Saving up for retirement is hard work. It can take a lifetime to accumulate a large enough nest egg to live on (see How Much Money Do You Need To Retire), and once you finally do retire, you want to make sure your money never runs out before you pass away. What happens to your … Continue reading A Graphical Representation Of Why Your Retirement Withdrawal Rate Matters
Many of you have likely heard of the FIRE movement, which stands for Financial Independence, Retire Early. However, do you know what financial independence means? I previously published an article about what it means to be financially comfortable, but financially independent takes it a step further. In simple terms, it means that you are no … Continue reading What Does It Mean To Be Financially Independent?
We spend years saving and growing our nest egg to one day eventually retire, but do you have any idea how much money you'll need to make that dream a reality? Experts toss around various numbers ($1 million, $2 million), but in truth, everyone's situation is different. It can seem overwhelming to make this calculation, … Continue reading How Much Money Do You Need To Retire?
Unfortunately, not everyone is lucky enough to have an employer-sponsored retirement plan like a 401(k), and even fewer people have 401(k) matching. An employer-sponsored plan is great because it allows you to save for retirement without having to think about it too much. For the rest of us, saving for retirement requires a more active … Continue reading How To Save For Retirement If Your Employer Doesn’t Offer A 401(k)
My childhood aspiration for adulthood was almost immediately dashed as soon as I reached adulthood. Being an adult is so hard! On top of forging a successful career and handling real-life responsibilities such as taking out the trash and folding laundry, I had to learn the ins and outs of managing my own finances, making … Continue reading Five Money Mistakes to Avoid in Your 20s
Everyone wants their net worth to grow, but it's nice to have a benchmark to compare your growth to in order to see how you are doing. Unfortunately, it's not easy to find the average annual change in net worth. It is possible to find annual net growth targets, as in this Financial Samurai article, … Continue reading What Is The Average Change In Net Worth Per Year?
Every year since 2017 (and twice in 2020), Charles Schwab's Modern Wealth Index Survey has asked 1,000 Americans about what net worth they would need to be financially comfortable and what net worth they would need to be wealthy. You can see how their answers have changed over time in the graph below. https://anchor.fm/cozy-nest-egg/episodes/What-Does-It-Mean-To-Be-Financially-Comfortable-e11rt98 The … Continue reading What Does It Mean To Be Financially Comfortable?
Common sense would tell us that net worth increases as income increases. However, it's not as simple as that, as you can see in the infographic I created using data from the 2019 Survey of Consumer Finances. https://anchor.fm/cozy-nest-egg/episodes/Net-Worth-And-Income-e120qmq Net worth increases exponentially relative to income The first observation we can make based on the infographic … Continue reading Infographic: Relationship Between Net Worth and Income
There is a retirement crisis in America. According to a 2019 survey by Charles Schwab, Americans believe they need $1.7 million on average to retire. However, the 2019 Survey of Consumer Finances sponsored by the Federal Reserve Board found that Americans aged 65 to 74 have only $426,070 on average saved for retirement. Median retirement … Continue reading How To Use Your Stimulus Checks To Help Your Children Retire
When I was in my early 20s, I thought the stock market was out of reach for me. I heard news anchors announcing the Dow and Nasdaq indexes on the radio day in and day out, but never had it occurred to me that I should invest in it myself. I was a graduate student … Continue reading Why You Should Start Investing in the Stock Market in Your Twenties
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