When it comes to investing, you can definitely do a lot with just a little. Whether you have $25 or $1,000, it’s actually easy nowadays to start investing with little money. Some other investment platforms actually don’t require a minimum investment for you to open up a portfolio.
Importance of Financial Planning in the Trucking Industry
In our rapidly growing and changing world today, earning money is not that easy unless you have a stable career. Money is not everything, but we need it in order to live and one must deeply understand the significance of it to make more money. Truth be told, sometimes you have to spend money to make money. People who are in the business and finance industry has a piece of in-depth knowledge regarding the matter and they know the importance of spending money to generate bigger money. Each of us is always looking for different ways to cut costs, to be frugal and to manage our budget wisely. On the other hand, investing and spending money that makes sense is crucial to surviving in this world since it also leads to new opportunities and advantages in life.
Become A Smarter Trader With ForexCT
When you are looking to become a better trader, the best option that you have is to start trading with ForexCT.
ForexCT, as one of the most reliable Forex brokers in Australia, is also a great source of information and education.
One of the main goals of the company is to ensure that all traders are able to make good investments and good trades. So, with this in mind, they developed a wide range of education tools that you can use.
Creating A Financial Plan You Can Stick To
The more I read and the more I meet with people, the more I realize that setting up a financial plan is more than dollars and cents.
Yes, the better financial plans have your typical items. Save this much, invest in these things, and contribute to this retirement plan.
But the best plans not only have this to take care of your financial needs but they’re also set up in a way that your psychological needs are met as well.
Can you stick with it?
The best plan is anyone that you can stick with. When setting up your plan, go through it slowly. Take each item one step at a time and consider possible scenarios when determining a particular section.
For example, when setting up a plan for your emergency fund, figure out what’s realistic for how much you’ll need and how long it will take you to get there.
Also, figure out how it will be replenished if/when it’s ever used. Perhaps you’ll have an automatic deposit setup indefinitely?
Another thing to keep in mind is including some flexibility in your plan. For example, if part of the process is setting up a budget and your weakness is eating takeout, include a little bit of money for it.
I generally advocate for eating your meals at home, but if it’s inevitable that you’ll go out to eat, it’s better to include a little bit of it, rather than trying to avoid it.
Will you gasp every time the market dips?
Investing is a vital part of your financial plan. Investing is what helps your savings grow, but at times, your investments can lose value.
Our psychology plays a big role in our success as an investor. It’s said that we experience the pain of a loss two times stronger than we experience the joy of a gain.
That said, you need to plan accordingly to keep your emotions in check. If you let them take control of your decisions, you could end up selling your investments after you’ve already lost value, at which point it may be better for you to stay in.
Most investable assets are in a retirement plan of some sort, so your time horizon is, more than likely, long-term. 20+ years for instance. Your risk tolerance is the other part to take into consideration.
How much are you willing to lose until you say, uncle? In a six month period, would you have to sell after you lost 10%, 20%, 30%, or more? Your answer to this will help determine what you are able to stomach.
The next thing to do is to stress test your portfolio. The popular investing/research websites will have this. You plug in your portfolio with dollar amounts and ticker symbols, and then (depending on the site) you can select a variety of scenarios to see how your portfolio would do during that scenario.
The 2008 Financial Crisis is a common one.
Conclusion
Creating a financial plan that has the potential to meet your goals is important, and having a plan that you’re comfortable with and one that will help you sleep at night is optimal.
Make sure, when you are developing your plan, that you are factoring in your behavior as an investor and as a human. We are emotional creatures, and that makes investing a little more difficult.
If you’d like to learn more about what was discussed here and for our disclosures, visit our website.
If reading this blog post makes you want to try your hand at blogging, we have good news for you; you can do exactly that on Saving Advice. Just click here to get started.
How To Pump Up Your Finances
By “pump up,” I mean to do something that improves your financial situation in any way. Reduce expenses, start a rainy day fund, invest for the future, etc.
With that said, let’s take a look at some simple strategies to pump up your finances.
Cut the fat
I’d start by creating a budget. Look at the past three months of income and expenses. Total the expenses, total your income and compare the two. This will give you a clear picture of how much you are spending versus how much you make.
After that, you can go back with a magnifying glass and see exactly where your money is going, and stop spending money where it is necessary, or at least reduce it.
You can also reduce the fees you pay to invest. Mutual funds and ETFs are the most popular vehicles used today, but they come with a cost. It’s listed as an expense ratio. That ratio should be as low as possible. Ideally, it’ll be under .20%.
A quick tip to cut your expenses – get rid of cable/dish. There are too many services available now. You don’t need to spend $100+ on TV anymore.
Increase savings rate
Hopefully, you are saving something. If you are having trouble setting money aside because of limited resources, give this article a read for some help.
You should be saving in at least two places. An emergency fund and a retirement plan.
- Emergency fund – Say you are contributing $20 per month. This is a good place to start, but you’re going to want to save more so you have enough in case your car breaks down or you lose your job. After three months of saving $20/month. Increase that amount by $5. After another three months, at which point you’ll have gotten used to not having that extra $5, increase it again. Rinse and repeat.
- Retirement plan – If you have a retirement plan with your employer and they match, you’ll want to contribute at least enough to get that match. That’s your starting point. Then you’ll follow the same steps as the emergency fund. After a few months, increase the contribution percentage. If you don’t have a plan with your employer, set up an IRA, start contributing what’s comfortable for you, and follow those same steps.
I mentioned you should have AT LEAST these two accounts. Personally, I have several savings accounts. They are set up for different reasons. I have one for holiday spending, one for car repairs, and one for travel expenses. Giving your money a “job” makes it more likely that you’ll use that money for that “job.”
Switch to an online bank
Most online banks have higher interest rates on savings accounts. They also, typically, have lower rates on loans (based on credit score).
If you are saving money for a rainy day and putting it with a brick and mortar bank, you’re most likely earning next to nothing. Better to put that money in an account where you’ll earn a little interest.
Refinance high-interest rate loans
I’m going to dedicate this section to credit cards because that’s what most people think of when they hear high-interest rates.
There are three strategies you can use.
- Balance transfer – Many credit card companies offer a 0% APR on balance transfers for a certain period of time. Some have terms for 21 months. The interest rate will jump after the 21st month, though, so make sure your balance is paid off before then.
- Personal loan – If you have credit card debt and don’t, or can’t, utilize a 0% balance transfer, then a personal loan is your next option. You get a loan for the total amount of outstanding credit card debt. Then the institution will send a payment to each credit card company and pay off your credit card debt. You’ll be left with one payment. Be advised, credit matters here (also for balance transfers) so if the interest rate on the personal loan is higher than the average interest rate of your credit cards, don’t do it.
- The last option is to call the credit card company and ask for a lower rate. More often than not, if it’s available, they’ll give it to you. It won’t lower your payment a whole lot, but it’ll definitely help.
If you want to learn more about credit cards, click here.
Improve your credit
Your credit score makes a difference. It can impact what loans you qualify for, the interest rate, where you live, and where you work.
If you want to start making moves in your financial life, you need to improve your credit.
There are three really simple ways to do this.
- Pay more than the minimum on your outstanding debt and pay on time – on time payments is the #1 factor when calculating your score.
- Call your utility company and see if they report to the credit agency. It’ll count as another credit account (a factor) and it’ll influence your on-time payments.
- Open a secured credit card – You open this type of card with a deposit. The deposit will act as your credit limit. If you deposit $500, you’ll have a credit limit of $500. Make regular, small purchases and pay the entire balance right away. Credit agencies like to so activity and, as I’ve said, on-time payments.
If you want to learn more about improving your credit, click here.
Conclusion
If you want to improve your financial life, it’s actually pretty straight forward. Spend less than you make, save money for the future, pay down debt, and improve your credit. If you do these four things (obviously, easier said than done), goals that once seemed far fetched, can be within reach.
Please visit my website for our disclosures.
If reading this blog post makes you want to try your hand at blogging, we have good news for you; you can do exactly that on Saving Advice. Just click here to get started.
What Hurts Your Credit Score? 10 Things That Can Seriously Affect Your Rating
When it comes to financial literacy, how confident are you?
If you’re like most of the country, you’re probably not as confident as you’d like to be. Two-thirds of the country isn’t even able to pass a basic financial literacy test.
As far as financial literacy goes, one of the issues Americans struggle with the most is their credit score. Most Americans have no idea what hurts your credit score or what they can do to raise it back up.
A Few Tax Tips Suitable for Anyone
Seeing as how next Monday is tax day, I thought it would be fitting to write about taxes. This article will have little to do with income taxes, however.
Instead, I’ll be focusing on the taxability of retirement accounts and brokerage accounts.
Qualified Accounts
A qualified account is pretty much anything that has a tax advantage. Tax advantage simply means that the investments inside the account grow tax-deferred – you aren’t taxed on the growth within the account, and/or the money can be withdrawn tax-free.
There are several different kinds of qualified accounts. Instead of listing them all, I’m going to list a few of the common ones and link to an article containing all the accounts and what they’re about.
- 401k – The most common employer-sponsored retirement account. It’s not offered by all employers, but the money going into the account is pre-tax. Additionally, the money grows tax-deferred. However, when withdrawn, the money is taxable as income according to your tax bracket.
- Traditional IRA – This is an individual retirement account. This type of account is contributed to using post-tax money, but most people are able to deduct the contribution on their taxes. However, there is a level of income when you no longer qualify for that deduction. The money is taxable when withdrawn as income.
- Roth IRA – Also an individual retirement account, but with three key differences. One, the money that’s contributed is not tax-deductible. Two, the money is tax-free when withdrawn. Three, not everyone is eligible to open a Roth IRA once a certain level of income is reached.
Each of these plans has unique characteristics and rules. I encourage you to give this article a read to learn more about them. (Note: income eligibility for IRAs is listed in this article)
Non-qualified accounts
No bells or whistles. These accounts are designed to hold your cash, securities, and give you the ability to invest and trade.
Qualified accounts do the same thing, but have tax-advantages. Non-qualified accounts don’t.
There are usually two types of accounts: individual and joint. An individual account is for one person. A joint account is for two or more.
With a non-qualified account, there are two things you have to pay attention to.
- Capital gains/losses – A capital gain is when you sell an investment for more than what you paid for it and a capital loss is the exact opposite. A capital gain comes in two variations. Short-term, which is when you held an investment for less than one year and is taxed at your income tax bracket. Long-term, when you held an investment for longer than one year and is taxed at a reduced tax rate.
- Dividends/interest – These are paid by the company or fund and are taxed as income.
Tax return as savings
The last thing I wanted to talk about is your tax return and how you use it/view it. There are three types of returns. When you owe, when you break even, and when you get money back.
What I try to do, and what I generally recommend people do, is get as close to breaking even as you can. This just means you paid about the exact amount in taxes that you should have. No more, no less.
Here’s when I’m okay with people getting money back.
As a collective, we are horrible at saving money. The statistics show it. Now if you go through the year and pay more taxes than you need to and want to use that tax return as a makeshift savings account, then have at it.
My philosophy is if it helps you save money and it works for you, then do it. Some people need that type of set up.
Regular savings account don’t work for everyone because often, they are able to access the money whenever they want/need to. If you’re using your tax return as your savings vehicle, you don’t have that opportunity.
Conclusion
Love it or hate it, taxes are a part of life, and they won’t go away. There are certain strategies and certain accounts you can utilize to help make them more manageable/bearable.
If you’d like to learn more about anything discussed here and for my disclosures, visit my company’s website!
If reading this blog post makes you want to try your hand at blogging, we have good news for you; you can do exactly that on Saving Advice. Just click here to get started.
How to Make Long-Term Investing Decisions
One of the most valuable attributes of successful investors is being able to stick to their guns and trust their analysis even when the market is tanking.
How do you invest for the long-term? Are there certain strategies and mindsets that can be used to your advantage?
We’ll explain that and more in the following article.
Know what you are willing to risk
Whether you are someone that allocates your assets between a select few mutual funds but are looking to use a small portion of your account to enhance your returns or an investor that owns a handful of stocks, you need to be wary of how much of your total portfolio is in one security/strategy.
With either scenario, the decision of how much of your portfolio you are willing to risk in an individual security is whatever you are comfortable with. Personally, if I were in your position, I wouldn’t use more than 5% in this type of situation.
Taxes matter
If you are investing in a qualified account (tax-advantaged account) taxes don’t really have any effect on whether you should buy or sell something, or what type of security you invest in.
You’re either taxed before you deposit the funds or you pay taxes when you withdraw, otherwise the account grows tax-deferred.
If you’re investing in a non-qualified account (standard brokerage/investment account) the taxes and what securities you invest in, matters.
For example, when you invest in a mutual fund, at the end of the year, that fund will pass capital gains to the investors. It’ll come in similar to a dividend, but a much bigger number (depending on the year). You have to pay taxes on that, just like you would a dividend.
Another example, if you invest in a security and sell it for more than you bought it, you have a capital gain. If you held the security for less than 1 year, it’s a short-term capital gain. If you held it for more than 1 year, it’s a long-term capital gain. A long-term capital gain is taxed at a lower rate than a short-term gain.
Asset allocation is important
Stocks/bonds/cash. They are the three most important asset classes in investing.
I’ve written about stocks and bonds before, but the cliff notes version is stocks are risky and can reward you with high returns. They get hit hard during bear markets.
Bonds are generally less risky so you usually get a lower return. However, they tend to hold up a little better during bear markets.
Depending on where you are in life and what you’re comfortable with determines how much (by percentage) you should have in each asset class.
Someone in their 20s should have almost all stocks and a little in bonds. Maybe 90/10 or 80/20. I’d only recommend cash if they were waiting for a significant pullback and wanted to put money to work at lower prices.
Conversely, someone in their 60s that has less time to make back what they lose, would be much more conservative. Their allocation could be 40/50/10 or somewhere around there.
Keep in mind these are general rules of thumb. The most important thing with any investment is your comfort level. If you are 25 and aren’t comfortable with hanging on to your stocks during a 40% decline, be more conservative.
Fees will eat your returns
There’s no denying that trading fees, advisor fees, and the various other types of fees will reduce your returns over the long-term.
On average, expense ratios on mutual funds are much higher than expense ratios on ETFs. Though I believe paying your advisor their fee (I don’t think it should be higher than 1%) is well worth the expense, not everyone needs an advisor.
If your financial situation is relatively simple, you’re comfortable and confident with how you handle things, and you don’t foresee making any significant changes, then it’s probably not worth it.
However, it might not be a terrible idea to see one every few years to have an objective set of eyes review everything.
What’s your exit strategy?
When you invest in a security, and this is more than just asset allocation, you need to have your exit already planned. Too often, people will invest in a stock, see it climb 10% higher and then fall back down. Instead of selling with a small gain or at cost, they’ll hang onto it in hopes it’ll climb back up, even if it keeps falling.
Our emotions and our behavior is our worst enemy in investing. Having a plan and a strategy in place before you even get started is a great way to help mitigate those things from getting in the way.
Regular contributions
If you have time to ride out down markets and are comfortable with the investments you chose/the asset allocation you picked, then hang onto what you have.
An added bonus is if you are regularly contributing and adding to those positions. In a down market, those securities you invested in will get cheaper. When you regularly invest at lower prices, you effectively lower your average purchase price.
Conclusion
Investing can be very difficult, but it doesn’t have to be. In my opinion, keeping your investment plan as simple as possible paired with a unique ability to keep your emotions out of the equation is a recipe for success.
For more information about investing and for my disclosures, visit www.crgfinancialservices.com.
If reading this blog post makes you want to try your hand at blogging, we have good news for you; you can do exactly that on Saving Advice. Just click here to get started.
10 Tips for Becoming a Better Financial Mentor or Advisor
Telling people how to properly manage their finances seems like a relatively straightforward job on the surface, but once you start to get into the nuances and subtitles of topics like investment portfolio management, retirement savings, and tax deductions, things can start to get complicated. Being a great financial mentor isn’t just about being able to recall and share knowledge with your clients, it’s about putting yourself in their shoes to determine the best possible course of action. Perhaps more importantly, whether you’re able to retain existing clients will depend on how well you deliver your presentations and the efficacy of your recommendations. With that said, here are 10 tips you can use to become a better financial advisor or mentor:
1. Hone Your Presentation Skills with Coaching Training
The old saying, “it’s not what you say but how you say it,” is certainly true in financial advisory. The fact is, it often takes month or years for a piece of financial advice to be proven true or false. That means that in the short-term, the client’s perception of your advice is even more important than whether the advice is actually useful. Of course, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try to be as accurate and helpful as possible, but it’s important to remember that the way you present your advice is almost as important as the advice itself. Get training in coaching to learn how to pass your advice along successfully.
2. Be a Better Leader
As a financial advisor, you’re always playing a leadership role, whether you know it or not. The problem is, if you don’t think and act like a leader,it won’t come across in your advisory, and clients won’t be as confident in your advice. Projecting an assuring attitude will give the impression that you thoroughly know what you’re doing as opposed to someone who seems shaky or skeptical about the advice they’re giving. Even if you are not 100% certain that your suggestions will result in a financial gain, it’s imperative that you approach each session with the mindset of an infallible leader rather than a speculative companion.
3. Be Personable
Being a good leader is just one half of the battle because you also have to be personable enough to get clients to like you. It’s possible to be a great leader without having excellent 1-on-1 conversational skills. Learn to listen more and ask questions that stir up curiosity and brainstorming during your consultations. How well do you really know your clients? Being an advisor involves building long-lasting business relationships with people, so if you’re not prepared to be a likeable individual, this may not be the career path for you.
4. Specialize in a Specific Financial Niche
Everyone needs financial advice, so no niche is untouchable for a financial advisor. Some financial advisors focus on providing guidance to internet marketers, while others offer advisory to healthcare professionals and clinics. There’s really no limit to the kinds of business structures and investment strategies you can specialize in, so be creative and look for something that provides a decent level of opportunity with minimal competition. Playing the niche card works because many savvier clients don’t just want general advice, they want suggestions that are tailored to their company’s needs and goals.
5. Send Out Routine Follow Ups to Stay Visible
Financial advice is everywhere, and it seems like there are a million ways to find guidance. Staying visible and following up is the best way to break through that sea of competition and remain a factor for your clients and prospects. Use automated email sending apps and services to schedule your follow-up regimen weeks or months in advance. That way, your clients will be hearing from you on a regular basis, even when they’re not in need of mentorship or advice.
6. Be a Better Listener
You’re inevitably going to encounter a percentage of clients who will ramble on and on about their money problems. You may have the natural urge to interrupt with some sage advice, but the better course of action is to give the client time to let it all out and stop naturally. Knowing when to interject will help the flow of the conversation and the client won’t feel like they’re being cut off in the middle of a sentence or thought process. In a way, letting clients fully vent is part of being a great mentor or advisor because it gives you more questions and concerns to respond to when it’s your turn to start speaking.
7. Improve Communication
Whether you’re providing written advice via a digital content platform like an email newsletter or a regularly updated blog, or you’re doing in-person meetings to deliver your mentorship, you’ll need to have a way with words. Fortunately, if you enroll for the coaching training courses mentioned in the first tip on this list, you should learn quite a bit about being a better communicator. You may also want to take some courses on public speaking and business writing.
8. Let the Metrics Speak for You
Many of your clients will not take the time or effort to track their progress in a quantified manner. By taking the initiative to bring that value to the table, you’ll be proving your worth with undeniable stats and figures that speak for themselves. Use graphs and charts to back up your advisory and leverage it even more with analytical follow-ups to show that your advice has been generating positive results.
9. Be a Fact-Based Advisor
Anyone can speculate and give opinions all day, but not many advisors have the analysis and reporting skills to keep their guidance completely fact-based. While there’s always a margin for error, when you stand behind solid statistics and a proven track record of accuracy, you’re more likely to impress clients enough to keep them coming back. You should also use the term “fact-based advisory” in your pitches and presentations to remind clients that you always put results first.
10. Learn How to Reduce the Client’s Stress
Talking about finances can obviously be stressful, especially when you’re in the position of desperately needing guidance from an advisor or mentor. Study conversational stress reduction techniques to learn how to de-escalate your client’s emotional states during consultation. Remember that you’re providing a service that is essentially financial therapy, so clients should leave feeling relieved and less concerned than they were before. This is one of the more subtle parts of being an advisor or mentor, but it’s what separates the pros from the amateurs.
Giving Advice Shouldn’t Be Hard
When you’ve dedicated your career to learning how to become a better money manager, teaching others how to do the same shouldn’t feel like rocket science. Ultimately, your value as an advisor comes not just in the knowledge you bring but also your ability to help each client achieve their individual financial needs.
Many financial advisors will tell you that the hardest year of doing business will be your first because you’ll be getting used to dealing with clients and refining your abilities. Once you’ve established a solid foundational skill set and have a good 1-2 years of experience under your belt, you’ll find that financial advisory will feel like an easy and pleasant job.
6 Best Marketing Strategies To Help Increase Sales
Image source: Pixabay.com
A good online store will definitely want to improve their conversions and traffic. Before considering improving, it is important to put different strategies in place. There are various tactics needed to Increase sales. The problem lies in the best admissible one to choose.
Due to this constant issue, we have come together to select good marketing strategies as well as tools for e-commerce combined with profitable ideas on how to implement it. All are centred on getting the customers attention and encouraging them to make more purchases.
If possible make use of these ideas at least once every day and use it for weeks to come. When making use of these ideas, it is advised that you pick one that best suits you.
The first question to consider centres on the meaning of e-commerce marketing. This simply means making use of useful and promotional tactics to get more traffic. You should be able to convert the traffic you get into leads.
Here are some tips to help you increase your online sales:
Use Instagram Efficiently
Image source: Pixabay.com
On a grander scale, Instagram has more than 500 million users. Most of these users are active on the platform. Presently, it is regarded as one of the most visited social network applications in the world. It helps connect users, brands, and influencers. Taking good photos and dropping hashtags is the best way to develop your product through this social media platform. Most of the times if you are to gain the attention of your target audience, you may have to organize contests and competitions.
Minimize Abandoned Cart
The basic truth surrounds the fact that when you have a lower cart you will be at a financial loss. Visitors that surf a site, will add some purchase to it but what happens when they abandon their cart? It is nice to always have an email recovery campaign as it will help you retain your visitors. By creating this email, you can remind your visitors why they selected a particular product in the cart.
Start-up a Facebook store
This is another viable platform for e-commerce marketing and social media. It is advisable to start making sales from your Facebook store. Just so you know, your Facebook store can be joined with your Shopify store so as to avoid having to keep an inventory.
Increase your Email campaign
Getting enough email address is not enough, It is important to share and receive images through your Email. This will ensure that your channel is effective. There are a number of things your customers can enjoy from an email reminder when they make purchases on your online store. They include but are definitely not limited to these;
- Send out a welcome email after your client has made a purchase.
- Give out promo codes and gifts.
- Send newsletters to show subscribers of a new product as well as company news.
- Appreciate your best customers by sending them good notes and thanking them for their patronage.
Forward wish list e-mails as reminders
This is another type of email which is important to add to your marketing ideas. It can help you remind customers of products on their cart and also encourage them to add more products or items to their cart.
Customers should get what they want with ease
Image source: Pixabay.com
A poorly designed store will definitely not attract new customers. It may even chase your current customers. The question now would be; what makes a online store poorly designed?
First, they will be less trustworthy and at the same being difficult to navigate and also having difficult fonts.
To enable you to improve your sales, you have to find out how to sell on etsy with Printify.
You shouldn’t be surprised as their customer reviews are overwhelmingly positive.
This is just a few tactics that should be applied when planning on generating good online sales and traffic. Profitindustry.com shows you some of the best ecommerce platforms for a large catalog. Various online platforms have techniques which they use to Increase sales but yours can be different.
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