Social Security is a social welfare program. It’s huge and--based on how many people rely on it--immensely popular. Over 52 million Americans receive benefits from this massive program. This makes Social Security arguably the most important retirement plan in the country.
Lessons I’ve Learned from Owning a Rental Property
As of this month, I’ve officially been a landlord for two years. Becoming one wasn’t exactly planned, but once Kellie and I made the decision to leave Salt Lake City for Star Valley, we couldn’t bare letting go of our first home: a nice condo in a great part of the city. So we decided to find renters.
3 Ways to Improve Your Financial Health in 30 Minutes
Last week I gave a presentation on 3 ways to improve your financial health. I love getting down to the nuts and bolts of personal finance! We (including financial planners) often make the topic more complicated than it needs to be. When you really gets down to it, you can address 80% of your financial management problems with three things: a budget, a savings plan, and a debt payoff plan.
In this article I’ll explain these 3 points, and for each I’ll give you a simple exercise you can implement this weekend--each one taking about 30 minutes.
5 Reasons Why You Shouldn’t Be a Business Owner
This is the continuation of an article from two weeks ago titled 5 Reasons Why I Love Being a Business Owner. I promised at the end of that article to share some thoughts on the downsides of business ownership. So here we go.
A year or two before I started Hale Financial, I came across an article with what I thought was the greatest (and most terrifying) headline ever: “Forget Starting a Business, Kid. Just Go Work for a Company.” The author went on to explain all the horrible things he experienced when starting a company and why he’d never do it again.
How to Get the IRS to "Pitch in" Money to Your IRA
It doesn’t take a genius to know that the IRS has stacked the tax code with incentives for savers. Perhaps the biggest saver benefit being the tax-deductibility of retirement plan contributions, and allowing your retirement gains to be tax-deferred.
But there’s another little-known way the IRS is willing to pitch in. It’s called the Saver’s Credit. For those who qualify, this credit can result in a 10%, 20%, or even a 50% tax credit for your retirement plan contribution in 2018!