Retirement Saver’s Worst Mistake

Retirement Saver’s Worst MistakeWhat is a retirement saver’s worst mistake? Many people are saving for retirement. In fact our government encourages us to save for retirement. Their sole objective is ensuring that we do not end up in poverty once we retire. They also have a variety of programs that allow consumers to borrow against their retirement savings. They can be use the money for a down payment on a home. In some cases 1st time buyers can withdraw money from a savings plan. They can use the funds as a down payment for a home. Home ownership is an important thing to do for many consumers. But taking money from your retirement savings plan could be one of your worst mistakes. Can you replace the income that this investment would generate once you retire? This is the key question that many people do not give much thought to.

Retirement Saver’s Worst Mistake

If you borrow or remove money from your retirement savings plan it can become a mistake. If you are unable to repay this loan you are jeopardizing your retirement. When you repay the loan from your retirement savings plan, savers lose the interest / dividend income that you would have accrued if the money had been left in the plan.

Savers who borrow money from retirement savings plan should treat it as a real loan. Repay not only the principle, but also the income that they lost as a result  of the investment not being available to earn income.

Even just borrowing ten thousand to use as a down payment for your home purchase can make a huge difference in your total savings especially if you have a long time to retirement. The miracle of compounding can make a huge difference to savers. The total amount you have for retirement when you finally do retire will increase substantially.

If you must borrow from your retirement savings plan for a down payment on a home or some kind of emergency, develop a plan to repay the loan along with interest. Sometimes people are better off just arranging for a regular loan instead of borrowing from their retirement savings plan.

Discuss your options with a financial planner before making this decision to ensure that you consider a number of options. If you are good with spreadsheets, you can model the impact of borrowing the money vs. taking some of the money from your retirement plan. Completed properly this will quickly show the impact of both scenarios for your particular situation. If you are not good with this sort of thing, your investment adviser may be willing to help you with these calculations.

Save

Web Design Ideas

Web Design IdeasDeveloping a web site from scratch is really not required these days unless you are really want to have something unique and different. If you do, be prepared to spend lots of money and time getting the web site just right. There are lots of web design ideas available with templates to use that are already written. However many people find that using an existing template where you only need to configure and add content is the best web design idea.

A template is just that. It is a pre-designed set of web pages that can be configured to some extent. Once you add your own content including images, it becomes your own uniquely designed web site. As a result it sets you apart from all others. The message is that it is all about the original content including images and videos if you choose to add them. The template just gives you somewhere to start.

Web Design Ideas – Use A Content Management System

We use a template which will pre-config your pages. Use a content management system to manage all of your content. Editing, storage as well as a presentation to search engines and browsers. This site uses WordPress. It is a very popular CMS system, easy to use, and set up. Web site owners can focus on content. They do not need to have much in the way of computer skills.

WordPress has thousands of themes and plugins. They help you achieve whatever objectives you are looking for without having to re-invent the software. Simply select your theme or template, select and configure any plugins you want to use. You are ready to begin adding new content.

Web Design Ideas – Write your Own Content

We find small business owners like the idea of being able to add a few pages. They can make changes without having to call their web site designer. They do not need to pay for changes that they want to make. This feature can be both a time saver as well as an expense saver as well.

Some web designers will charge for every change made. This can cause web site owners to avoid updating their content. If they can write their own content, add pages and posts they have a great deal more flexibility. A content management system does this for them without their being a need to have a programming background.

Focus on the content and let the IT designers focus on the inner workings of the web site which should be minimal once the site is up and running.

For more details about web design, click here.

Investors Relying Heavily on Domestic Markets to Fund Retirement

Domestic Markets Recent reports suggest that investors relying heavily on domestic markets to fund retirement are not following the guidance of investment advisers. The traditional doctrine of investing is to follow a diverse investment strategy which includes investing across industry’s, markets and countries. Many will spread their money over various industry groups to help them weather various financial storms. They do not seem to be investing in emerging markets nearly as much. We wondered why consumers would follow this domestic investment strategy. There are several reasons, that by coincidence the writer also agrees with and follows.

Domestic Markets to Fund Retirement

Most people rely on local news about local companies in our country or continent. The local news is far more readily available. As a consequence we know much more about our own economies than we do about other emerging market economies.  Emerging market economies are also much higher risk. They have a great deal to learn, companies come and go and they are very dependent on cheap labor as well. For our money and conservative approach, we would rather invest in companies that are based in our own country. Let the experts in that company decide if they want to pursue opportunities in other countries. This brings us to the next major point.

Country Diversity to Fund Retirement

Most large companies that pay dividends and are based in the US or Canada. They have a strategy to grow their revenues by investing in markets that are potential growth opportunities for them. They may be establishing sales opportunities or manufacturing opportunities or even both scenario’s. As a result by buying common shares of a domestic company that pays reasonable dividends you can obtain emerging market diversity while at the same time obtaining dividend income on a stock that has the potential for growth as well.

Some might consider this a conservative investment style, however for this writer it seems to be working well with dividend income, growth in the value of the stock and not needing to follow what is going on in another country were there is little news to follow. This allows this investor to sleep at night without needing to be spending a lot of time reading about something going on in another country in another culture for which we have little understanding or even none.

Emerging markets also have a habit of being very volatile. Is this something that you would like to risk your retirement savings on? If you do allow us to at least suggest diversity should be considered. Do not place all of your savings in one investment or even in one market. Spread it around after doing the appropriate research to ensure that your money is well invested and has a better than average chance of earning you a decent return.

Cool Web Design

Cool Web DesignDoes Cool Web Design Work

Fancy websites look great. They may even be considered cool. But does a cool Web design really work in terms of attracting clients and completing sales.? The bottom line for any company is whether an investment generates additional business. Designing and developing a website is really no different. The amount of money and time you spend developing your website needs to generate the customer demand that you’re looking for. It must meet the overall objectives of your company. All web sites need to be indexed by search engines. They need to rank high enough to be seen by people searching for your topic. And they need to be able to convert the reader to an interested customer. A tall order that goes far beyond what might be considered to be cool.

What About Search Engine Traffic

The writer believes that a cool website is not necessarily the answer. Design the website so that the search engines can find it. They need to index it for the search terms that relate to your companies services and products. The cool website with lots of graphics may not achieve those results. The search engines cannot properly index your website when there are lots of graphics.

Focus on search engine optimization or SEO as it is commonly referred to. This means having lots of original high-quality content that describes the services and products that you provide from your company. The search engines will index this content. They return it in the search results to people who are looking for these kinds of services and products.

You may also decide to have a cool looking website with lots of graphics. But don’t forgo the SEO approach to ensure the search engines will properly index your content. Proper indexing will deliver those results to people who are searching for the services and products that you sell.

Continuous Updates

Another common mistake is to forget about your website. After all it is online and available to customers to look at. This is so wrong.

Continuously update existing content, add new content, and keep it interesting for your readers and customers. If you do not follow this practice you will find that less and less traffic is directed to your website.

Add new content on a weekly basis. Try updating existing content. Focus on the older content to maintain its currency. Keep it related to your company’s products and services. The search engines love this. Maintain and update your website on a regular basis. They will reward this effort by improving the indexing of your content in better search results. This usually means more customers and more sales which is what every company is looking for!

For more web design details, click here.

Save

Young Investors are Hoarding cash

Hoarding cashIt seems that young investors are Hoarding cash at alarming rates and leaving their savings to sit on the sidelines not earning any kind of income. Interest rates on cash investments are at all time lows while the stock market is booming and reaching record highs. So why are these young investors hoarding cash at increasing amount. They are missing out on the stock market gains that have taken place over the last six years since 2008. The markets have almost doubled since 2008 and your investments should have done the same. Sure there has been lots of ups and downs, but the overall trend is aggressively up!

Hoarding Cash – 2008!

The answer is the stock market crash in 2008. Also the corresponding housing crisis that started that year and continued for several years after that. Consumers who owned homes that were heavily mortgaged lost those homes. The value of the homes went down so much, well below the value of the mortgage. The stock market crashed. Anyone  who sold their stocks because they thought they were going lower locked in those losses. They never got back in the market. They lost big time. As we update this post there is another correction taking place in the fall of 2018. It may be time to take advantage of this correction and get back in the market. Invest in dividend paying stocks that have a long history of paying dividends. At least this way you will also derive some income from your investments.

The Answer for Many is Hoarding Cash

Many people are now hoarding cash figuring that if it is not invested in anything risky they cannot lose it. They also cannot take advantage of the increases in the stock market and housing either. The stock market as more than doubled since 2008. Homes are now well on the way to rebounding back to what they were pre 2008. Meanwhile those people sitting on cash are not only missing these gains. They are also losing in another way as well.

Inflation continues unabated at around 2% which means that the $100 in cash you had sitting in the bank last year will only purchase $98 worth of goods today. next year it will only purchase $96 and so on.  Inflation is silent and sneaks up on all of us and if you are sitting on cash you are actually losing money every year. If you have to pay any tax on the small income you do get on your cash, it only gets worse in terms of the money you have to spend on everyday living expenses.

The young investors have missed the boat in terms of the stock market gains, however they can still purchase dividend paying stocks from companies that pay well, have a record of paying every year and have a record of increasing their dividend each year as well.

 

Web Development

Web DevelopmentWeb development Set Your Objectives

All of the posts on this website are intended for use by business managers and owners of small businesses. The first objective of web development is actually to develop the objectives for your website. What are you trying to accomplish by having a website? Are you providing information to your customers? Is your web site to be interactive? Do you actually complete sales using your website? Can customers contact you through your web site? How often will you need to update this website? Who will keep it current and will you have someone in your company provide this effort or will you contract it out to an IT contractor?

While some of these questions may seem basic, they have a huge impact on the amount of web development that will be undertaken and the overall design. As your company expands and grows so will your website. You may start off with a basic informational website and contact generation website and then later on expand to actually be able to take orders from your customers online.

Finally the answers to your questions will help to determine how large a budget you will need to set aside to support your web development and to also keep it current and up to date.

Define Your Goals for Web Development

Once you have set the objectives for your website, the next step is to set specific goals. These goals should be set in line with the amount of time it will take to develop your website. Factor in the cost of development and your budget. Finally don’t forget to set aside a budget for ongoing support and maintenance. Don’t forget the additional development that you may need from time to time.

An outdated web site can turn customers off. They may just go to another if the information you are providing is not current and up to date.

Web Development

Decide on Degree of Outsourcing for your website. Will you hire resources with the requisite skills in IT and website development? Or will you hire an outsourcing firm to develop your website and maintain and support it over the long-term?

These decisions will depend on the amount of control that you want to have. Web development, budget, and availability of the expertise that you need to maintain your website are factors to consider.

You may also want to have a conversation with someone knowledgeable in the business of developing web sites. Web development can be kept pretty straightforward without a lot of bells and whistles to avoid blowing the budget.

For more on web site design discussions, click here.

Retirement Income Strategies

Retirement Income StrategiesDeveloping your own personal retirement income strategies can be a little daunting for many people. This can be a large complex problem if it is not broken down into individual small steps. But if you can break it down and use the assistance of a financial planner to help with some of the steps, consumers can end up with a well thought out plan that will help them meet realistic goals and objectives for their retirement. The wheel in the picture demonstrates how to get started. Not that this is a circular wheel with no end point. That is because after you have developed your first view or your retirement income strategies, each consumer will  at regular intervals update the plan following the same systematic approach. We will discuss each of these steps in a little more detail.

Retirement Income Strategies – Self Assessment

The first step is to gather all of your financial data that you have currently. This includes your current savings as well as your current debt. It also includes loans, mortgages and retirement plans that you may be eligible for when you retire from your company or personal plans. This is a snap shot of your financial situation at the present time.

Goal Setting

The next step is to set some realistic goals. These include when you anticipate retiring, when you will have your home paid off and how much debt you may carry into retirement. What are your plans for retirement? Will you travel a great deal or do you plan to continue working. What large expenses will you have in retirement. How do you see your life in financial terms when you retire. This leads to understanding the level of income you will need to generate to maintain the lifestyle that you desire in your retirement years.

Information Gathering

Gathering all of the information you will need to develop your plan is the next step. Investment plans, investment advisers, interest rates, dividend rates, payout rates from mutual funds, retirement plans, current expenses and costs for everything from heating your home to budgets for groceries etc should be considered. Use several simplifying assumptions to make it easier. Use a program or work with an adviser to completed your retirement plan strategy.

Retirement Income Strategies – Taking Action

Once you have a plan, most likely you will find that you need to make some changes. They could include focusing on paying off your home faster. Or saving more money for retirement that you planned, reducing your expenses etc. The important thing is to begin taking action now. Focus to ensure that your retirement strategy, goals and objectives can be met.

Reviewing and Updating

Are you done once you have completed all of these steps? Some people will feel that they are done and can afford to sit back and relax until they retire. This is not true. Our lives change, we retire earlier or later than planned. We have more expenses than planned, inflation is higher, our goals may change and on and on. At the very least review your retirement strategy once per year. Then update everything. You may find that your goals, savings plan etc may need to be adjusted slightly. You will want to ensure that you can enjoy the life you planned for in retirement.

Save

Should I cash out my pension?

Should I cash out my pension?My company is offering a lump sum payout of my pension. I am wondering if I should cash out my pension. The payout is $261,000 and can be rolled over to a traditional or Roth IRA. Will I have to pay taxes on a Roth rollover? If I don’t take the payout, one option is to receive $1,577 monthly in a single-life annuity starting at age 60. I will turn 60 in December and my wife is one year younger. We will continue working until at least age 62. My wife and I currently have $700,000 in retirement savings (mostly traditional IRAs) and plan on working for at least another two years. We are debt free except for our home mortgage of $215,000. Should I take the payout or stay with the monthly payment? — Carl

Re: Should I cash out my pension?

The advantage of taking a lump-sum payout is that you retain full control over those assets. And unlike an annuity, you can pass any leftover money to your heirs when you die. But taking the pension in a lump sum also means that you’ll be responsible for managing those assets. Consumers in this situation need to ask themselves whether they want the responsibility and risk of handling this money, or whether they want the certainty that comes with a guaranteed monthly pension. The answer to the question in part depends on how you deal with risk and whether this kind of investment will keep you up at night. Many people will prefer the certainty of an annuity vs. the uncertainty of the stock market.

Life Expectancy and Should I Cash out my pension?

One other factor to consider is your life expectancy. If you’re in great health and feel confident that you’ll outlast the life expectancy used by your pension administrator to calculate your pension, then the annuity might be a better option. However, single-life annuities come with a drawback: that money ceases to be paid out when you die. For that reason, you may switch to a joint-and-survivor annuity if you opt not to cash out. Although your monthly payment would be smaller, those payments would continue to your spouse if you die before her.

Consumers should also note that rolling over a lump-sum pension payout to a Roth IRA would trigger taxes on the full amount. Because your tax bracket is probably higher now than it will be when you’re retired, you’re likely to be better off deferring that tax bill for now and rolling your pension assets into a traditional IRA.

Business Hosting Web

Business Hosting WebBusiness hosting web sites play an increasingly critical role in the success of companies these days since more and more customers are looking for information online. Consumers are increasingly using smart phones and tablets to browse the internet and search for information. They are looking for information about products and services, they are making purchases, and they are communicating with their friends as well as the companies they deal with online. Some companies are doing more business online than through walk-ins. Others are driving more and more business to their walk-in stores driven by the information that is available online. Online sales are clearly the way of the future.

Business Hosting Web – Keep it Up To Date

If you just build a web site and then forget about it, the content will get stale, and your returning customers will not find anything new to review. When customers return, and they find new content, updated content, new services, and products, they will tend to book mark your site and return again and again.

We find that the best web sites institute a program to review all of their old content on a regular basis. They may find that they need to tweak the content here and there to correct information about products or services, and they may also be revising their policies from time to time. Use a sorting program to always update the older pages so that they remain fresh and current on your business website.

Business Hosting Web – Add new Content

Adding new content is important, as well. Fresh content shows readers that there will always be something to read about that they have not seen before. If you are selling product or services, then adding new content that describes the products and services from a different perspective can also be helpful. Prospective customers may not have considered the ideas and thoughts that are discussed in the new content.

Search engines will also notice and return time and again to index the new pages on your business hosting website. They will pick up any changes that have been made. The search engines recognize fresh content and updated content. They will rank your site somewhat higher in the results of searches.  A higher ranking means that your web site may appear in the first or second page of the search results. There is a better chance of being visited by someone looking for your topic, services, or product.

There is no use having a great website if no one can find you. If you are low down on the search results, there will be little traffic. It is a competitive environment. Business owners know they have to work at gaining the traffic, visits to their website, and conversions into paying customers. This is part of the new advertising media that all companies need to adopt.

Business Hosting for Web Sites

Business Hosting for Web SitesSmall Business Hosting for Web Sites is critical for any business since this is really part of your advertising budget. As with all advertising, it is very important to make sure that your advertising is as effective as it can possibly be. What does this mean in terms of designing your website? There are a lot of technical details that the experts must take into account. However, we will discuss a few of the more important elements that any business must consider when they set up their business web site for the first time.

Business Hosting for Web Sites – Domain Name & Hosting

Choosing a domain name is almost as important as choosing the name of your company. This name will be synonymous with your company and will be how it becomes known online as well as with your customers. It should be easy to remember so that customers do not even need to look it up when they want to return. Selecting a hosting company is important as well since you want a company that has a well-managed traffic system, is on top of servers that are under stress, and has a strong security program to deal with spam attacks.

Business Hosting for Web Sites – Function

What is the function of the web site? Is this pure advertising? Is it designed to be the go-to site for your customers to find information about your products and services? Can customers place orders from your web site and issue comments and even trouble tickets for whatever you are selling them? Deciding early about these questions will drive the overall design and provide you with a better set of expectations for timing and cost.

Business Hosting for Web Sites – Marketing

Another point to consider is that this web site is your marketing site. It is the online presence for your company and it should provide the information your customers need to learn about your products and services, draw them in and convert them to customers who purchase your products.

Business Hosting for Web Sites – Keep it Fresh

It is also important to continuously update your content and keep it fresh so that the search engines have something new to index and see your website as a dynamic site with changing content. Better indexing leads to more visits and more customers. In addition, your customers need to know that your site is up to date. It must have the most current information about your products and services. You may want to have someone assigned to keep your site up to date and current within your company based on a schedule that has been developed.