Money Tips Network

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This week's topic: 2018 Finances in Review! Learn about money-saving strategies, checking credit reports, paying off debt, and more!

Five years ago I left my full-time job to enter the freelance writing world. I spent a lot of time trying to figure out how to best organize and manage my days so they were productive and meaningful. At some point during that first year, I discovered the Bullet Journal methodology, and while I’ve picked it up and put it down a couple times since then, I recommitted to the analog process earlier this year, around the same time I chose to intentionally disconnect more from my phone.

Vicki Robin, one of the authors of the truly great personal finance book Your Money or Your Life, wrote an article for Marketwatch entitled Suze Orman missed the point of retirement, and that’s why she went back to work. The article discusses the decision of financial guru Suze Orman to return to work after retiring three years ago, digging into her reasons for doing so and coming up with some interesting conclusions about retirement and financial independence.

Let’s dig into some key quotes from the article to break it down bit by bit and then I’ll summarize my thoughts on the article.

What’s inside? Here are the questions answered in today’s reader mailbag, boiled down to summaries of five or fewer words. Click on the number to jump straight down to the question.
1. Pulled out in a panic
2. Collection of old autographs
3. Saving enough for retirement?
4. Trusting bloggers for financial advice
5. The cost of high expenses
6. Inexpensive way to learn chess
7. Overcontribution to 401(k)
8. Worried about stock market

A few weeks ago, I was invited to one of those meal preparation parties where you hang out with friends and combine ingredients for frozen meals. It seemed like a fun way to spend a weekday night, as well as a smart way to build up a stash of frozen dinners ahead of time. For a package price of $90, I would get a selection of spices and oils along with recipes I could use to save myself from slaving over the stove for 10 separate evenings.

I’ll be the first to admit that this time of the year leaves me feeling overwhelmed, and this year more than most.

For starters, the holiday season is something that often leaves me with a sense of too much to do and a sense of relief when it’s over that overshadows the joy I feel during the season. I think of the holidays as stressful, not joyous, with an overstuffed calendar and an overstuffed to-do list.

I also am affected somewhat by seasonal affective disorder, which usually kicks in right around Thanksgiving. I can combat it through a handful of routines, but it still affects me even when I do everything right. I started to get it in my late twenties, culminating with a couple of really rough winters until I figured out how to at least somewhat control it. Basically, it causes me to be rather tired and lethargic in the winter and sometimes a bit grumpy.

That’s the normal December stuff. This year has been extra special.

You’re probably reading this during the “calm before the storm.” There’s a good chance that sometime in the next several days, there’s at least one big holiday event that you’re just utterly unprepared for with seemingly 80 things left to do.

You have to travel. You have to help prep a meal. You have to get a last-minute gift (or three). There’s probably a combination of things going on. You’re also probably stressed out about it. It’s probably very, very tempting to just throw money at the problem… but that’s not going to help in the long run, is it?

(I know this sounds like me right now. This has been the holiday season to end all holiday seasons.)

The passage of the Tax Cut and Jobs Act of 2017 will have a variety of ramifications for the upcoming tax filing season, many of which are yet to be fully understood by taxpayers.

Among the changes that has remained somewhat under the radar is the impact the new tax law may have on charitable contributions made by individuals, particularly those who are seeking a deduction for such donations.

While the sweeping tax reform package left the charitable deduction itself intact, other tax law changes may reduce one’s incentive to claim the deduction moving forward.

Specifically, the standard deduction has been raised substantially — almost doubled — and is now $12,000 for individuals and $24,000 for married couples filing jointly.

With such a significant increase in the standard deduction, far fewer taxpayers may find it worthwhile to go to the trouble of itemizing, which in turn may discourage charitable giving in the first place.

As I’ve mentioned before, one extremely helpful practice that I’ve been employing for years in terms of keeping my spending in a healthy place is something I call after action reporting and visualization. It’s simple and I do it all the time when I’ve got a few spare minutes, like when I’m in the car or waiting at the dentist’s office. I’ll write down more complicated ones in my journal.

All I do is reflect on a recent time when I spent money on something that wasn’t an obvious need. (I use it for other potential mis-steps in my life, too, but bad spending choices are a stellar example.) I’ll simply think back through the spending choice I recently made, ask myself whether or not it made sense, and look for potential alternatives that give me a better outcome, either in terms of spending less money or getting a better result. Then, I visualize myself doing it the “better” way the next time I’m in such a situation.