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Author: Kyrk Davis

Budgeting for gig workers: How to spend and save on a fluctuating income

Building, maintaining, and sticking to a budget can be a tough task for many of us with regular, full-time jobs. But it gets a lot more difficult if you don’t have a regular income, like those in sales-based jobs, seasonal workers, or folks who work in the gig economy. If you fall into one of these categories — as more and more young earners do — it’s especially important to budget wisely to have a plan for those months when the checks don’t come in quite as high as usual.

The Most Powerful Investment Tool is Time

How investing a little can lead to much more.

You may remember learning about erosion in school, how a small trickle of water, over time, can wear away rocks and soil and transform into a raging river.

That image always enters my mind when I talk with young investors about how to make their money work for them early in their careers. Coming into their first jobs out of college, they probably aren’t making much income, and that’s while they’re considering student loans, saving for a first down payment on a home, and the other expenses that come from starting life on their own. Many of them feel that there just isn’t enough left over to start funding an investment account in a meaningful way.

Investment vs. Speculation: What’s the difference?

Before making any decisions, let’s make sure the next big “Investment” is actually an investment and not just speculation.

Don’t Rush Your Financial Plan

When it comes to saving and investing, it’s always a good idea to start young and be consistent. Early and often, right? While this is solid advice, I also advise my clients not to rush the process when it comes to building a solid financial foundation.

It Might be Time for a Roth Conversion

I have had a couple of conversations recently with people who have come to the same conclusion about 2022. It goes like this: the financial markets have tanked, they have made no progress whatsoever toward their long-term investment goals, and they’re declaring the year a total loss. 

Lifelong Learning

Most of the time when people come into our conference room or call us up, they want help with how to do something. Whether it’s saving money, budgeting, making major purchases or signing up for insurance, they want to know how.

My Best Piece of Financial Advice

A teacher friend of mine recently asked me a question. She does something in her classes she calls Financial Fridays, where she talks to her high school students about a useful financial topic each week. (I wish more teachers would do this!). She wanted to know the number-one piece of advice I would give to a person just out of high school to set them up for future financial success. 

3 Money Moves for Scary-good Results (And 3 to Avoid)

I don’t know about you, but I love Halloween. The creative costumes, haunted houses, adorable kids (and the chance to act like one!), plus copious amounts of candy all add up to one of my favorite holidays.
With Halloween happening earlier this week (and all the candy still staring at me!), I got to thinking about some of the “money monsters” we see our clients facing, and how to keep them from sending you running in fear.

But first, I also want to outline a few habits we recommend that can produce scary-good results as well.

Don’t Leave a Pay Raise on the Table

We are in that time of year when companies start releasing new benefits packages, and open enrollment is almost here. As you look through your new employee book provided by your HR department, you probably see things like additional 401(k) options, accidental death & dismemberment (yikes!) insurance, life insurance, supplemental life insurance, short term/long term disability coverage, along with all sorts of other acronyms you may or may not have any idea what they stand for.

Delayed Gratification: Good or Bad?

Oftentimes in the financial planning community, we use and hear the phrase “delayed gratification.” This is the idea that we should avoid spending money on things we enjoy today, and save/invest it, so that one day we can eventually spend it and receive the “gratification” we’ve been putting off. Dave Ramsey is famous for saying “live like no one else, so that one day you can live like no one else.” That’s all well and good, but personally, I don’t like the idea of denying myself all of the things that bring me joy or gratification. I say ignore that advice!

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