If there is one piece of personal finance advice that is agreed on by pretty much every personal finance expert and guru it is “Live on Less Than You Make”. Since much of personal finance is based on common sense you can see why everyone would agree on this one small step. It’s amazing to me that our parents and grandparents and pretty much all of our ancestors followed this advice without even considering it was necessary and yet our generation seems to need reminding. Where do we think the extra money is coming from to cover our red ink and to support us in our retirement?

• Maybe it’s the fault of our government who continues to propagate the idea that they will take care of us, that we are entitled to a certain standard of living and who continues to spend more than they make by a wider margin every year.
• Or perhaps we can blame the media companies who put all the latest gadgets, toys and shiny playthings in front of us continually with the message that if we don’t have these things we are missing out and somehow less successful than our peers.
• Or we can blame the entertainment industry; who tell us that everyone should be living a dream and push us to buy all the trappings of that dream life.
• Maybe it’s our neighbors fault because they keep buying new things for their houses, new cars and electronics and if they have a landscaping service don’t we need one too…

In all honesty we have no one to blame but ourselves if we are living beyond our means. We have control of our financial destiny and no one else is going to care if we are broke when we should be retired and enjoying our golden years. Take responsibility for your finances and block out all the noise from outside. Look inside yourself and take stock of what you really need to make you happy. Chances are it’s not a new iPod or a new BMW or new furniture. It certainly isn’t mountains of debt that only make the banks and credit card companies richer. Chances are many of the things that will make you truly happy require very little money.

It may seem painful initially and many of us shy away from taking a close look at our finances for fear of what we’ll find, but you need to start out by creating a budget to find out how you SHOULD be spending your money. Once that’s done track your spending for a month or two to see if that is really how you ARE spending your money. Chances are there are a lot of little things you buy that aren’t in your budget. These could add up to hundreds of dollars a month (I know in my case they did). By simply becoming aware of where your money goes you might be able to get to the point that you’re spending less than you make.

One thing I can guarantee is that if you’re living on less than you make you’ll have less stress in your life. Small emergency expenses won’t create a huge problem for you because you’ll have the money to cope with them. You won’t be dwelling on where you’re going to get the money to pay this bill or that bill each month. You’ll know that you’re building a solid foundation for your future and I can tell you it will give you both a feeling of relief and satisfaction.

Another thing you’ll find once you’re living on less than you make is increased freedom. When you’re trapped in the debt spiral or living paycheck to paycheck you often have few choices in where your money gets spent or how much of your time you need to trade for the money that you need. Once you’ve gotten to the point that you spend less than you make all sorts of choices become available. The choice to quit your second job or turn down overtime and spend more time with your family is priceless. The choice to get away for the weekend with your spouse or take your family on a week long vacation WITHOUT increasing your debt is wonderful. The choice to follow your dreams, whatever they may be, often only opens up once you have the freedom from living paycheck to paycheck.

If you’re still spending more than you make then I highly recommend you take a look at your finances and make a plan TODAY to get that under control and spend less than you make. It may be a struggle initially, you may feel overwhelmed or like you’ll never be able to make it work, but if you don’t make it work now you’ll end up in a much worse place. Plus I can guarantee that once you get your spending in line with your income you’ll feel more relaxed and more happy overall.

Unless you’re Dave Ramsey or Jean Chatzky chances are it wouldn’t hurt you to get a personal financial advisor. I’ve been struggling with thoughts of consulting a financial advisor for a couple months now and have finally caved in to the idea.

I don’t know about the rest of you, but I tend to be pretty egotistical and have the idea that I can figure out pretty much anything on my own. I’ve felt the same way about my personal finances and still do, but have decided that getting the opinion of an unbiased outside observer might not be such a bad thing. Dylan Ross helped me along with his guest post at GetRichSlowly, When And How To Hire A Financial Planner. So, I’ve contacted several local CFP’s and have even set up an initial consultation with one. I’ll let you know how that turns out in a follow up post.

I’m still sure I can figure all this out on my own and hopefully make the best decisions regarding my financial future, after all who cares more about my well being than me (well maybe Mrs. Infant). Truthfully though I can only devote a small amount of time to studying finances and investment. So, while I know I would eventually get the knowledge I need I view meeting with a financial planner as akin to going to Kindergarten for the Money Infant.

Because the CFP spends his/her time continually learning this I think I can definitely learn something worthwhile. The planner I will be meeting with has over 20 years experience and I know has counseled many others on their financial well being, certainly that should provide them with a wealth of knowledge to draw upon? I am only looking for the basics at this point; retirement planning, how to reduce my tax bill and planning for my (almost) newborn daughter’s future education.

It will be nice to get a second opinion on my finances, but I know that all does not depend on my financial worth. I was reminded of this recently by a post about where the readers of The Simple Dollar want to be in 5 years time. Of the seven excerpts posted none of them focused on wealth or financial goals, although many of them did tie in with money in a subtle way.

The way I see it, many goals and dreams can be helped along when you no longer need to worry about money. It frees up so much energy and gives you the peace of mind and freedom to pursue just about anything. Here’s a great quote from Trent that pretty much sums up why we not only need to dream, but also need to chase that dream;

”…it makes you happy regardless of what other people think and whether it makes you any money or not – that’s something you need to dig into.”

My dream is to one day retire to Thailand. Obviously I would like to accomplish this sooner rather than later and have been focusing much of my energy towards this dream of mine. The possibility of working with a financial planner is just one more thing that will allow me to put more energy into my dream. If they are good they should be able to point out places I am making mistakes with my money as well as guiding me to position myself better for the eventual move. If I know more already than I believe than I will just find that I can trust in my own financial decisions more. Either way I should come out a winner.

What do all of you think? Is it necessary to work with a personal financial planner or can you do it all yourself?

Gambling your savings or even worse from money you don’t even have yet can be a really bad idea when it comes to your personal finances. Anything from lottery scratch cards to online poker to high stakes Vegas table games can be considered gambling and typically winning in these types of games is the exception rather than the rule.

So why is it that this past Sunday and Monday you would have found the Money Infant and Mrs. Infant happily staring at the one armed bandits in Atlantic City NJ? You would think that even an infant would have learned that gambling is a definite no-no when it comes to personal finance, saving and building wealth.

It’s true, I do know about the evils of gambling and normally wouldn’t even think of such a trip, however Monday was Mrs. Infants’ 28th birthday and when asked what she wanted for her birthday she gleefully replied “A trip to AC!”. Always the loving husband I happily complied and immediately looked into our budget to see what kind of damage such a trip would make.

Now, if we were still struggling month to month or paying down significant debt I never would have considered this trip. If we didn’t have a clear budget and goals I also definitely wouldn’t have considered this trip. However, since I know where we stand in regards to paying off our remaining debt, saving and what our budget is, I felt we could safely take a moderately priced weekend getaway.

I firmly believe that no person or couple can continually keep saving or paying off debt without being able to occasionally blow off some steam as well, whether that means a weekend in the wine country, a day (or week) at the beach, dinner at that expensive new restaurant or in our case a weekend gambling away our hard earned cash in Atlantic City. While financial freedom is the most important goal for all of us, balance in our lives is important too and I don’t think it’s healthy to obsess too much on one aspect of your life. If you’ve gotten to the point where you have some discretionary income each month it’s not always necessary to stick that extra money into savings or use it to pay down debt…sometimes you can splurge. One of the beauties of financial freedom is being ABLE to do this occasionally without hurting your budget or feeling guilty.

One of the things that scares people away from budgeting is that it makes them feel trapped, like they have to robotically follow their budgets no matter what. A budget is not designed to trap you into spending or saving. It is simply a guide to your personal finances. A road map to your destination of financial freedom. Sometimes you’ll follow it towards the expressway and you’ll be closer to your goals faster and other times you may want to relax a bit and take the scenic route. Either way is acceptable, it all depends on your personality and goals.

Plan well with your budget, but don’t feel that you’re trapped by what your budget says you should be doing. As long as you’re moving towards the goal of financial freedom; paying down your debts, saving for retirement, building your emergency fund and most importantly spending less than you earn, you will be fine in the long run. Your personal finances are not a sprint, they are a marathon and a budget is by no means written in stone. Take the slow road occasionally and you’ll likely find that you come through refreshed and ready to take your finances to the next level.

Oh and the end result of our trip to Atlantic City was not too bad at all. After gambling for about 15 hours over 2 days we were down just $50. So basically the cost of the two days was our room at Caesars ($140) and a wonderful birthday dinner for Mrs. Infant at Dock’s Oyster House ($120 and worth every penny). All other meals and drinks are included in the $50 loss, so gambling was actually a bit better than break even. I would consider that a pretty cheap 2 days in Atlantic City!

Following up a bit from yesterday’s post Roth IRA’s for Infants, I want to look more in depth at the benefits of using a Roth IRA to fund your child’s education. With my wife expecting our first child in late May/early June the question of how to start saving for college has been weighing heavily on my mind.

While Roth’s are typically thought of as retirement accounts, which is their main use and they are very good for that purpose, many people might not know that Roth’s can also be used for college expenses. How much of the Roth you ask? Under current tax law any of the contributions can be withdrawn tax and penalty free. In addition, the income from the investments can be withdrawn without the usual 10% penalty, although it is subject to normal withholding tax. See this article by Jeff Rose for more info about qualified IRA distributions.

One big benefit of the Roth is that it is not considered as an asset when determining financial aid for the student. That alone could be the difference between whether or not your son/daughter can get financial aid. Of course the money is considered once it has been withdrawn, but with proper planning and deferred loans you could wait until after your child graduates and then withdraw one lump sum to pay off the loans. Please don’t take my word on that though as I am just beginning my research and am not 100% how that would work. Check with a certified financial planner if you’re considering a move such as that.

Since I own my own business I could legally hire my daughter when she gets older, pay her $5000 a year and place all that money in a Roth IRA in her name. At the very least she would have all of the contributions at her disposal to pay off college loans after she graduates. And if she needed to she could also withdraw any of the income, which should all be qualified by this time, assuming she was willing to pay the normal withholding tax. As an added bonus the $5000 yearly salary would reduce the profits from the business, thereby lowering my tax bill.

Obviously the Roth by itself would not be enough to pay for her whole college education, but it could be a big help, especially the part about it not being considered an asset for financial aid determination. Combining the Roth with a Coverdell ESA, financial aid and a job (for my daughter) we would have some pretty high powered ammunition to fight through the costs of a college education.

I still need to investigate the ramifications of the possibility that she would study overseas, but overall I am starting to feel more comfortable about this aspect of my current financial plan. If anyone has experience with children going to school overseas and how that effects such things as Coverdell ESA’s and 529 plans I’d love to hear from you in the comments below.

As you read yesterday, one of my personal finance goals for 2010 is to fully fund a Roth IRA for both myself and my wife. A nice stretch goal would be to also fund our daughters Roth IRA fully, but I don’t expect that will happen. Maybe you’re smiling and saying “Good goals”, however some of you may be knitting your brows wondering what the heck is a Roth IRA?

The Roth IRA is a type of retirement account and was born on January 1, 1998 as a result of the Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997. It was named after the late Senator William V. Roth, Jr. who was the sponsor of the bill that created this type of retirement account. It differs from a traditional IRA in several unique and specific ways.

First of all, unlike traditional IRS’s, not everyone can contribute to a Roth IRA. The IRS uses your modified adjusted gross income (MAGI) to determine if you are eligible to contribute to a Roth IRA. Basically the MAGI is your adjusted gross income (AGI), but with some modifications to the normal deductions. You typically won’t need to figure this number unless you are right up against the limits which are as follows for 2009:

• Married filing jointly or qualified widow(er): Up to $166,000 (to qualify for a full contribution); $166,000-$176,000 (to be eligible for a partial contribution); over $176,000 (you can’t contribute)
• Married filing separately (if the couple lived together for any part of the year): $0 (to qualify for a full contribution); $0-$10,000 (to be eligible for a partial contribution); over $10,000 (you can’t contribute)
• Single, head of household, or married filing separately and you did not live with your spouse at any time during the year: Up to $105,000 (to qualify for a full contribution); $105,000-$120,000 (to be eligible for a partial contribution); over $120,000 (you can’t contribute)

2010 limits are basically the same. The only change is for those who are married filing jointly whose limits are increased slightly as follows: Up to $167,000 (to qualify for a full contribution); $167,000-$177,000 (to be eligible for a partial contribution); over $177,000 (you can’t contribute).

If you are qualified to contribute to a Roth IRA then the full contribution for both 2009 and 2010 is $5000. If you are over 50 by the end of the tax year (December 31, 2009 for the 2009 tax year) then you are eligible for a catch up provision that allows you to contribute $6000 per year.

Why Should I Care About Roth IRA’s?

Because they’re good for you, well they’re good for your financial health anyway. You see, unlike a traditional IRA, SEP IRA and SIMPLE IRA the Roth IRA has one very distinctive tax benefit. The money you put in the Roth IRA is put in after taxes are paid on it. This means you can’t use contributions as a deduction on your tax return, but it also means that the government doesn’t tax the money when you withdraw it. Not any of it. This is huge because it means your money grows tax deferred AND you can use it during your retirement without paying any taxes.

Think of this scenario. Julie was money wise at an early age and began contributing to her Roth IRA when she was fresh out of college at 22 years old. She contributed the full amount every year and her money grew on average at 7% annually (Julie was a pretty conservative investor). After 37 ½ years of this Julie was ready to retire and enjoy the money she put away over the years. By only contributing $194,000 over the 37 ½ years, Julie would have a balance of $877,622. And ALL of that money could be withdrawn TAX FREE. Compare that to a similar investment made in a taxable account over that time which would have only grown to $577,145. Tax free compounding is pretty powerful stuff and when you combine it with tax free withdrawals it is like rocket fuel.

Consider this. A retire couple filing married with the standard deduction can make up to $19,050 a year without owing any taxes. If they can supplement this with $2000 monthly withdrawals from a Roth IRA they would have $3587.50 monthly with no tax liability. Not too shabby.

Another benefit of the Roth IRA is that you can withdraw any contributions both tax and penalty free. Makes sense since the money you put into the Roth has already been taxed. This makes the Roth a useful place to stick emergency funds or savings for longer term purchases as well. If you can only save $5000 a year ($10,000 for couples), why not put it into and account that grows tax free? The money will still be easily accessible and you’ll be avoiding any taxes on the interest or investment income. This is actually perfect for our needs right now. Golf and I want to save to buy a house once we’re living in Thailand. Unfortunately I cannot own land as a non-Thai citizen. It will take me a minimum of 8 years to become a citizen. This means we effectively have at least 10 years before we will be buying our house. By maxing out both of our Roth IRA’s we will have put aside $103,000 in 10 years time (I’m 43 currently so the catch up provision will be in effect for me for 3 of the 10 years). If we don’t have enough other savings we can pull that money out to complete our house purchase. And yes, that should be plenty to buy a nice 3-4 bedroom house in Thailand where housing costs are much lower than here in the U.S.

In addition, if you’re using the Roth IRA to save for a first home purchase you will want to know that you CAN make tax and penalty free withdrawals of not only your own contributions, but also the earnings in the Roth once it is held for 5 years. This is considered a qualified distribution and is both tax and penalty free. You can learn more about Roth IRA distribution rules from Ryan at CashMoneyLife.

And to make the Roth IRA even sweeter you can also use both the contributions and qualified earnings for your child’s college expenses. Craig at Money Help for Christians discusses the plusses and minuses of doing so and it is actually one of the alternatives that I am considering to fund our daughters’ education. Since we will be living abroad I have no idea what country she will be attending school in and the Roth IRA might provide me with the flexibility I need.

When you consider the tax advantages and flexibility of the Roth IRA I think it should be high on anyone’s list of retirement accounts to set up and start funding right away. It’s not difficult to do as most financial institutions offer a Roth IRA account. If you haven’t already opened an account check with your bank, broker or financial advisor to get one opened right away. Oh, if you open the account before April 15th 2010 you can still make the full $5000 contribution for your 2009 tax year.