Personal Finance
Know your Investment Goals – Why Do We Invest?
The next chapter in the investment fund series is "Know your investment goals". I'll take you through an easy and repeatable process to help clarify how to choose the right investment goal(s). It is difficult to become a successful investor if you don't know your investment goals, thus we ask our-self. Why do I invest? All our situations are unique, as no one investment goal is right for everyone. If your goal is to purchase a home and your neighbor’s is to prepare for retirement, the specific investments will likely differ. Thus the first step to knowing your investment goal(s) [...]
Roth vs. Traditional
When investing in your retirement one of the questions you’ll need to answer is.... Should I invest in a Roth or Traditional investment vehicle? Another way of asking the same question is, do I want to be taxed now or later? The best retirement vehicle is tough to predict unless you know your financial future and tax rates. Knowing the future may not be feasible, but becoming familiar with a range of potential outcomes is. Bankrate created a Traditional vs. Roth Calculator for us to do just this. If you think tax rates will increase into the future, then increase them in the calculator. [...]
The 3 Financial Lifestyle Stages
“The rich rule over the poor, and the borrower is a slave to the lender.” -Proverbs 22:7. As we progress toward financial freedom, most of us will go through three financial lifestyle stages: borrowing, spending, and saving. The first two, borrowing and spending, are stepping stones to achieving the final stage of saving. Saving is the only stage with the power to progress us toward our ultimate goal of financial freedom. Borrower We are all born into the first lifestyle stage, the borrower. As we grow up our parents pay for our needs (food, clothing, shelter) and, if we’re [...]
The Best Cash Back Credit Card for Savers
Christmas and the gift giving season is usually here faster than we expect. As you begin shopping for yourself and others we want you equipped with the best credit card on the market. There are many choices for each financial lifestyle stage (borrower, spender, saver) and reward goal (cash savings, college savings, travel, debt transfers). At HIT our focus is on developing savers and our credit card recommendation is to simply put the most money back in your pocket. There is plenty of competition in the credit card market, which is a benefit to the cardholder who can seek out [...]