Half of Americans Wished They’d Started Retirement Savings Sooner

More than half of Americans will retire broke

NEW YORK (MainStreet) — Half of all working Americans want a retirement-savings do-over as they fall short of their goals.

TIAA-CREF's Ready to Retire survey reveals that and a lot more than once again points to a retirement savings landscape where millions of Americans believe they won't have enough cash to live on in retirement and wish they’d emphasized "financial readiness" capacity during their saving years.

The report says 52% of Americans approaching retirement say "they wish they had started saving for the future sooner" and that many worries about not having enough money to cover their monthly expenses (45%), while others are anxious about how health care costs (35%) or inflation (32%) could deplete their retirement savings.

As usual with surveys on Americans and their retirement savings, there's a disconnect in what savers say they need to accomplish and what they actually accomplish. For example, 45% of survey respondents age 55-64 say "financial readiness is the most important factor in determining when they will retire," but only 35% say they saved in an IRA or met with a financial advisor.

Regret about what could have been also dominated the survey. "Many respondents say they wish they had made smarter financial decisions earlier in their career, including saving more of their paycheck (47%) and investing their savings more aggressively (34%)," the report says. As a result, TIIA-CREF reports that 68% of Americans near retirement say they are "not prepared" financially and another 42% say they will have to keep working in retirement and 39% must "limit" what they spend.

"This research reinforces that preparing for retirement shouldn't become a sprint to the finish, but rather a long-distance pursuit that requires careful planning throughout an adult's life," says Teresa Hassara, an executive vice president at TIAA-CREF.

The survey results should act as a prod to better saving habits. "This will help prevent those nearing retirement from feeling like they have to play catch-up near the end of their careers," Hassara says. "Developing and acting on a carefully constructed plan can help individuals at any age build a financially secure future."

The news isn't all negative for low savers. Hassara says many older workers can make up a lot of ground if they act right away. "If Americans find that their retirement savings aren't adequate to meet their expectations about retirement life, it's never too late to make adjustments," she says. "In fact, if a 55-year-old starts to max out his or her employer-sponsored retirement plan contribution next year and continues to do so for the next 10 years, those savings could grow to about $325,000."

Are You Using the Right Credit card?

Credit cards

With Christmas approaching, it's time to check your credit card, whether you want to cut interest payments or earn rewards

The build-up to Christmas has begun and with it the spending on everything from presents to decorations to food. Many of us use credit cards at this time of year, either to spread the cost or so we can build up cash back or rewards from all our festive spending. But are we using the right cards?

Research from Sainsbury's Bank has found that 15 percent of us put large purchases on standard credit cards but don't clear the balance straight away. With standard credit cards charging an average of 18.9 percent APR those shoppers will pay an extra £268.36 repaying £2,000 over 18 months compared with if they had paid with a 0 percent credit card.

That isn't the only time people get it wrong with plastic. Many of us have a bog-standard credit card that we use regularly and repay the balance in full each month. That is great as you aren't paying any interest and you are building up a good credit history, but if you switched to a cashback or reward credit card you could benefit materially from your good credit habits.

Here are the best credit cards to use in the build-up to Christmas.

To spread the cost of Christmas

If you need to buy a few things and know you won't be able to pay off your card at the end of the month then go for a 0 percent purchase credit card. These cards allow you to spend money that you can then pay off over a long period without incurring any interest.

The best offer currently available is from Halifax. Its Purchase Credit Card offers 0 percent for 20 months. Just don't continue to use the card after that point unless you can pay the balance off in full: the interest rate jumps to 18.9 percent APR.

To earn rewards on festive spending

For those who pay off their credit card balance in full each month then interest rates aren't an issue. Instead, you should be looking at what you can earn from your spending.

If you'd like to earn air miles then you may want Lloyds Bank Premier Avios Rewards Credit Card. You'll earn up to 1.5 Avios points for every pound you spend and if you spend £12,000 a year you'll get a free companion ticket – meaning you can take someone with you on a trip at no extra cost (except their taxes and charges). According to TotallyMoney.com, this adds up to rewards worth £642 over three years, if you spend £1,600 a month on the card.

Just be aware that rewards points can be devalued at any time by the company issuing them and air miles can be tricky to spend as competition for rewards seats on flights can be fierce.

Bank some cashback

A better option is to go for a cashback credit card where you earn cold hard cash that can't be devalued, and which you can spend on anything you like.

The best of the bunch at the moment is the American Express Platinum Cashback card. It pays 5 percent for the first three months – perfect for Christmas – then the rate falls to 1.25 percent. The card has an annual fee of £25, but if you spend £1,000 a month on the card you'll easily earn that back – TotallyMoney.com estimates you'd earn £493 over three years.

Avoid charity credit cards

At this time of year, many of us like to help out charities while buying things for ourselves. There are numerous great ways to do this but a charitable credit card isn't one of them. The amount of money the charity receives is usually pitiful. Typically just 0.25 percent of your spending goes to charity – that is 25p per £100 you spend.

If you want a charity to benefit from your credit card spending take out a cashback card instead and donate what you earn. · 

Read more: http://www.theweek.co.uk/prosper/personal-finance/61453/are-you-using-the-right-credit-card#ixzz3JlCCSX79

10 Vital Tips to Manage Your Personal Finance

This article is specially written for young graduates who have just secured their first posting. In life, we have more needs and wants than our limited income. It is essential to budget and avoid overspending. Overspending means getting into debt and more problems.

1. Keep a record: For a start, find out your current financial situation. Are you in debt? Congratulate yourself if you are debt-free. If not, your top priority is to get rid of your debt as soon as possible.  Discovering your own net worth, finding out your earning potential, and checking your spending pattern is your first step towards personal financial management.

2. Plan ahead: The next step is to design a budget. If you are in debt, incorporate debt settlement into your monthly budget. The main aim is to clear your debt as soon as possible. The longer you delay, the more interest is added and the more you  have to pay  The second thing is that your monthly expenses should not exceed your income (with debt repayment included), or else you will be adding new debt every month and there will no end in sight to settle fully your debt

3. Follow the plan: Now that you have your monthly budget, you have to stick to it faithfully in order to achieve your goal of debt settlement.

4. Save: As soon as you are debt-free you have to use the same amount of money or even more ( you will get pay increments and bonuses anyway)to save for several specific purposes:

• Down payment for your first car
• Down payment for your first house
• Emergency fund
• Investment

5. Plan for retirement and children’s education early: The earlier you set aside an amount the less you will need to budget because  compound interest will work wonder for you in the long term

6. Avoid wants: Don’t do impulsive spending over and above your budget. If you want something to save for it and buy in cash. Exercise your self-control and willpower.

7. Avoid credit: Use a debit card or prepaid card instead of a credit card to get the hang of using plastic cards. Just remember credit cards are for convenience and not for the purchase of things on credit. Credit means debt and debt means bankruptcy.

8. Major purchases: A car and your own home are major purchases in life. In most cases, you need financing to get them. However, when you have already put aside an amount for these purposes, it will be easier on your monthly budget  The bigger down payment you can make means the less you will need to borrow and the less interest you will need to service and the less you will need to pay for your monthly installments. It also means a shorter period to settle the loan. 

9. Manage your debt: By now you must have incorporated your monthly payments for your car and house into your monthly budget. If it is not within your budget you will have to give up one or the other. Go for it only when you have saved for a bigger down payment for the item you cannot afford. Pay your monthly installments promptly to build a good credit record. When you need a loan in the future your creditworthiness will work in your favor.

10. More income streams and fewer expenses: The aim of personal finance is financial freedom. The prudent way is to identify more income streams and especially passive income because you don’t have to work for it. At the same time, you will have to spend wisely within your means.

Managing personal finance is a balancing act. When you spend more you will have less to save and when you allocate more in one area you will have less in other areas.

Whatever you do spend less than what you have earned.

Source: http://www.allaboutlivingwithlife.blogspot.com/2010/06/10-vital-tips-to-manage-your-personal.html

10 Ways to Get Extra Cash

Cash

Where do you get extra cash when you have exhausted your emergency fund?

Look into your own sources of the fund before you get outside help:

1. Children’s savings accounts: Here is a good source of funds that you can tap into quickly with no hassle.

2. Your fixed deposit: Here is yet another source of quick cash but you have to sacrifice your interest income for premature withdrawal.

3. Cash value of your insurance policies: You don't have to surrender a policy, but you just get a loan against the cash value. You can get your cash in just a few days. You can also redeem your investment-linked insurance policy just like you liquidate your unit trust. There is no need to make repayment

4. Sell your investment: Dispose of off part of your shares or your unit trust holding to meet your cash requirements

5. Pawn your valuables: Another quick way to get cash is to pawn your gold rings, gold chains, gold coins, or other valuables but don't let your friends or relatives spot you at the pawnshop.

6. Cash advance from your company: You can get your salary advance without interest easily from the place where you work.

7. Credit card advance: You will definitely incur substantial interest but it is a quick source of cash and is better than getting the money from Ah Long or a loan shark

8. Borrow from your friends and relatives: You have to be thick-skinned and it may not look good for you financially but what to do when you need the cash. Perhaps you can be kind enough to repay the loan with an extra amount to make your lenders happy.

9. Personal loan or a secured loan from the bank: It may not be as fast as you think but it is a way to secure the needed sum. You may not require collateral for a personal loan but you can secure an overdraft facility with your own house.

10. Loan shark: This is the last resort. If you can, avoid it. If you must borrow, make very sure that you pay back promptly or the debt will be snowballed into a sum beyond your means to settle and that is the beginning of your nightmare.

One good thing about getting a loan from financial institutions is that you can establish your creditworthiness by making timely repayments. You are better than someone with no credit history

Source:http://www.allaboutlivingwithlife.blogspot.com/2009/06/10-ways-to-get-extra-cash.html

Hotel General Manager Accused of Stealing Nearly $900,000 in Credit Card Scheme

ALLENDALE, MI – The former general manager of Sleep Inn hotel in Allendale is accused of stealing nearly $900,000 by directing credit card payments to her own accounts, according to an indictment unsealed Friday, Nov. 21.

Renata Nicole Annese is charged with 15 counts of wire fraud and a single count of money laundering.

The government is seeking forfeiture of property on Maplewood Drive in Jenison titled to Renata and Michael Annese. The government is seeking to recover $872,929.23, which investigators estimate to be proceeds of an alleged scheme that began in October 2006 and ended in April 2013, court records showed.

Renata Annese turned herself in Friday to U.S. Marshal’s Service, records showed. She has hired Grand Rapids attorney James Brady to represent her. He was not immediately available for comment on the allegations.

Annese was hired as general manager at Sleep Inn in Allendale in 2004, two years after it opened. The hotel is affiliated with Choice Hotels International, based in Rockville, Md. As general manager, she was responsible for daily operations of the hotel, including the processing of credit card transactions, Assistant U.S. Attorney Ronald Stella wrote in the indictment.

Here’s how Stella said the alleged scheme worked:

Credit and debit cards at the hotel would cause wire transmissions to be made through corporate services in Arizona and then through a Shift4 system in Nevada. Shift4 then sent authorization requests to the issuing bank for each customer and stored the authorized transactions in a “batch” on its computer system.

Once the customer’s stay was complete, credit and debit card authorizations were then converted to actual payments. Shift4 allows hotels to review and edit credit and debit card transactions before converting the authorizations into a final payment.

This process allows hotels to reserve authorizations in the event that a customer does not ultimately stay at the hotel or is dissatisfied with service and requires a refund.

Annese had sole responsibility for reviewing credit and debit card transactions. She would log onto Shift4’s system using a unique account number, user name, and password to review, edit or remove transactions before releasing a daily batch for final processing and payment to the hotel.

She allegedly carried out the scheme by fraudulently editing batches of credit cards in the Shift4 system before releasing them for payment. She manually entered her credit or debit card account numbers into the system and used a customer’s name to make it look like the transaction belonged to that customer, Stella wrote.

“By using the customer’s name and making the transaction amount match the amount of the legitimate transaction with the customer’s card, Renata Nicole Annese made the fraudulent transaction appear to be a legitimate refund to that customer, Stella said.

The money laundering charge alleges she wrote a check for $18,930.84 to Betten Imports to buy a vehicle, Stella wrote in court records.

Source: http://www.mlive.com/news/grand-rapids/index.ssf/2014/11/hotel_general_manager_accused.html

7 Reasons to Save

If you would be wealthy, think of  saving as well as getting ~ Benjamin Franklin

 Did you start saving while you were very young? Do you still set aside an amount each month from your budget as savings? You should be saving like the rich and famous. There are 7 solid reasons why you should save:

 1. Good habit: The amount is not important, the habit is. When you can save, it means you are spending less than what you have earned. More likely than not, you do not incur unnecessary debt. You get what you need, but you think twice before getting something you want.

 2. Emergency fund: Life is unpredictable, especially when money is concerned. A nasty accident or an unexpected retrenchment can cause havoc in your financial affair. It is prudent to have a cash reserve to cover around three to six months’ living expenses. So, the first priority is to save for an emergency fund.

 3. Save for a big-ticket item: it is a good strategy to save enough to buy a big-ticket item in cash rather than using your credit card or getting a personal loan. You exercise self-control and avoid getting into debt and incur interest charges.

 4. Save for a down payment for a car: It is also a better way to save for a larger down payment for a new car. Your car loan will be smaller and you also pay for a smaller amount every month and your loan period is also shorter. The most important thing is that you will incur fewer interest charges.

 5. Save for a down payment on a house: A house is a big investment. It is necessary to get a housing loan to buy your dream home. It is also wise to save and pay more for an initial amount and borrow less.

 6. Accumulate an amount for investment: How do you invest? First, you have to save a substantial amount and then you invest according to your risk tolerance. It is not enough just to save because the amount that you have saved plus the interest you have earned is not even enough to cover inflation. Making a prudent investment is the way to conserve your purchasing power and build your wealth.

 7. The starting point of a care-free financial future: Your financial future starts with savings and ends with a financially independent retirement. Fortune starts with savings and it is the foundation of wealth building. This is also the secret of the rich and famous.

 A penny saved is a penny earned. ~ Benjamin Franklin 

Source: http://www.allaboutlivingwithlife.blogspot.com/2011/08/7-reasons-to-save.html

10 Situations to Avoid Getting a Loan

It is unwise in the following situations to obtain credit and get into debt. It will jeopardize your finance during an emergency situation like when you are out of work


1. No regular income: When your income fluctuates from month to month there is no way to do a budget and include the repayments of the loan into your monthly outlay. It is also unlikely for you to obtain a loan without a regular source of income 

2. Not within your budget: Don’t get a loan when there is no extra fund to meet monthly repayments 

3. Live a more expensive lifestyle: When you can ill-afford to eat out at high-end restaurants and buy branded goods, you still can satisfy your hunger in a less expensive way. The cost of branded goods includes frequent advertisements and a higher margin for profit. A less expensive brand is just as good without the high cost of advertisement and a lower profit margin.

4. Replacing household items that are still in good working order: When you have the means there is no problem but don’t get a loan to replace electrical appliances or TV which are still in good working conditions.

5. Change a three-year-old car to the latest model: The car is in tip-top condition, why raise a loan and incur unnecessary debt and pay interest?

6. Getting things you want: Borrow money to satisfy your ego? It’s a stupid thing to do.

7. Sending your children overseas for further education: If it is within your means to study locally why incur a debt to send them overseas? Do you think it is a good thing to pledge your house to finance your children’s education abroad?

8. Throw a party to celebrate an occasion: Who cares about your celebration? Just do it among family members. Don’t get a personal loan just to spend it.

9. A holiday abroad: Have a good time locally instead of getting into debt and paying interest. Malaysia is one of the top ten destinations for holidaymakers. Discover more about your own backyard.

10. Renovate your house: Don’t beautify your house when it is in good repair even though the bank encourages you to take a loan as the value of your property has appreciated over time. 


The only good thing to raise a loan is to get a roof over your head.

Source: http://www.allaboutlivingwithlife.blogspot.com/2010/08/10-situations-to-avoid-getting-loan.html