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Guest Post: The Fees That Eat Away At Your 401K

05/09/2012 By 62 Comments

Erosion Control? originally uploaded to Flickr by muffinman71xx.401K fees can be such a complicated topic — so when the good folks at DailyWorth offered to guest post I jumped at the chance to have someone wiser than myself cover it! – Kat

Is your 401k plan costing you too much?

Many people don’t realize that they’re being charged a fee (or fees) for participating in their 401k plan–and over time, those fees can eat up a chunk of your savings. (Pictured: Erosion Control? originally uploaded to Flickr by muffinman71xx.)

Shocked? You’re not alone. In fact, new federal rules requiring 401k plans to be more transparent about fees take effect in July — and women everywhere should sit up and take notice.

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Filed Under: Investing, Money, Tales from the Wallet

Sponsored Post: MoreWorth and The Fab Factor Giveaway

03/27/2012 By 16 Comments
This post is brought to you by MoreWorth, a new personal finance newsletter for executive women, by executive women.
Posts in our Tales from the Wallet series always elicit questions from readers — where can they get more personal finance advice that goes beyond “make your own coffee” and “get out of credit card debt”? Check out MoreWorth, a new newsletter from the ladies behind DailyWorth. MoreWorth is aimed at women “living life on all cylinders.” Twice-weekly emails bring you smart, pithy tip-offs about new products and services, curated by executive women for executive women — not to mention tips and ideas to invest in yourself through leadership, wealth-building, and lifestyle.  Recent articles have covered hiring a financial planner, investing in green and eco-friendly companies, giving gifts when you’re the boss, and buying timeshares. [Read more...]
Filed Under: Advertising, Investing, Money, Sponsored Post

Tales from the Wallet – Tax Savvy Investments, Part 2

03/21/2012 By 41 Comments

Back in January — inspired by a Mint article — we took a look at tax-savvy investment vehicles such as 401Ks and IRAs. Today, let’s look at some of the other tax-friendly ways to save, such as 529s and Health Savings Accounts (HSAs). Just as a reminder — according to the article, “The Value of Tax-Deferred Savings.” “[u]nless you make enough money to max out all of your tax-advantaged accounts (401(k), IRA, 529, HSA, and the like), it rarely makes sense to do any investing outside them.” (Please note, I am not a financial adviser — this is all just my personal knowledge, so take it with a grain of salt.)

(Pictured: PS1 Wallet, available in 8 colors at ProenzaSchouler.com for $165.)

Like we did before, let’s go through the main questions on everyone’s mind…

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Filed Under: Investing, Money, Motherhood, Tales from the Wallet

Tales from the Wallet: Tax-Savvy Investments

01/25/2012 By 124 Comments

Marc by Marc Jacobs - Turnlock Shine Long Tri-fold (Electric Teal) - Bags and Luggage Something I’ve been thinking a lot about since I read it is this Mint article on “The Value of Tax-Deferred Savings.” According to the article, “[u]nless you make enough money to max out all of your tax-advantaged accounts (401(k), IRA, 529, HSA, and the like), it rarely makes sense to do any investing outside them.”  (Please note, I am not a financial adviser — this is all just my personal knowledge, so take it with a grain of salt.) (Pictured: Marc by Marc Jacobs – Turnlock Shine Long Tri-fold (Electric Teal) – Bags and Luggage, on sale at Zappos from $198 down to $150 today. Lots of great sales on Marc by Marc Jacobs stuff on Zappos today, actually.)

To be honest, the value of tax-deferred investing isn’t something I understood until really, really recently. So I thought we’d review some of the main vehicles for tax-savvy savings here, answering — for each, the main questions on everyone’s mind:

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Tales from the Wallet: Year-End Housekeeping

12/07/2011 By 143 Comments

What sort of year-end financial housekeeping do you do? What should you do?

I have fond memories of a trip home for Christmas one year, perhaps a year or two after I’d started working as a lawyer. I always used to sleep late and my parents would each poke their heads in to check on me and try to rouse me. Anyway, one morning around December 27th or 28th my father burst into the room at some ungodly hour (or so I thought then) to remind me that I needed to review my stocks and sell off some losers so I could have capital losses to offset against capital gains. Uh: thanks, Dad. (Pictured: Magic wallet in fresh strawberry, available at J.Crew for $22.50.)

He was right, though — as the year draws to a close now is a great time to think about a number of different aspects of your finances. For example:

  • Use the money you put into your flexible savings accounts — think eyeglasses, over the counter medicines, and more. [Read more...]
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Tales from the Wallet: The Easy Way to Save $10k

10/12/2011 By 151 Comments

When it comes to money, the true savings are never in the tiny things — they’re in the big things like your healthcare plan and your investments. My old friend Sue is a master at all of this hard personal finance stuff — I’ve asked her to share some of her knowledge with us today. You can follow her on Twitter at @suziedonuts if you want more great tips! – Kat. (Pictured: Boje Designs Paradise Lace Essential Wallet, available at Endless for $34.)

Yes yes, you know how to clip coupons and shop sales. But there are two problems with this approach: First, it takes too much time for not enough payout, so you’re practically doomed to failure before you begin; and second, you’ve heard it all before, so if you’re not doing it by now, you’re not going to do it tomorrow. Plus, being frugal requires constant vigilance. I’m not saying it’s not worthwhile, because it is; but especially when you’ve got a healthy cash flow coming in, you have to put dollars before cents. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Investing, Money, Motherhood, Tales from the Wallet