at large, it can feel futile to bother thinking about it at all, never mind setting aside money for it. But “Don’t save anything, the planet will probably be a burning tire fire by the time you reach retirement age” isn’t prudent financial advice.In 2018, someone stole the wallet out of my purse at a bar. Not a huge deal. One trip to the DMV, a few phone calls to replace cards, whatever.
If you are not currently applying for a loan or line of credit or trying to open a new bank account, you should have your credit frozen. I was ultimately not held financially accountable for any of the things the thieves did, but for the first half of 2019, calling banks and collection agencies about this stuff was basically my unpaid part-time job. It was horrible. I can feel my blood pressure rising just remembering how miserable it all was.
To me, renters’ insurance is an absolute no-brainer, while pet insurance is a “do your research, think about your personal situation and decide what’s right for you” expense.You have to have car insurance in California if you have a car. But you probably don’t have enough. If you have the legal minimum liability coverage, your premium will pay up to $15,000 for injury/death to one person, $30,000 for injury/death to more than one person, $5,000 for property damage.
There are a few different ways that match can be structured, and they are all somewhat confusing and involve fractions. “If you contribute 6% of your pre-tax income, your employer will match 100% on the first 4% and 50% on the next 2%" sounds like a mean homework problem.Let’s say you make $100. Before you have to pay taxes on any of that, you choose to contribute 6% of it — so $6 — to your 401.
So take advantage of whatever 401 match is available to you. Dave Ramsay tells people to forgo the match as they pay off debt. I don’t want to call anyone out in this newsletter, but I personally think that advice is fiduciary malfeasance. The money in your 401 is not just sitting around waiting for you to get old. It is invested, and the money it earns is then re-invested, over and over, for years. We know how powerful compound interest is when it’s used against us by credit card companies.
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