Review and Give Away: How Much Money Do I Need To Retire?

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The book had been sitting on my desk in my home office for months, staring at me in plain sight as a reminder that I needed to read it. Someday. I had received How Much Money Do I Need To Retire from the author, Todd Tresidder, at the Financial Blogger Conference back in October, but I just couldn’t seem to find the time or the motivation to read it. Looking back, my mind just wasn’t in the right place. At the time, getting back on track with our retirement planning was just a twinkle in my eye. We only had […] Read more »

What Does It Mean To Get Our Finances Back On Track?

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Goal: Get our finances back on track. Yep, that’s the goal, but what does that really mean? The thing I talk about most frequently is the $109,000 in credit card debt that my wife and I are paying off through the help of a debt management plan. While it is the biggest and most visible item, it’s not the only thing that needs to be done to repair the damage done by the thirteen years of over spending that left us at the edge of financial disaster. It’s completion, however, will unlock our ability to finally put into place the […] Read more »

Three Keys to Financial Fitness

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I was planning on writing about a new survey from Prudential Retirement Services today. It is a very interesting survey from 2006-2011 of primary or joint financial decision makers who are between 45-75, have a household income of at least $100,000 ($50,000 if already retired), household investable assets of at least $100,000, and retirement savings of at least $100,000. Many who fall in this “retirement red zone” have serious concerns about their ability to maintain lifestyle in retirement. For those of you who would like to read the study, here’s a link to the Prudential website: http://news.prudential.com/images/20026/2011ChangingAttitudesAboutRetIncome.pdf It is worth […] Read more »