Finance
Finance
Whether you’re newly graduated or well into your career, CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER® professionals say you should make these five financial moves right now:
Create a budget. Research finds that 83% of Gen Z-ers and millennials have experienced regret about their spending decisions. Crafting a budget means making mindful choices about how you spend your money, which can eliminate financial stress. However, if the term “budget” fills you with dread, try calling it a “spending plan” instead. The important thing is to get started and find a process that works for you.
Build an emergency fund. According to the Federal Reserve Board, only 55% of Americans had three months’ worth of expenses in emergency savings in 2024. In the event of an unexpected expense, such as hospitalization or home repairs, a rainy-day fund can save you from accumulating debt or dipping into retirement savings. A CFP® professional can help you adjust your budget to divert savings into an emergency fund to cover at...
(BPT) - Close to 2 in 5 Americans (38%) say cash feels more "real" than digital money: It's a tangible reminder of value, and remains a permanent part of their financial toolkit (27%). Yet, new Empower research shows that in practice, physical dollar bills may be fading from daily life: 1 in 5 say they use cash only a few times per year, and just 18% use it daily. Still, a quarter often find themselves in situations where they wish they had cash on hand.
Its popularity may be dictated by what's going on in the economy, as a quarter (25%) view cash as a "safety net" currency in times of financial downturns, and 1 in 5 Americans have increased their physical cash holdings in the past year due to market uncertainty.
Cash in a digital age
While a third (35%) say they are mostly cashless, for close to 1 in 5 Americans (19%), dollar bills remain a trusted form of payment - something they actively use and keep in significant amounts. Overall, 40% of people feel safer keeping some cash on...
(BPT) - No matter your stage in life's journey, it's never too early or late to make financial plans. For military families especially, planning helps you withstand major transitions and gives you confidence about the future. From your first Permanent Change of Station (PCS) to deployment and separation, you'll have many decisions to make and high-priority items on your to-do list, including managing your finances.
Financial Planning Month is the perfect time to work on setting goals for your financial future. Here are tips to get you started.
Begin with the basics: Savings
Developing a savings plan is a great place to start. Even when you're starting out in your career, developing the habit of setting money aside from each paycheck can help you build an emergency fund for unexpected events. One approach is to open a separate savings account for that purpose and have a small portion of each paycheck automatically deposited into that account, so you don't even have to think about it....
(BPT) - Money is on the mind: Americans are spending nearly 4 hours a day thinking about money, according to new research from Empower, a financial services company. That's the equivalent of a part-time job, but nearly half (45%) say it motivates them to take action to reach their long-term goals.
Time spent thinking about money by generation
* Gen Z: 4.82 hours/day
* Millennials: 4.73 hours/day
* Gen X: 3.74 hours/day
* Boomers: 2.4 hours/day
More than half (54%) say they're thinking about money more often than they did last year.
What are people thinking about? For most, it's quality of life considerations: bills (57%), inflation and rising prices (51%), housing costs (34%), debt (30%), tariffs (28%), and retirement savings (24%).
In fact, a majority (55%) of Americans say they think about their retirement weekly, or daily (27%). One in 4 (22%) high-income earners have retirement on the mind multiple times a day.
Checking in - and in
People are not just thinking about finances -...
(BPT) - The median emergency savings for Americans is $500, according to new Empower research. The size of the safety net varies by generation, with Boomers saving a median of $2,000 - five times that of Gen Z's reserves of $400. One-third of Americans (32%) don't have an emergency savings fund and 29% say they can't afford an unexpected expense over $400.
Half of Americans admit they're stressed about their current level of emergency savings (50%) and recognize the importance of a safety net. Some 75% of Americans agree emergency savings are essential for financial security and 64% say it's a financial priority for them.
Emergency savings are top of mind - and a moving target
The majority of Americans (64%) say growing their emergency savings is a financial priority right now - even if they're still finding their financial footing. So where do things stand?
The median emergency savings balance for Americans:
* Overall: $500
* Gen Z: $400
* Millennials: $300
* Gen X: $500
* Boomers: $...
What you need to know about home equity loans
(BPT) - If you have large or unexpected expenses on the horizon, you may have access to an untapped resource: your home. You could use some of the equity you've built up in your house to meet financial goals, depending on how much equity you have and how you use it.
Here's a guide from the experts at Navy Federal Credit Union to explain how home equity loans work and when you should - or shouldn't - use your home's equity.
What is a home equity loan?
In basic terms, a home equity loan is money you're borrowing using your home as collateral. The equity in your home equals how much of your home's value you actually own (not counting the mortgage you're still paying off).
Home equity loans are frequently offered at lower interest rates than other loans, so they may be a great option for consolidating debt on higher interest credit cards, or large home improvement projects.
You can determine how much equity you have in your home, and how much...