Wed, 29 September 2021
It's that time again... open enrollment season and with it, a lot of decisions to make for the upcoming year. Today, we're going to go over how you can maximize your benefits, especially when it comes to health, dental, and disability insurance! Choosing Your Health Insurance, Dental, and DisabilityIf there's one area of finances where families have a hard time -either they're not maximizing or they misunderstand it- it's open enrollment season. It's that time of year where HR sends you a packet of information about your benefits. One of the big things that I want families to focus on- especially busy ones- is going for the big wins. Yes. It is beneficial to get better financial habits and cutting those unnecessary expenses, maybe five or $10 here and using that money towards more impactful family and financial goals. But going for the big wins means that for a little bit of time and effort, you can have reoccurring winds or see a significant drop in your expenses or increase your savings. This is where open enrollment fits in. For this limited window that you get this information, you're going to be making some significant financial decisions for the upcoming year. The biggest one for most families, health insurance. What makes us extra challenging is we're doing this in the midst of still dealing with COVID. All this week and next, I want to make things easier for you so that you can focus on the key discussions you need to have so you can make the best choices for your family's particular needs. I'll be releasing on the site previous episodes where I've talked with certified financial planners about the ins and outs and details about your options. Today we're going to focus more on a Q and a style approach. Based on your feedback, along with what I'm seeing on my side with Google search in the community chat, I'm going to go over those questions that families often have as they're sorting through the paperwork. Our focus today will be on:
Are you ready? Let's get started! Resources to Save serious Money Are you looking for more help with maximizing your benefits and saving more money? Here are some resources:
Thank You to Our Sponsor Coastal! Support for this podcast comes from Coastal Credit Union! If you’re living in the Raleigh Durham area and looking to bank better, come check out Coastal today. Did you know that Coastal offers a Health Savings Account? If you have a high deductible health plan, you need to take advantage of an HSA. Find out more about what Coastal offers here! Support the Podcast!Thank you so much for listening to the podcast! If you enjoyed this episode and found it helpful, here are some ways to support it.
Direct download: SEP_S3E24_Open_Enrollment_Keeping_Health_Insurance_Dental_and_Disability_Affordable.mp3
Category:personal finance -- posted at: 2:24pm EDT |
Wed, 22 September 2021
How are you feeling about your progress this year with your financial goals? Are you frustrated because you're not hitting them as fast as you had hoped? Do you feel like managing money is a chore? Believe it or not, these problems are connected. Today, I'm going to break down and show you how to build a flexible financial system that will get you to your goals faster! Keeping Your Budget Flexible and FunRecently I had a chat with rich Jones for the Paychecks and Balances Podcast. The theme of our discussion was managing finances when undergoing a life transition, but it quickly widen out and scope. After my chat with Rich, our discussion stuck with me. Having written about personal finance for 12 years and podcasting, a little over half that time, I noticed a certain rhythm with people in their interests and finances. Beginning of the year, it's all about setting up these big goals, paying off debt, saving up for a huge house down payment. For some, it truly is the beginning of an awesome year. They get these new habits set up. They have their systems in place. Others though, they're already having a hard time keeping up those habits, part of it is life shifts. Between January and to about April when I look on my side of things with site traffic, And Google searches, that's when people are most interested in their finances. Further into the year, no matter what camp you're in the seasons change and life rolls on. With September zooming by and the last quarter coming up. I find it's another point in the year where we reflect. We have this many awareness that the year's wrapping up. We're reviewing how much we've accomplished. Now on top of the regular seasonal changes in the year. We still have the COVID pandemic that we're dealing with. Rather than fight the seasonal shifts or craft these perfect on paper budgets, but they fall apart during real life pivots, we have to address a fundamental issue -building a sustainable and flexible system for handling your finances so that you can live your life and if something happens adjust as needed. Instead of chasing money as the target or the goal really should be using it as a tool. In this episode, we're going to break that down so that you can create a financial system that is easy to maintain and adjust and have a sustainable budget that's flexible and fun. Are you ready? Let's get started! Handy Tools to Build Your Financial System Quickly and Easily
Thank You to Our Sponsor Coastal! Support for this podcast comes from Coastal Credit Union! If you’re living in the Raleigh Durham area and looking to bank better, come check out Coastal today. We’ve been Coastal members for a few years have been happy with their services. They have wonderful customer service along with competitive rates to make saving easier! Support the Podcast!Thank you so much for listening to the podcast! If you enjoyed this episode and found it helpful, here are some ways to support it.
Direct download: SEP_S3E23_Gow_to_Create_a_Fun_and_Flexible_Financial_System.mp3
Category:personal finance -- posted at: 7:15am EDT |
Wed, 15 September 2021
Are you frustrated with your debt and feel like you’re stuck in this rut? Today we’re going to see how you can negotiate your debts to lessen the stress and get you closer to your debt free goals! Dealing with Debt CollectorsPaying off debt is usually one of the top three goals people make for the year, but struggle to achieve. Depending on where the pandemic caught you on your financial journey, you may have had an extra harder struggle. Perhaps a drop in income meant slowing down or even pausing your debt pay off plan. That can be a real burden on a marriage because those balances are lingering, or worse growing. If it makes you feel better, you’re not alone. Debt is weighing down a lot of families. According to Experian, 90% of adults in the US have at least one credit card on their report, and of those, 75% carry a balance month to month. The average balance for that group is $5,315. Then consider that the average balance on a car loan is $19,703. Then you have student loans. In 2020, the average balance was $38,792. While there is some relief for federal loans with the pause in payments, if you have private loans, you’re still dealing with them on top of everything. Hopefully things have improved, but you’re not trying to figure out how to jump back in, which debts to tackle first, what payment makes the most sense. Which is why I’m happy to have attorney Taylor Kosla be a part of this episode. Taylor is a partner at Agruss Law Firm, a team that’s focused on helping people deal with debt collection. In this episode we’ll look at:
Are you ready? Let’s get started! Resources to Dump Your Debt FasterIf you’re looking to create a debt free plan that fits your family, budget, and timeline here are some helpful resources to review.
Thank You to Our Sponsor Coastal! Support for this podcast comes from Coastal Credit Union! If you’re living in the Raleigh Durham area and looking to bank better, come check out Coastal today. We’ve been Coastal members for a few years have been happy with their services. Support the Podcast!Thank you so much for listening to the podcast! If you enjoyed this episode and found it helpful, here are some ways to support it.
Direct download: SEP_S3E22_How_to_Negotiate_with_Debt_Collectors.mp3
Category:personal finance -- posted at: 7:15am EDT |
Wed, 8 September 2021
Today we’ll go over how you can set up your finances so you’ll have more options and time for the things people and projects you love! Pursuing Financial Independence on Your TermsAs a kid one of my favorite genres of books to read was those choose your own adventure stories. Remember those? You always began the same, but based on the choices you made, you could find buried treasure. Or your plane crashes. (Wait, not sure that was a thing in a kids book. Anyways…) Fast forward and now my absolute favorite type of video games to play are RPGs. Why? Because you have room to craft out your own adventures. Guess some things don't change. What does this have to do with financial independence? Glad you asked! I feel like financial independence is just like those books and games – you decide on how you're going to go through it. You have flexibility to make it fit you and your family. But it doesn't always feel that way. There's this narrative that gets pushed that there's a certain way to FI. Specifically as fast as possible. If you've been turned off by that segment of FI or you want to have more flexibility with your plan, I think you'll enjoy today's episode. And to help me out is Diania Merriam. She's the founder of EconMe who knows firsthand the joys of and challenges of carving out your own FI path. In this episode, we're jumping into:
Are you ready? Let's get started! Resources to Craft Your FI PathIf you're looking to get ahead with your finances as a family, here are some resources to check out!
Want to be a part of EconMe this year? Sign up for your ticket! Because you're a listener, Diania was kind enough to pass on a discount code. Type in SIMPLIFYENJOY to save 10% on your ticket! Thank You to Our Sponsor Coastal!
Support for this podcast comes from Coastal Credit Union! If you’re living in the Raleigh Durham area and looking to bank better, come check out Coastal today. We’ve been Coastal members for a few years have been happy with their services. They have wonderful services and accounts to make saving easier including their competitive money market accounts! Support the Podcast!Thank you so much for listening to the podcast! If you enjoyed this episode and found it helpful, here are some ways to support it.
Music by various Artists from Audiio. Photos by Elizabeth Zernetska and Dio Hasbi Saniskoro from Pexels
Direct download: SEP_S3E20_Choose_Your_Own_FI_Adventure_with_Diania_of_EconoMe.mp3
Category:personal finance -- posted at: 5:30am EDT |
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