Budgeting & Spending

 At age 47 I was jobless, emotionally broken after an abusive marriage, and running through savings to keep a divorce attorney in my corner. Grieving my mother’s death and terrified that my disabled adult daughter and I would end up homeless, I couldn’t see any kind of future for myself. Within five years I had…

Depending on your income (not your assets), you may be receiving a stimulus check of somewhere between $1,400 and $2,800. How are people putting this money to use? We asked the Boldin Facebook group and it turns out that the uses are as varied as we are individually. Many are looking to spend the money…

Regardless of where you are in life, it’s always nice to make some extra money.  And that is especially true in retirement. But, how to make money in retirement when you’re supposed to be simply enjoying the easy life?  The retirement gigs listed below won’t be quite enough to cover retirement expenses, but they won’t…

It has been nearly 30 years since the hit television sitcom starred in living rooms across the nation. However, we may be just reaching the golden age of the Golden Girls. While their arrangement may have seemed unusual at the time, four adult women sharing an apartment may not be that far-fetched. In fact, many…

You may be worried that you have not saved enough for retirement. And the first piece of advice from most financial experts is to tell you to save more! However, there is something much more effective you can do to make sure that you have enough money to live on in retirement.For a secure retirement,…

Are you thinking about buying a car? Will you need to buy a car at some point when you are retired? Cars can be a big purchase, and you should think carefully about your car choice in terms of your overall financial picture.   No matter when you need to buy a car, you should consider…

The Scottish poet Robert Burns famously said, “The best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry.” That’s true about almost everything that you undertake in life. However, hoping for the best isn’t the greatest retirement budget strategy. You need a real strategy, and one that’s based on your life now (and the life that…

Using tools like your employer’s 401(k) or automatically taking money out of your paycheck are tried-and-true methods for successful retirement planning. But if you can look for less obvious ways to boost your retirement savings, you’ll reach your long-term goals much quicker. Here are some little, yet highly effective, ways to save extra money for…

When planning for retirement, it’s important to save enough money to cover the essentials. While a financial planner may discuss earmarking funds to pay for daily living expenses, housing, and healthcare-related costs, one of the biggest expenses in retirement is something that many advisers may overlook. What Are the 3 Biggest Expenses in Retirement? According…

If you are nearing or are already in retirement, you are about to change from being an earner and a saver to being a spender. You spent a lifetime amassing savings and other resources and now is the time to use these assets – assuming you can accurately figure out how much to spend in…

Wealth inequality is real. The disparity effects most of us. However, the black-white wealth gap is staggering. What is Wealth Inequality? Wealth inequality is the gap in net worth — your assets minus liabilities — between the wealthy and the poor. The differences in wealth between the rich and poor in the United States are…

Need a helping hand? Find help for seniors with low income The Big Takeaways… A significant amount of qualifying seniors don’t participate in low income benefits because often it’s hard to know what’s available. More options may be available to you during the pandemic. Tools like Benefits Checkup and the Eldercare Locator can help connect…

Worry about the scarcity of time, money, food, etc… can be a problem in lots of situations – including retirement. Learn how to focus on what’s important!

You might not think of it this way, but most of us get scammed — somewhat tricked — out of our hard-earned money every single day.  Little expenses can add up to big bucks that we could be saving for retirement, spending on something you really need or want now, and being able to afford…

For many, the desire to engage in charitable giving — giving to our family, communities or world — only grows as we age. It turns out that giving is good — very good. Numerous studies have found that there is a huge psychological benefit to giving. In fact, giving may make you both happier and…

As more and more baby boomers head into retirement, there is a growing conversation about how to generate adequate retirement income from retirement assets. Even with some good economic news, many of us are going to come up short.Retirement income doesn’t grow on trees… But you can make it grow!According to the most recent research…

Retirement is a big deal and a huge life change. You have a whole new lifestyle and need a very different way of thinking about your money. In fact, your financial mindset needs to get flipped upside down. You need to go from a focus on accumulation (saving, saving, saving) to spending (efficient use and…

Episode 19 of the Boldin podcast is an interview with Jesse Mecham — the founder of You Need a Budget, a CrossFit/PowerLifter and generally strong guy. We discuss why budgeting is a powerful life altering tool for him and their users, how they got started and what’s unique about how they educate people and build…

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Review These Tried and True Ways to Save Money: In this article, we present five ways for you to save money. 1. Keep Track Of Your Accounts One of the easiest ways to save is to know how much you have to work with as far as your finances. Budgeting is an important part of…

According to a report by NerdWallet, in 2018 84% of people made financial resolutions.  If you are among these planners, but haven’t quite achieved your goals, it’s not too late.  And, it can even be relatively easy!  September, October, November, December… You still have four months to achieve your 2018 money related resolutions! Here are…

If you made it into the ranks of high income earners, you are probably going to be okay in retirement.  If you are part of the working class, the news is not as great. The first victims of the income gap are beginning to retire and feeling financially secure in retirement will be difficult for…

You’ve probably heard this standard money-saving advice: If you want to save money, eat out at restaurants less and cook at home more. But it’s almost as easy to blow your budget at the grocery store as it is when dining out. Stores use some crazy shopping tricks to make you buy more. You know…

The decade between has been tough for retirees and those nearing retirement, says Gary Foreman, founder of The Dollar Stretcher. “So many had counted on cashing out the equity in their homes to help fund retirement,” he says. “The crash of 2008 not only ended that dream, but also wiped out much of their IRA…