Links to several of my favorite recent articles on money and life:
I am doing something a little different this week. I have two pairs of point/counterpoint articles. In each case an author stated a strong opinion about a financial topic and later someone else responded with counter arguments. I read each of the initial articles not long after they were published and had some of the same thoughts later expressed in the counterpoints. All four articles are well-written and interesting.
Suze Orman Says This Is the Age You Should Retire – Not a Month or Year Before by Suze Orman for Money Magazine
Suze Orman has made a nice career, and a lot of money, out of taking strong stands and not backing down. She takes that strategy to the extreme in this article. Of course, when you retire is too personal for anyone to make a blanket statement like Orman’s and have it apply to everyone, but she does make some great points about why you might want to consider working quite a bit longer than the current average retirement age.
Suze Orman Says You Shouldn’t Retire Until You’re 70. Here’s Why She’s Wrong by Walter Updegrave at Money Magazine
Updegrave takes Orman to task for setting a blanket retirement age that applies to everyone and instead discusses the types of things you actually need to consider in deciding when to retire.
I Took All My Money Out of the Stock Market and It Feels Amazing by Roz Warren for Money Magazine
Warren is a librarian and has had 60% of her money exposed to the stock market for several decades. The market has treated her well during that time and she has reached her retirement savings goal. In this well-written article she discusses why, as soon as she reached her goal, she immediately pulled all her money out of the market.
Considerations for Cashing Out of the Stock Market by Ben Carlson at Wealth of Common Sense
Carlson refers to Warren and congratulates her for reaching her retirement goal. But he doesn’t believe pulling all of her money out of the market was the wisest choice. Carlson thinks some diversification would be better and shows how leaving a little money in the market would likely significantly increase her returns without adding much risk. As always Carlson’s writing is crisp and his reasoning is solid and backed up by data.
Why a Traditional Bank Savings Account Doesn’t Teach Your Kid How to Save by Bill Dwight at FamZoo
One of the most important financial lessons you can teach your children is the importance of saving and the power of compounding interest. This article argues that a bank savings account is a terrible tool for doing this and offers some great alternatives that work much better.
I Just Want To Freeze My Credit, Not Read Your Article by Crispy Doc
Do recent data breaches have you worried? Do you want to freeze your credit as quickly and painlessly as possible? This post is for you. It provides the links you need, how much it will cost, and how long it is likely to take, and nothing else. I love it. What a great idea!