with Roth IRAs
• My Journey to Millions discusses a bartering concept in Cairo called LETs, which is designed to sustain communities longer.
• Sweating the Big Stuff identifies some lessons learned from Who Wants to Be a Millionaire.
• Here’s a scary stat: 43% of American workers have less than $10,000 saved for retirement!  20′s Money talks about this here.
• The Canadian Finance Blog posts about passive income in retirement.
• Want to sell your car?  Fiscal Fizzle shows you how to sell your car on Craigslist!
• Here’s an interesting post from Ultimate Money Blog - Is it More Frugal to be a Minimalist or a Hoarder?
• Financial Samurai gives a pointed review of Michael Moore’s new documentary called “Capitalism a Love Story”.
• Planting Dollars discusses a Fear of Success!
• Money Help for Christians talks about how to help teens work through consumerism and spending.
• Consumerism Commentary makes a good point about using less detergent when washing clothes and therefore saving money.
• The Consumerist reports that banks are so inept at handling mortgage modifications that many folks have less than a 50-50 chance of getting one done!

Have a great weekend everyone!!

Want to win a FREE Netbook?  Head over to Couple Money and follow the rules!

What a week!  We finished up our 10-day journey where we looked at 10 money-saving tips to help us stash $10,000!

Through each of those tips we freed up between $275 per month on the low side all the way up to $950 per month on the high side if you were able to maximize each of those tips!  That’s a savings over this next year between $3,300 to $11,400! 

Again, the question is – what will you do with your savings!?  If you’re not careful, any freed up money will evaporate to other expenses.  Be intentional about putting that money away!

Well, it’s another week in the books and it’s time for a quick tour.  This Week in Personal Finance takes a look at interesting articles, posts and news from the past week in the personal finance arena. 

So give these articles a click!

Don’t miss another post! Get Redeeming Riches delivered straight to your inbox!

• Matt Jabs from Debt Free Adventure shares his story of how he saved over $41,000 by refinancing!
• Kevin from Out of Your Rut asks a very pertinent question that usually elicits some heated debate – Is it better to build your savings or pay off debt!?
• Over at Len Penzo Dot Com there was some very interesting discussion going on regarding whether people should walk away from a mortgage if they cannot afford to make the house payment!
• In today’s economy it’s even more important to diversify your income sources – Five Cent Nickel offers up a great post via Matt Jabs on How and Why to Diversify Your Income.
• I love talking about retirement issues.  Flexo over at Consumerism Commentary references a recent ING survey about retirement that had some pretty interesting stats.  Flexo says he might need $3,000,000, but one-third of Americans believe they can retire on $250,000 or less. 
• Jeff over at Deliver Away Debt might be the hardest working guy in the PF Blogosphere – dude delivers pizzas on the side to help knock out his debt, which is why he’ll need a guest post now and then.  If you were a fan of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles growing up, you’ll like this post on fighting debt – TMNT style.
• Looking for a new job and getting ready for interviews?  Check out some helpful tips and reminders on the art of the interview from Financial Samurai
• Is there such a thing as good debt?  Take a look at what Kevin says over at Fiscal Geek!

R2 Around the Web

How Should We Help the Poor was included in Wealth Pilgrim’s Round Up

What is Your Motivation in Giving was included in the Carnival of Personal Finance #245.

Tip #8 in the 10 Money-Saving Tips Challenge was included in the Yakezie Alexa Challenge Carnival over at CJBowker.

Tip #7 in the 10 Money-Saving Tips Challenge was included in the I Love You Like a Blogger round up at Enemy of Debt

Is Money Your Functional Savior was included in the round up at Personal Finance by the Book

Have a GREAT weekend everyone!

So we’re taking a break from our 10 day journey to save $10,000 to have a look at some interesting items from around the web.

If you missed the initial post on the 10 Money-Saving Tips to Help You Stash $10,000, I highly encourage you check that out and join us as we resume next week!

It’s been a fun ride so far and we’ve already freed up roughly $375 per month!! 

The basic premise is to try to save $10,000 over the course of this next year by implementing 10 Money-Saving Tips! 

For roughly 10 days, we’ll look at a different tip each day to help you stash some money.  Even if you don’t save the full $10,000 – any additional savings will be well worth it! 

These are the tips we’ve gone through so far: 

Tip #1: Cut Back on Going Out to Eat  

Tip #2: Evaluate Your Entertainment

Tip #3: Cut Your Cable

Tip #4: Turn Your Heat Down

Now on to the rest of the show! 

It’s another week in the books and it’s time for a quick tour.  This Week in Personal Finance takes a look at interesting articles, posts and news from the past week in the personal finance arena. 

So give these articles a click!

Don’t miss another post! Get Redeeming Riches delivered straight to your inbox!

• Thinking about starting a blog to make a little side income?  Pete from Bible Money Matters is offering an ebook to help you do that!
• Enemy of Debt is hosting a “Manage Your Money” Challenge where each challenge will be different or will introduce you to a unique approach to managing money by using a variety of services and software.
• Kevin from Out of Your Rut takes an angle on retirement planning that doesn’t get talked about near enough – working toward a low-cost/debt-free lifestyle in retirement.
• My wife and I have been talking about starting a garden this spring because we love fresh food and we also love to save money. Frugal Dad offers a unique alternative to a monster garden in Square Foot Gardening.
• Jason Price, writing for Christian PF, posts about one of my favorite topics – Money and Happiness!
• Brip Blap offers some insights into raising kids without regrets. 

R2 Around the Web

These are some Blog Carnivals I participated in this past week:

• Carnival of Personal Finance #245 hosted by Budgets are Sexy.
• Festival of Frugality #218 hosted by Think Your Way to Wealth
• Carnival of Money Stories hosted by Personal Finance by the Book
• Best of Money Carnival #39 hosted by Canadian Personal Finance

Plutus Awards

Lastly, it was a great honor this week to be named as one of the top 5 finalists for the Plutus Awards – (think Oscars for the blog world!) in the category of Best Religious Finance Blog!! 

If you get a moment to vote, head on over to the Plutus Awards site and cast your vote for Redeeming Riches! 

Thanks for reading this week, have a great weekend!!