Your Updated Financial Plan

I’m so excited to be offering an IRL class! Yes- I’ve been teaching classes on Zoom for the last few years (I taught more than 60 during quarantine!) but haven’t been doing much in person lately. Hope you can join me. Details below. It’s a 3-class series limited to 20 people. You can come to one class, two classes, or all three!

Have you updated your financial plan? Times are changing. Inflation is at an all-time high. Interest rates are slightly higher and the market is so volatile. Never a better time to update your financial plan. Key points. 1) High Yield Savings Accounts. Maybe you already have one but if you don’t, run out and stash your emergency savings there. I like Marcus which is paying almost 2%. No fees, no minimums, and easy to transfer money from any checking account. 2) Find 3 Places to Cut. Make one big and one small and the third any size! I recently changed my homeowners' insurance and saved thousands! A few of my clients consolidated from two cars. I’ve gotten rid of streaming channels I don’t use. Believe it or not, a client tried not to use Amazon and while she still shopped online she ended up saving hundreds of dollars (shopped local and Walmart.com!). What are your places? Listen to my podcast “Budget” is NOT a dirty word. 3) Update Your Retirement Forecast. Just like the rest of us, our portfolios have dropped a bit. It won’t be easy but recalculate how much you should be saving annually or when you can retire. I’ve done this exercise many times since February and clients actually feel better once we do it together. My favorite calculator is the Fidelity Retirement Score. Listen to my podcast Get Yourself a Spicy Retirement. 4) Make Portfolio Changes. Stocks are down and Bonds are down too - though less. What can you do? Believe it or not, there are changes to make, shifting between mutual funds that have performed better in these stressed times. Or change your funds that have higher expense ratios or few Morningstar stars. Or look for high dividend-paying funds. Again, my clients that make these changes now are feeling they can handle the volatility better. 5) Buying Opportunity. Every time the market dips, I’m buying a little of an S&P 500 Index Fund or Total Stock Market Index fund. This is for my long-term portfolio. Inflation is closely tied to market performance. Dollar-cost averaging is a great tool to combat it in your portfolio. 6) Estate Planning. Many of my clients still don’t have an updated will, life insurance (TERM ONLY), or long-term care insurance (especially if you are a woman in her 50’s). It won’t get cheaper or easier. We can help guide you to take care of this cheaply and easily. In fact, listen to my latest podcast on Will Power.

Want more in-depth hand holding in your financial plan? Check out “Personal Finance for Women” in-person class!