Jill Russo Foster

Credit Report Reminder from Jill Russo Foster: Enjoy Summer with fresh financial information

It’s May! Relax this summer knowing you’ve checked your credit! This month use Equifax

Hello, it’s Jill again, reminding you to get your finances in order so you can enjoy a nice summer vacation.

Order your credit report from www.AnnualCreditReport.com. This is the ONLY authorized source for the no cost annual credit report that’s yours by law. You have the right to know. Exercise your rights! Learn more.

When ordering online:

Select your state, then click Request Report.
Fill out your information, then click Continue.
When it asks you to select a service, select Equifax.

Not comfortable ordering online? There are three ways you can order your report:

Order online at www.AnnualCreditReport.com. By ordering online you can have your report back in minutes!
Mail your postal order by downloading the form at www.AnnualCreditReport.com
Call in your order at 1-877-322-8228

It doesn’t matter how you get your report, the most important thing is that you do! Then…

Review it for accuracy!
Follow the instructions with the report to correct any errors.
And, always remember to keep copies for your records.

Were you hoping to get your credit score instead? Try CreditKarma.com. CreditKarma does not supply a FICO score, but it does provide scores from TransUnion and VantageScore. And, there’s no charge for you. CreditKarma funds their service through website advertising.

May you have a sunny and profitable summer!

P.S. I’ll give you another reminder in September so you can get up-to-date on your credit before the holidays.

Our Financial Literacy Month tips were from Thrive in Five

I was so happy to give you a month of savings ideas for Financial Literacy Month. I really hope they inspired you to think about your future and what you can do today to make your dreams a reality.

Every tip I shared with you was from my book, Thrive in Five. In Thrive in Five, I suggest improvements you can make to your finance situation in just 5 minutes a day for 1 full year. I ask you to take a hard look at how you do things and to make small changes with big impacts.

Each chapter is a month in the year.

January – Analyzing Your Bills
February – Reduce or Eliminate Expenses
March – Saving More
April – Organization
May – Clutter Cleaning
June – Selling or Donating
July – Credit
August – Debt Reduction
September – No Spending Month
October – More Income / Planning Ahead
November – The Holidays
December – Money Drains

Because I wanted you to focus on your savings, I gifted you March for Financial Literacy Month. If you want to make big improvements with small steps, do get the book!

Another day to catch up on saving money

Financial Literacy Month is almost over! I can’t believe it myself.

This has been a jam packed month. I’ve really worked hard to push money saving ideas your way so you can afford to retire, have an emergency savings account, or just take a vacation without touching your credit cards. Today and tomorrow should be used to catch up on anything that you haven’t completed or something that you need more time to research. You should take extra time on retirement planning.

Tomorrow while you’re catching up, I’ll introduce you to another important step you should take soon.

catsup

Keep Your Savings Accounts Away from the ATM

savings-atm-1

One thing I’ve learned over the years is not to have my savings account linked to my debit / ATM card. If I want to make an impulse purchase, I have to put some thought into it and move money either online or at the bank. This delay gives me time to talk myself out of wasting my savings on something I don’t really need.

An added benefit to keeping your accounts separate, is that if your debit card is stolen, the thief cannot access the money in your savings.

Transfer to Savings Automatically

savings-automatic

Have you struggled to save money because there never seems to be anything left over? Big surprise! We tend to spend the money we have in front of us. Getting a raise never seems to help, because that money disappears, too. There’s always something we think we need right now.

The best way to grow the money in your savings account is by setting up an automatic deposit from your paycheck. That way you never see it to spend it. If your company doesn’t offer this, that’s not a problem. Have an amount set up to be transferred automatically from your checking account to savings on a regular basis. The benefits here are that you are saving without any effort on your part and the money isn’t in your checking account to tempt you.

Make Payments towards Your Retirement

retirement-fund-1

Making payments towards retirement doesn’t have to be difficult. Remember what you’re saving money for. You want to retire some day, so you can enjoy some golf and vacations when you get older without having to work.

There are few ways to fund your accounts. If you receive large bonuses, you could simply deposit them into your IRA or 401K and just live within your regular paycheck. That won’t be possible for everyone. Most of us calculate the amount to pay by dividing our maximum contribution amount by the number of pay periods per year. Basically, we’re taking the money out of our paychecks.

The key is to act like it’s not yours to spend. This is your fun money, so you can take the grandkids to Disneyworld and finally take the European cruise, without having to worry about where you’re going to live or how.

The Biggest Savings

….

The Biggest Savings

In honor of Financial Literacy Month, I want to show you the biggest savings we’ve come across in our family. Any guesses?

It’s lunch! We used to eat out for lunch every day. Who has time to make lunch before work, right? But we gradually learned that we could save a lot of cash for things we really want if we could just get used to bringing our own food.

Lunch shouldn’t cost that much. It’s not dinner at a nice restaurant – it’s a sandwich at the cafeteria or a McD’s. But, it does add up. Let’s say you spend $10 a day for food at work or school, combining lunch, a vending machine snack, and coffee, bottled water or pop. It’s just a few little items throughout the day, but let me show you the numbers.

$10 x 5 days a week = $50
$50 x 50 weeks a year = $5,000
$25,000 is what it will cost you for 5 years

And that’s for one person. If there are two of you in the household, then you can double the numbers. I bet you can find something better to do with $5,000 or $10,000 a year.

I used to have all the excuses – not enough time to make my lunch, it’s too boring, etc. Well times have changed.

Part of that change was accepting that we like different types of lunch foods. He’s a sandwich person and makes his lunch the night before. Sandwiches keep well in the fridge overnight. That doesn’t work for me. I like leftovers, soups and salads. I might make extra for dinner so I can have leftovers for lunch the next day. Or, make soup on a Sunday, then have soup for a few days. I like combining my leftovers with salad greens to make a fancy salad. My lunches need to be freshly made in the morning. Because I have the ingredients, and a plan, it takes less than 5 minutes.

What about beverages? My husband is a coffee drinker. He makes his coffee the night before with a programmable coffee pot. The money savings made the pot a really good investment. I’m a water drinker, so I use a washable metal water bottle. I just refill and put it back in the fridge when I get home from work, so it’s ready to go in the morning.

Just by taking these little steps, we are able to save money and use it for other purposes. How about you? Are you ready to try bringing your lunch to work? What system would work for you?

Shop around before opening an IRA

retirement-IRA-acct1

Opening your own IRA is a great idea, but do your research first.

Make a few appointments to interview banks and investment companies. What are their fees? What types of investments do they offer? There are many options to choose from.

If Your Company Doesn’t Offer a 401K, Get an IRA

retirement-IRA1

If your company doesn’t have a retirement plan, then you should start an IRA or a ROTH IRA.

An IRA account is for saving pre-tax money to be able to withdraw later in life when your tax rate should be lower.
A ROTH IRA is the opposite. You contribute after tax money now and withdraw tax free at retirement.

Talk with your investment person or tax preparer to determine what is best for you. Discuss the income limits and the maximum contribution amounts you can contribute based on your age. Have this discussion today.

If Work Offers Retirement Savings, Do it

retirement-401k1

I can hear you saying… “I don’t have enough money to live today, so how can I think about saving for retirement?” Yes, that might be true, but look at it another way… you will get older and you will want to retire some day. If you don’t start now you’ll have to work the rest of your life.

If you work for a company that offers a 401K or 403B, take advantage of it. If your company offers you matching funds and you haven’t taken advantage of it, then you are turning down FREE money. As an added benefit, the money you contribute is tax free today, and any growth in your account is not taxed until you withdraw it.

Talk to your company benefits person and start an account as soon as possible. If you need to wait for open enrollment, mark that date in your calendar.

If you already have a retirement savings with your company, increase the amount you contribute so you’ll have more later when you really need it.