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JenOni

Saving & Investing

Financial Health : The How to Save in Every Decade Infographic

Financial Health: How Much Should You Save?

Financial health is an important topic for women specifically single moms.   What happens when life throws you a curveball? Some major life changes can drastically impact your financial health such as illness, marriage, new baby, unemployment or divorce.   How do you prepare for the unexpected? As I have learned as a single mom with one income, the best way to prepare is to start early building your financial health.   The key is to save, invest, eliminate debt and set a budget so you are living within your means.

After separating and filing for divorce over 40,  I was forced to start rebuilding my finances.  Two years of unemployment with no additional streams of income made it an excruciating challenge.   In spite of these circumstances, my debt continued to accrue without a safety net.

Earnest, a lender that offers personal loan and student loan refinancing.   Below is a very informative infographic from Earnest on how to prepare financially for every decade.   It is never too late to get yourself on the right track.   The advantage is the earlier you start the better.    If you are interested in learning more on refinancing student loans, click refinance student loans.

 

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Investing in Stocks with Your Children to Build a Portfolio using Stockpile

 

Investing In Stocks

Investing with kids is a valuable life lesson.   As a middle schooler, I remember learning about the stock market and using the newspaper to check the gains and losses of specific stocks.   I love the idea of teaching my ten-year-old and sixteen-year-old how to invest in stocks.   The idea of investing in stock sounds overwhelming and some think it requires a significant amount of money to get started

  • Building wealth for the future means saving money to invest.   Where do you start with teaching kids about investing?  The best example is teaching kids the difference with saving money at home versus investing the same amount of money with a return.   The first lesson is to show what happens when kids save their allowance and gifts in a box versus investing in stock.   It is also important for kids to understand how the stock market goes up and down.     If they return in 5 years, the same amount is in the box.   Now if they take the same amount of money and invest in stocks with a return* over time they will see the growth of the investment.     (*profit from investment)   If they save $500 dollars in a box and come back in 5 years later it is the same $500.   If the same $500 is invested in stock, over 5 years with a 5% return now they have $525.00.


How to Get Started Investing with Stockpile

  • Open up a stock account also known as a brokerage account
  • There is no minimum amount to invest and you can purchase fractional shares of stock. For example,  if one share of Apple stock is $100, you can buy $50 of Apple which is a half of a share
  • Stockpile does not charge a monthly fee and the trading commission is $.99 cents a trade.  If you purchase a $50 share of Starbucks, it will cost $50.99 for the trade
  • Stockpile will allow your child(ren) their own log in to check their investments and purchase stock trades
  • Start early, invest regularly and diversify
  • Develop a strategy for trading – Buy and Hold means choosing a company that you believe in.   Invest and wait out the ups and downs of the return.  Buy on the Dips- track a company and buy when the stock dips.   Lastly, you can buy a stock that is underrated or undervalued and hold onto them until the value returns.
  • No strategy is foolproof
  • Pick companies that you know, research the company online

Investing with Stockpile

  • Have family and friends help you with investing
  • Stockpile offers gift cards. Family and friends can buy an egift, by picking a stock and dollar amount, send to recipient’s email address and pay with a debit or credit card. When the egift is redeemed the stock goes into your Stockpile account.
  • Physical gift cards are available at Kmart, OfficeMax, Wegmans, Giant Eagle and other retailers or online.
  • Stockpile has a gift registry called “wishlist”. You can choose your favorite stocks and share them with your friends and family. They can purchase your favorite stocks for birthdays and special occasions.

 

 

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Banking App Qapital to Save with Automated Savings

 

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Banking app QAPITAL?

Banking app Qapital is an easy way to save small toward a large goal.  This is my new way to save a little at a time toward a financial goal.  It’s really easy to set up to an account at QAPITAL.

  1. Link a bank card for purchases to save on
  2. Set a goal
  3. Rule set for account, how much saved and frequency

I established my account 4 weeks ago and have saved $49.16.   Every time I make a purchase with the card linked to my account, the rule rounds up the purchase to the nearest $2.00 and save the difference.

Here’s an example, if my purchases are $76.08 and round up to nearest $2.00 equal to $78.00.  The amount saved to my account $1.92.   It’s that easy!  You can also add the Qapital app to your smartphone(IOS or Android).

  1. I set my goal toward savings
  2. My rule sets
  3. My account receives deposits four days a week Monday-Thursday.
  4. The site is encrypted so transactions are secure.
  5. There are no fees for minimum balances, set-up, or monthly fees.  Deposits are stopped if the account will be left with less than $100 and will resume once the amount is available.
  6. You can link Qapital to IFTTT and save doing everyday activities.   For example, each time I post to Instagram You can set an amount to deposit into my Qapital account. There are about 200 options on IFTTT.

This is the best way to put a small amount for a big goal.   Here’s how to start your account, Qapital.  For a smartphone, go to Apple Store or Google Play.

Real Estate with Divorce is Either an Investment or a Nightmare

BUYING REAL ESTATE AND DIVORCE

The idea of buying real estate is a common investment after getting married.  I knew home ownership was a better financial investment than renting.   After getting married,  we planned to purchase our first home in a suburban area with a highly ranked school district.    In 1999,  interest rates were low and as a first-time home buyer, there were multiple programs available.   I pre-qualified for financing with my credit score,  income and 10% down.  Before, financing with one credit history fully consider the long-term implications.   The idea is dependent on how secure the other party is with making the decision.   If the credit history of the other party is not favorable you may run the risk of no financing or a higher interest rate.  Also, the other party needs to be secure with having no financial rights to the property.   The decision to purchase  based on my credit  felt like a logical decision.    A few years after purchasing the property, the mortgage company offered to refinance at a lower interest rate.   One lesson learned is to work on credit issues before deciding to purchase real estate.   Also, create a money reserve for financial emergencies such as loss of income, home repairs or any other unexpected expense is critical.

BUYING A SECOND PROPERTY

After gaining six years of equity, we made a decision to sell and buy a larger property.   I will be the first to say this was the worst financial decision.    In 2006, mortgage companies were a bit relaxed on qualifications for mortgages and a lot of buyers were encouraged to apply for adjustable rate mortgages.    An adjustable rate mortgage is an open invitation to financial destruction.   I say this especially if there is no financial reserve and if two incomes are not consistent.    If I fast forward three years after purchasing a new property, I found myself unemployed and filing for divorce.    After a year of unemployment, I moved out of the marital property.    This was the beginning of a financial nightmare.

DIVORCE: REFINANCE, BUY OUT, OR SELL

Although it was a martial property there were a few options to recoup some equity or break even.  The following options were explained by my attorney, 1) to refinance with only one mortgagor(removing the other party), 2)buy the other party out(not an option as I was unemployed), 3) sell the property(most logical).   I learned after buying a property a resounding term, “you pay, you stay”.    For option 1, I was not willing to remove my name off of a property in which I had a legal and financial right to, option 2 I was in no position to buy out the other party as I was unemployed and the other party was no position to buy me out either, option 3  was the most logical decision.   Selling the property quickly became a nightmare.    If a one party stays in the property and is unwilling to sell or cooperate with the sale it is doomed.   After I left the marital property, only one mortgage payment was paid that meant the mortgage went into default.  After numerous attempts at selling the property, multiple trips to court, the sale was sabotaged, property abandoned, and the bank foreclosed.

BEING PETTY or HANDLING BUSINESS

I have to point out there were exactly four years between mortgage default and foreclosure.  This was more than enough time to sell the property to one of the multiple interested buyers.  The fact remains that  pettiness prevented the sale of the property.   I went to court for a court order to force the sale of the property and vacate the property.  Both court orders were in contempt of court.   After the second court order to vacate the property was ignored, I stopped pursuing any additional court orders.  I had to pay my attorney each time we went before the judge which meant more legal fees.    In July 2013, the bank foreclosed and now my credit report has FORECLOSED PROPERTY in bold across my credit report for the next SEVEN YEARS.    Pettiness is not productive and serves no PURPOSE.

LESSONS LEARNED

I would encourage any woman who is contemplating buying a jointly owned property to determine affordability based on one income.     If this is a marital property, ensure there is a reserve in the event of loss of income or any other major expenses related to the property.    From my perspective, FORECLOSURE should never be an OPTION.   If possible buy REAL ESTATE with someone who gives a DAMN about their credit history.    It takes years to repair bad credit!