personal finance - Surviving and Thriving

What does it take to retire successfully?

November 12, 2014November 11, 2014 by Donna Freedman

Where I grew up, people worked for as long as possible and felt diminished by retirement. Now it’s seen as a second chance.

Some people still say they plan to spend their golden years improving their golf swings or lying around in hammocks, but increasingly retirement is becoming an opportunity to start over: trying a different type of work, learning a new skill, maybe even running off to join the Peace Corps.

If you’d like to learn more, tune in to the Retiree Next Door Tweetcast next Tuesday, Nov. 18. Co-hosted by MoneyTips.com and certified financial planner Jeff Rose, the one-hour event will answer common questions and any additional queries sent in by listeners.

How secure is your identity?

November 6, 2014 by Donna Freedman

Here’s a startling stat: Nearly one in three persons surveyed by Experian believe they’re not at risk of identity theft because “thieves only want wealthy people’s identities.”

Wrong. It’s not how much money you make, but rather how much cybercrooks could make from you.

“Identity thieves use data as their commodity, selling it to the highest bidder or for personal gain, so it’s important for consumers to protect their personal information,” says Becky Frost, senior manager of consumer education for Experian’s ProtectMyID.

Put another way: My long-unemployed mother was a victim of identity theft, and another relative who is self-employed had to get a credit freeze after someone tried opening credit cards in his name.

Both cases seem to have stemmed from credit-card applications filched from mailboxes. The bigger risk these days is cybercrime, if the Experian survey is any indication.

Change your clock, check your finances.

October 30, 2014 by Donna Freedman

Every autumn we’re urged to change the batteries in our smoke detectors when we change our clocks back to Standard Time. Those batteries might be just fine, but why take a chance?

I propose another ritual, one that should be observed at both the spring-forward and fall-back time changes: Checking in with your personal financial goals.

Some people are organized enough to revisit their PF wish lists regularly. Some aren’t. If you’re in the latter group, the twice-annual clock change could be a good time to open the ledger.

Paycheck too small? Maybe you’re just ugly.

October 27, 2014 by Donna Freedman

If you’ve got a face made for radio or a body that doesn’t fit Madison Avenue’s image, you may feel that you’re not getting a fair shake. And you may be right.

For example, tall people earn more than shorter ones. Overweight men earn less (and overweight women earn a lot less) than non-obese coworkers.

And this one really frosts me: A Harvard University study indicates that women who wear makeup are seen as “more trustworthy and competent.” Hey, not all of us want to put on war paint each day.

“Unfair, but true: How your looks affect your pay,” on Money Talks News, discusses the ways bosses can legally discriminate against you.

Sometimes those ways are pretty ridiculous. One employment law expert has heard from people who got canned because supervisors didn’t like their shoes. Seriously.

What’s your financial bogeyman?

October 26, 2014 by Donna Freedman

When it comes to things that go bump in the night, poltergeists have got nothing on underfunded retirements.

According to a new survey from MoneyRates.com, 79 percent of respondents have had a specific “financial scare” in the past and 87 percent have money fears about the future.

Of those 87 percent, the top fear is not having enough for retirement. Some other fears:

Debt: 31 percent have had credit-card balances or other bills they could not pay off immediately.

Carelessness: One in 10 admit to having forgotten to pay a bill, thus incurring late charges.

Bounced checks: Three times as many men as women say that an NSF situation was their worst financial scare.

The underlying theme of many of the fears cited? Not having enough money to build an emergency fund, says study author Richard Barrington.

In which I fight with Weird Al Yankovic.

October 13, 2014 by Donna Freedman

I have a huge geekcrush on Alfred Matthew Yankovic. Love his songs, love his videos, love his twisted sense of humor, and most of all love the fact that his parodies are equal parts silliness and intelligence.

Don’t believe me? Go watch the “Word Crimes” video. I love the fact that he included some of my own word-related peeves, such as “literally” and “I could care less.”

He’s a man after my own heart. As my friend Linda B. would say, I want him to have my children.

But while his parody of Pharrell’s “Happy” mostly made me giggle like mad, I also have to take issue with one of the lyrics. Watch the video and see if you can guess which one it is. (Note: It’s even funnier if you watch Pharrell’s original music video first.)

So did you guess which one it was?

Why are guys still expected to pay?

January 30, 2026October 7, 2014 by Donna Freedman

A recent study from the NerdWallet consumer blog — love that name — indicates that men still pick up the tab way too automatically.

(Yes, I’m aware that men still tend to out-earn women; I’ll address that in a minute)

But seriously? I thought this kind of thing was supposed to have gone out after the 1970s:

77.4 percent of those surveyed thought men should pay for the first date.

Even in a relationship, 56.1 percent of men still pay for date nights.

Almost 40 percent of men cover all household bills; just 14.3 percent of women do.

Remind me: In which century are we living? I just don’t see how this is fair.

Two signs of fall: One financial, one unearthly.

October 3, 2014October 3, 2014 by Donna Freedman

Autumn had been surprisingly warm but temperatures have dropped into the 20s and 30s, which is were we expect them to be at this time of year. The high-pressure systems have made for some gloriously sunny days and postcard-perfect views of the Chugach Range.

Clear days tend to mean clear nights, which provide the best viewing for the aurora borealis. On Wednesday night I got my first glimpse of the year. Unearthly, compelling, fascinating stuff even here in town, where light pollution tends to blunt the impact.

Then again, it was the middle of the night and I had no interest in driving to a darker area for a better view. Standing on the back deck in just a bathrobe was a bit chilly but I still got a good look and as always, seeing the northern lights felt like a privilege.

If they’re not visible where you live, check out these two links:

Tomorrow’s Tweetchat could make you $100 richer.

September 30, 2014September 29, 2014 by Donna Freedman

Those of you who actually enter the Publishers Clearing House sweepstakes [hand goes up] may remember the $5,000 bonus award you could get if the PCH team ever showed up at your front door.

You were supposed to look at the camera and say something like, “I just won a gazillion dollars in the Publishers Clearing House sweepstakes! Now I know it’s real!”

Why someone who’d just won a gazillion dollars would be compos mentis enough to remember to say that – and why he’d even care about an extra five grand – was never explained to my satisfaction. That won’t stop me from pirating the slogan, however:

“Last month I won a $100 Amazon card from the Ally Bank Tweetchat! Now I know it’s real!”

(Yeah, that’s some teeny print. But if you click on the screenshot you’ll see my Twitter handle, @DLFreedman, as one of the winners.)

I already knew it was real, because a Surviving and Thriving reader wrote to tell me she’d won a card. That made me happy.

You may already be a winner!

It would also make me happy if one (or two!) of you guys won the Amazon scrip at tomorrow’s Ally Bank Tweetchat. Certainly it’s a topic to which we can all relate: “Developing enviable saving habits.”

Toward a care-free retirement.

June 16, 2018September 18, 2014 by Donna Freedman

(This post is part of the “Retiree Next Door Movement,” created by MoneyTips.com. More than 70 personal finance bloggers committed to write about a single issue on the same day to raise awareness.)

When MoneyTips.com surveyed 510 retired and semi-retired persons about their financial habits, I was surprised that just 30 percent considered themselves “frugal” before retiring, whereas 67 percent said they spent “enough to live comfortably.”

Now that they’re not working or working a lot less, the numbers haven’t changed much: 65 percent live comfortably and 35 percent live frugally.

Those numbers should give hope to people who might fear they won’t have the resources to retire. That’s because terms like “comfortably” and “frugally” can mean just about anything you want them to mean.