Catch Me on Streettalk Live and Ask Your Biggest Money Questions!
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Just wanted to let everyone know that tomorrow night I'll be a guest on Streettalk Live (KSEV Houston) hosted by Lance Roberts.
Saving, Investing, and Retiring as a Couple
As far as I know the topics for discussion is about saving, investing, and retirement.
How it will start and where it goes from there, you'll have to tune in to the live show. I'll share some of my thoughts on how couples can tackle these topics.
Please share your thoughts so I can include and mention them on the show hopefully. If you have any questions you want answered, please, please call in. I'm looking forward to hearing from you.
Create a Real World Budget As a Couple
One of the biggest issues with couples is deciding how to pay the bills together. For us, we use proportional budgeting that allows us to put money into bills, savings, retirement, and other goals while giving each of us a bit of spending money.
Since I am self -employed and can be irregular we have decided to use my income for savings and paying down debts and my husband's income is used for monthly expenses.
The first step with getting a budget that you can stick with is knowing where you are currently and how you really spend your money.
You can do the tried and true low tech method by keeping notes over the next few weeks on all of your income and expenses or you can use a free tool like Personal Capital or Mint to grab that data and organize it for you in about 10 minutes.
To get away from living paycheck to paycheck, savings for both the short term and long term has got to be a part of your plan.
For us, we have some money transferred over from checking to savings regularly, just like a bill. If you're worried about hurting your budget, start small and automate small transfers and increase them over time.
Investing as a Couple
Once you two have a foundation for yourselves. If your job offer's a 401(k) with a match, please seriously consider putting in at least enough to get the match. It's basically free money that you can use to reach your retirement goal faster.
Another option you can use to save for retirement and get some tax benefits are IRAs. Right now if you're under 50, you can each contribute $5,000/year into your IRAs. There are plenty of options for managing your IRA. Here are some places to consider for opening an IRA if you haven’t already started.
Banks, brokerages, and credit unions also offer IRAs. Some companies charge a flat fee for the year, some companies take a fee for each transaction made, others can take a percentage, and some do all of this. Compare your options to see if you’re getting a good deal.
The good news is that you can adjust your investments as you gain more confidence and learn more about what kind of investors you two are. Getting started now rather than later can be a bigger boost that worrying about the perfect time to start investing (and waiting).
Check Out Streettalk Live!
I can't wait to see how things go on the radio. I think talking about how couples can work together on their finances and sharing our takes on what has worked for us can be extremely beneficial. I hope you tune in Friday and call in to say hi.
If you haven't listened to to Streettalk Live, please listen to the podcasts of some their past shows and check out their blog! Call in (281)558-5738 tomorrow night
Photo Credits: Streettalk Live
Good luck!