C-Suite Network

Category: Money

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Leadership Management Money

UNLOCKING YOUR ULTIMATE HAPPINESS: THE TWO SURPRISING FACTORS YOU NEVER KNEW EXISTED!

If I could show you a way to be much happier, incur no out-of-pocket cost, and you can start to receive benefits much faster than an Amazon Prime delivery, would you be interested?

Just practice Gratitude and The Love of Learning.

Gratitude. Being grateful takes up space in the brain that might otherwise be occupied by fear. Being fearful happens to be one of the root causes of many mistakes. Once that space is filled with gratitude, certain things begin to happen

Gratitude also leads to feelings of optimism. Optimists outperform pessimists by 31 percent. 

Gratitude leads to better thinking. 

Gratitude reduces stress. When you’re under stress, your body releases cortisol, a hormone that decreases your creativity, problem-solving capacity, and life span.

Many studies have shown people receiving pensions are much more grateful and outlive people who live off the ups and downs of their market portfolios.

Staying grateful is the best way to overcome life’s challenges.

What can you be grateful for right now? Even the simple things like your cup of tea or coffee this morning will work. Having a family member or friend or just waking up today. The list is endless, so make yourself a checklist!

Love of learning is the other key factor in personal happiness.

We’re dealing with continuous change and overwhelming information, which is not slowing down. So, when confronted with a problem, we may need to learn something new. This new situation forces some of our brain’s warning lights to go on for many of us, alerting us that we are in new territory and trying to get us back to the comfort zone that worked before.

Once you realize that your current level of knowledge is not insufficient for a solution and your mind is working against you, the Love of Learning will allow you to learn these new things by overriding the brain’s comfort zone. Instead of stressing, you can calmly approach the concern and not be deterred by the brain’s warning lights. Now it’s full steam ahead as you confidently approach the problem because you love to learn. 

For more Healthy Money Tips Listen to our PodCast “Money 911”

Sign up for a Financial Fitness Strategy Session at Meet with Kris Miller – Financial Fitness Strategy Sessions

Go to my website https://healthymoneyhappylife.com/

Email me at Kris@HealthyMoneyHappyLIfe.com

Call me or text (951) 926-4158

Categories
Economics Money

THE OVERCONFIDENCE TRAP: HOW YOUR BELIEF IN YOURSELF MIGHT BE SABOTAGING YOUR SUCCESS

The majority of people think they’re better-than-average drivers, and mathematically, not everyone can be above average. Being optimistic is excellent, and too much may impair your judgment on many things, especially when planning for your financial future.

Being optimistic is valuable as we live our life. Frequently, overconfidence bias leads quickly to confirmation bias, and both of these biases are problematic, especially when combined.   However, sometimes our abilities begin to skew toward unrealistic, which can impair decision-making behavior.

Either alone or combined, these biases are often linked to us believing we can avoid negative things from happening to us. When it comes to retirement planning decisions, you need to separate your biases from reality; this can present a challenge.

Overconfidence in your retirement planning may cause you to overlook potential risks, underestimate the time spent in retirement, and misjudge how long your income will last. Seeing the bigger picture through another set of impartial eyes is crucial and will help you sidestep the influence of biases. Finding ways to work around these biases will allow you to see the value of long-term planning. 

Let’s be realistic about the financial future:

  • Over 50% of retirees retired before they planned; the most common reason was health problems. Illness can occur at any time and may lengthen your retirement requiring savings to stretch farther than planned. 
  • 50% of retirees said their healthcare costs were higher than expected. 
  • Almost 40% said all other expenses were more than they thought. 

It’s essential to understand no one can avoid retirement risks; however, careful planning can help mitigate them.

While overconfidence can undermine the success of a long-term financial plan, clients who are secure in their decisions will likely be satisfied customers. It would be best if you found a balance between an optimistic yet realistic approach to planning.

For more Healthy Money Tips Listen to our PodCast “Money 911”

Sign up for a Financial Fitness Strategy Session at Meet with Kris Miller – Financial Fitness Strategy Sessions

Go to my website https://healthymoneyhappylife.com/

Email me at Kris@HealthyMoneyHappyLIfe.com

Call me or text (951) 926-4158

 

Categories
Advice Leadership Money Women In Business

UNLOCKING THE MYSTERY PART 2: THE ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO UNDERSTANDING THE VITAL TOOL ALMOST 50% OF PEOPLE OWN, YET FEW TRULY GRASP – A MUST-READ FOR HR AND BUSINESS OWNERS!

A comfortable retirement should include a traditional pension plan or a 401(k) or similar account and Social Security. Please be aware while pensions and 401(k) provide money in retirement, they are very different.

Here is a short review to understand the basics of each account, including the benefits, disadvantages, and differences between a pension plan vs. a 401(k).

An old-fashioned pension gives you and or a partner a source of stable and predictable lifetime income in retirement, so you do not have to worry about depleting assets. Pensions take the guesswork out of retirement planning.” The company funds pensions, and sadly they are declining in availability. High costs, market worries, and the promise to pay the retired worker or partner for life have become expensive promises. Companies that have dropped pensions are replacing them with 401(k)s, shifting all the costs and responsibility of saving for retirement to workers.

Having a 401(k), all the responsibility to manage risks is on you. If you don’t save enough, withdraw too much, or your investment choices drop, your retirement fund could run out of money. Even a well-funded 401(k) offers no guarantees. While you can estimate what you may have in retirement based on previous market returns, there is no guarantee you’ll grow your retirement savings at a planned rate. This can make planning for retirement spending very difficult.

401(k) plans allow you to invest your money but only between investments your employer authorizes, and you do not have access to any investment you want. However, with a 401(k), if investments fail to perform as expected, it directly impacts your nest egg. It’s a flawed system that expects an average person to become a savings and investing expert.

A Roth 401(K) may be wise if your company offers it. The tax benefits will be appreciated when taxes rates rise. The massive national debt and the need to continue meeting its financial obligations will cause taxes to increase.

Summary: Pension & 401(k) plans can be summed up as follows:

  • Employers primarily fund pensions, while 401(k) plans are primarily funded by employees.
  • Employers control pension investments, while employees partially control 401(k) assets. Pensions offer a guaranteed income for life, while 401(k) provides unknown payments
  • that may be depleted depending on an individual’s decisions.
  • 401(k) plans are portable employer to employer. Pensions stay at the company till retirement age.

All is not lost if your employer only offers a 401(k) plan. There are a few IRS-approved strategies to make the 401(k) more pension-like and provide some guarantees. Please reach out and see if any of the ideas are available to you.

For more Healthy Money Tips Listen to our PodCast “Money 911”

Sign up for a Financial Fitness Strategy Session at Meet with Kris Miller – Financial Fitness Strategy Sessions

Go to my website https://healthymoneyhappylife.com/

Email me at Kris@HealthyMoneyHappyLIfe.com

Call me or text (951) 926-4158

Categories
Advice Best Practices Leadership Money

HABITS ARE NECESSARY FOR ACHIEVING YOUR GOALS, AND THEY CAN ALSO LIMIT YOUR SUCCESS WITH SELF-DESTRUCTIVE PATTERNS

Habits and practices may prevent you from achieving your goals.

Habits make us who we are, how we respond to the world, how we act in front of others, and how we think. And that’s not always a bad thing.

The importance of habits cannot be overstated. Why some habits/ patterns are needed:

You don’t have to concentrate on how to drive your car, so you can be on the lookout for danger while driving. You don’t have to think about how to walk, so you can focus on where you are going.

However, habits can also limit your success by keeping you stuck in self-destructive patterns.

More than likely, if you wish to achieve higher levels of success, you will need to drop some habits you have established up to this point.

Therefore, if you want to accomplish something that requires you to perform at a higher level, I strongly encourage you to drop these bad habits that aren’t serving you and develop new ones that align with what you want.

Do you have any habits that prevent you from achieving your goals?

Ask yourself these questions and be honest:

  • Are you late frequently?
  • Do you forget to return phone calls?
  • Do you stay up late and don’t get enough sleep?
  • Are you prone to breaking your promises?
  • Do you spend money that you don’t have?
  • If all your habits were productive, how would your life be?
  • If you ate healthy foods, exercised regularly, and slept enough.
  • How about saving money, avoiding credit cards, and paying cash for everything?
  • What if you overcame your fears and began networking with people in your field instead of procrastinating?
  • To stay on track to achieving your goals, how about creating a detailed plan broken down into monthly, weekly, and daily objectives?

Changing your habits may not be as hard as one thinks:

  • Make a list of all the habits that keep you from being productive or could negatively affect your future.
  • Choose better, more productive success habits and create a system to support them.

Follow these tips to make sure you follow through on your new habits:

  • Put up signs (yes, signs) to remind yourself to follow through.
  • Stay focused on your new habit with a partner. Talk to your partner five minutes a day, or every few days, to stay on track. 
  • Create consequences for failing to maintain your new habit. (Maybe a monetary amount, slightly painful,  for each offense to a charity.

The “no exceptions rule” is perhaps one of the most powerful ways to stay on track.

People don’t suddenly start living perfect lives overnight, and their habits play a significant role in enabling them to create the lives they want. It is up to you to decide whether to develop habits that lead you to create your ideal life or keep you anchored to your current circumstances.

Decide, commit, and watch your new life unfold. What are your thoughts?

For more Healthy Money Tips Listen to our PodCast “Money 911”

Meet with Kris Miller – Financial Fitness Strategy Sessions

https://healthymoneyhappylife.com/

Kris@HealthyMoneyHappyLIfe.com

(951) 926-4158

Categories
Accounting Advice Money

BREAKING THE RETIREMENT PLANNING MYTH: WHY 100% OF STRATEGIES FAIL TO SECURE YOUR LIFETIME INCOME

100% of all retirement planning will fail to provide you with a guaranteed lifetime income.

Yes, 100% is correct. Regardless of how big the planning company is and how lucky or smart the advisor is, none can guarantee you an income for as long as you live.

The best they can do is guess how much or how long you could expect to get checks in retirement. Unlike Social Security and a company pension (not a 401k type plan) that can give you exact numbers, investment advisors can never give you any guarantees.

There are two separate and distinct areas of planning that confuse. Both of them start with the word Retirement. Retirement planning is what an employee gets when he starts working for a company and needs to learn about his investment options, risk tolerance, and dollar matching in the company’s 401(k) or IRA plan.

However, retirement “Income” planning is very different. Note the word income. How to get this saved money to produce a monthly paycheck as I or we are nearing Retirement? That sounds like a reasonable question to ask- how much can I take out for as long as we are both alive? In all honesty, it is the only question that matters. (I have put together critical questions you need to ask now). Income planning should be seriously looked at about ten years before you want to retire.

The retirement planning investment pros cannot give you an answer to that seemingly simple question. Why not? Social Security and company pension plans know to the penny how much you will get guaranteed for your life and a partner if you have one. How come to your retirement planner cannot do the same? Unfortunately, there is no way for them to do that. They can’t give any guaranteed amounts or length of time the money may last.

Why? You see, investment advisors are prevented by law from doing so. Because they can’t give you any guarantees, they need to craft a story that will convince people to leave their money with them: failure to provide a convincing story will result in them losing billions of dollars in commission and fees!

The first step is for you to believe they are the authority by multi-million-dollar advertising.

The second step is to do hypothetical case studies and use computerized projections to tell a story that looks so factual that you believe it. These projections appear authentic by predicting (really guessing) the chances your savings will last and not run out during retirement. To do this, they must apply guesses about what inflation will be projections for portfolio growth, (even though every investor knows “past performance does not guarantee future results, asset mix, and a sustainable

Withdrawal rate. These many assumptions lose any basis in reality. Countless economic studies have proven no one knows what percentage you can take out of your portfolio without running out of money. (No one can predict to future). Now your retirement planner puts these assumptions into a computer, presses the go button, and from these “guesses and assumptions,” impressive report prints.

The best part is that it looks official, leading many to a false sense of security (no guarantees) and the real possibility of running out of money in retirement.

It would be best to ask your advisor direct questions about how your money can produce income now. I have created a robust list of questions, including a guide highlighting each question and detailing what to look for. Please reach out, and I will send them.

 

For more Healthy Money Tips Listen to our PodCast “Money 911”

Meet with Kris Miller – Financial Fitness Strategy Sessions

https://healthymoneyhappylife.com/

Kris@HealthyMoneyHappyLIfe.com

(951) 926-4158

Categories
Economics Money Wealth

TACKLING THE DEBT, SAVING, AND POOR KNOWLEDGE DILEMMA FOR SMART FINANCIAL DECISIONS IN YOUR LIFE

Knowing financial terms and other surplus jargon is irrelevant to one’s personal financial situation. However, knowing some financial terms is marginally helpful to one’s general well being. Understanding how the Fed uses the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) to implement monetary policy through Open Market Operations (OMOs) as they direct the Federal Reserve Bank of NY’s Trading Desk to buy securities – is not in the least bit helpful.

In my view, the solution to tackling the debt, saving, and poor knowledge dilemma is teaching people how to make better decisions. Personal Financial Proficiency (PFP) in a manner that allows them to make smart financial decisions in their personal lives, their professional lives, or maybe in their business lives

There is so much information, programs, and courses focusing on financial literacy today; most of them are of little value and waste time. Countless studies have shown that many people fail basic financial questions when asked, and many have so little savings that they can’t handle a $2,000 emergency. 

Teaching financial proficiency through my Foundation Building program is simple; it takes real-life situations and breaks them down so you can apply real-life fixes. The big difference with the Foundation Building program is that they learn these solutions through short 15-minute programs. 

In creating these programs, I reversed and engineered over the last four decades the excuses people used for not having enough saved or accumulated debt, etc. I have heard every excuse you can imagine, and I took all those reasons why they couldn’t and designed solutions so they could. Sadly, the lack of sufficient savings and spending habits is not a problem for just the working poor; it dramatically affects people earning over $250,000 as well. These classes are designed for everyone to get proficient in PFP.

For more Healthy Money Tips Listen to our PodCast “Money 911”

Meet with Kris Miller – Financial Fitness Strategy Sessions

https://healthymoneyhappylife.com/

Kris@HealthyMoneyHappyLIfe.com

(951) 926-4158

Categories
Money Wealth

THE LACK OF FINANCIAL UNDERSTANDING AFFECTS ALL AGES AND SOCIOECONOMIC LEVELS

Promoting informed financial decisions, saving habits, and education in the workplace is essential to a vibrant and productive workforce. Unfortunately, many people may lack the basic math skills and financial know-how to make decisions. One of my favorite books, which I reread from time to time, is the 1988 book Innumeracy by John Paulos; he coined the book’s title from people being slow in math as compared to illiterate. Math and money are very different, and learning the differences is crucial to building wealth securely.

Even though many adults across generations were functioning with medium levels of financial literacy, too many workers today possess low levels of Personal Financial Proficiency (PFP) and have difficulty applying financial decision-making skills to real-life situations.   

Here are a few general questions about everyday financial situations that stumped so many:

  • Determining wages and take-home pay, 
  • Questions about investment types, risk, and return, 
  • Understanding specific risk economic outcomes risk
  • Understanding that 401(k) are not pensions

This is where Americans exhibit the lowest scores, with less than one-third answering correctly.

Lack of financial understanding affects all ages and socioeconomic levels. The result is those who fall into the limited PFP category, even though financially literate, may not manage their financial resources effectively and may feel intimated by retirement, budgeting, tax planning, and Social Security topics.

One way to help everyone become more confident about their personal finances is by building a solid foundation with Personal Financial Proficiency. 

Financial literacy dark secret

People with higher levels of financial literacy “fluency bias.” are more likely to build weak foundations to support their financial houses. Sadly, in this case, a little knowledge is dangerous and prevents many from developing a strategy that works and won’t leave you in a pickle as you get to retirement age.  

For more Healthy Money Tips Listen to our PodCast “Money 911”

Meet with Kris Miller – Financial Fitness Strategy Sessions

https://healthymoneyhappylife.com/

Kris@HealthyMoneyHappyLIfe.com

(951) 926-4158

Categories
Economics Money Wealth

A TAX BOMB IN DISGUISE: THE SECURE ACT AND THE IRS

The SECURE act is a Tax bomb in disguise. Many people saved large retirement accounts where they thought a big chunk of it would be left over for their beneficiaries. The beneficiaries used to be able to take withdrawals from the inherited funds over their lifetimes. Taking the money over their lifetime was known as the stretch IRA.

Under the SECURE act, all of the inherited IRAs, 401(k), etc., money will have to be withdrawn and taxed within ten years after death. This change is known as the ten-year rule.

This new ten-year rule allowed beneficiaries, or so they thought, that the money could be left to compound for those ten years. However, the IRS had different ideas. They did not want to wait ten years to get their significant share. The IRS ruled that the money would be subjected to required distributions each year during the ten years, and the inherited accounts and those forced required distributions would take big chunks out of the growth.

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People tend to get involved in the fine print for workarounds-there are none. The IRS needs money badly to fund the US’s spending. In case you didn’t know, the government spends more each year than it takes in. Therefore what better place to get big tax dollars than from someone who is not around to complain?

While it may seem that this tax-grab situation looks dismal, tax-saving moves can be used to make the most of a challenging situation. 

There are a few options that may have some significant tax breaks. Suppose you want to create a source of tax-free income for retirement or family. In that case, you need to consider a Roth IRA. Although subject to limits and rules, the Roth should be reviewed. Another option widely gaining popularity is a new “special” type of life insurance. This new product comes with much higher limits, fewer restrictions, and greater flexibility. A more practical option is to use a combination of both to maximize all the benefits.

Converting to these options while the market is down minimizes the tax liability and allows for more significant tax-free growth when the markets rebound.

The tax time bomb does have a ticking clock, so you must take advantage of the 2017 tax reform legislation because those lower tax rates are temporary and set to expire after 2025.

There are many additional considerations when determining to make changes.

 

For more Healthy Money Tips Listen to our PodCast “Money 911”

Meet with Kris Miller – Financial Fitness Strategy Sessions

https://healthymoneyhappylife.com/

Kris@HealthyMoneyHappyLIfe.com

(951) 926-4158

Categories
Accounting Money Women In Business

DOES RETIREMENT PLANNING NEED MORE THAN A CHRONOLOGICAL AGE?

The answer is Yes! Other crucial factors need to be reviewed.

First, understand the difference between life span and health span. Life span is how long you live. Healthspan is how long you live in good health. 

Often, the life span is always longer than the health span. Somewhere in those years is a gap. The gap consists of the span of years when we need help with the activities of daily living. The span can range from several months to maybe up to 10 years.

We all know that retirement has three stages; the Go-Go years, then as we age, we experience the slow-go years, and finally, the no go years. Many may spend a few in exiting the slow-go years and entering no-go years

When we think about retirement, we should also think about what support system will be available and have in place. Who will care for your financial affairs when you can’t count anymore?

Second, we need to look at biological age vs. chronological age to help complete the picture for proper planning.

Biological versus chronological age.

The problem is that chronological age only tells us a little about what we want to know, which is how long we will live. The reason chronological age is important is we need to get a sense of how long you have left to go. This helps with the decision if you only have ten years left? You shouldn’t be investing so much in stocks. Do you have 40 years left? You can invest in stocks.

Chronological age isn’t the best metric for your future. For a better sense, we need to use both and allow for flexibility.

 Future, we need to know your biological age. Some people are 55 years old chronologically, but their biological age is 75, and they’re not in good health. 

There are other people whose biological ages are 10 to 15 years less than their chronological age. They’re in great shape. You look at them and say, “She does not look 65.” It’s not just that she doesn’t look 65, and her biological age is 45.

We need financial plans that are geared toward the number that really matters — biological age. That’s where I think things such as long-term care insurance are essential. Even though traditional long-term care insurance wastes money, planning around it is crucial.

     Should a retirement plan be based solely on chronological age?

We need financial plans that are geared toward the number that really matters — biological age. When we look at all four issues, we can now plan better:

A low biological aged person will need two different income sources, one starting at retirement and the other some years down the long retirement road.

A person with a high biological age may need a shorter version of an income source and skip the second one.

Also, the use of recent development is an asset-based benefit that provides long-term care benefits without the need to buy expensive long-term care insurance. 

With asset-based care, you put your assets to work using IRS-approved strategies. If you don’t use the benefits, you won’t lose any of your money and can still leave the entire balance to your family upon death.

More facts make designing a better plan to withstand life’s uncertainties. Regardless of biological age, health span life span, even though they are good places to start, that is not the only criteria. Everyone knows their DOB, and almost no one knows their DOD, so targeted flexibility is the only answer to planning.

For more Healthy Money Tips Listen to our PodCast “Money 911”

Meet with Kris Miller – Financial Fitness Strategy Sessions

https://healthymoneyhappylife.com/

Kris@HealthyMoneyHappyLIfe.com

(951) 926-4158

 

Categories
Money Sales Women In Business

Gratitude, Fear, and Optimism: A Simple Way to Overcome Life’s Challenges

If I could show you a way to be much happier, incur no out-of-pocket cost, and you can start to receive benefits much faster than an Amazon Prime delivery, would you be interested?

Just practice Gratitude and The Love of Learning.

Gratitude. Being grateful takes up space in the brain that might otherwise be occupied by fear. Being fearful happens to be one of the root causes of many mistakes. Once that space is filled with gratitude, certain things begin to happen

Gratitude also leads to feelings of optimism. Optimists outperform pessimists by 31 percent. 

Gratitude leads to better thinking. 

Gratitude reduces stress. When you’re under stress, your body releases cortisol, a hormone that decreases your creativity, problem-solving capacity, and life span.

Many studies have shown people receiving pensions are much more grateful and outlive people who live off the ups and downs of their market portfolios.

Staying grateful is the best way to overcome life’s challenges.

What can you be grateful for right now? Even simple things like your cup of tea or coffee this morning will work. Having a family member or friend or just waking up today. The list is endless, so make yourself a checklist!

Love of learning is the other key factor in personal happiness.

We’re dealing with continuous change and overwhelming information, which is not slowing down. So, when confronted with a problem, we may need to learn something new. This new situation forces some of our brain’s warning lights to go on for many of us, alerting us that we are in new territory and trying to get us back to the comfort zone that worked before.

Once you realize that your current level of knowledge is not insufficient for a solution and your mind is working against you, the Love of Learning will allow you to learn these new things by overriding the brain’s comfort zone. Instead of stressing, you can calmly approach the concern and not be deterred by the brain’s warning lights. Now it’s full steam ahead as you confidently approach the problem because you love to learn.

 

For more Healthy Money Tips Listen to our PodCast “Money 911”

Meet with Kris Miller – Financial Fitness Strategy Sessions

https://healthymoneyhappylife.com/

Kris@HealthyMoneyHappyLIfe.com

(951) 926-4158