Illinois

In This Issue:

• Key Retirement and Tax Numbers
• Hybrid Funds, Lifestyle or Target?
• What Happened to Your Money?

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Not all purchases are created equal. No matter your tax bracket there is often the feeling that there isn't enough to do what you want, pay off what you need to, and sock enough away for down the line.

There's always some excuse for not getting on top of our finances, we are busy after all, and between work and families, there's little brainpower left to devote to balancing the books and making more mindful spending choices. But what if, with just a few tweaks, you could? In this article, we will walk you through a few techniques that can help you feel happier about your spending habits and your money management skills.

Technique One: Make Spending a Treat

Are you the type to grab coffee out every day? How about lunch? If so you may be spending thousands of dollars a year. By bringing a lunch and making your own coffee you could pay off a credit card bill, go on a great vacation, or have a nice chunk of change tucked into your savings. We nickel and dime ourselves all the time and retailers know this. Supermarkets and department stores are designed to make the things you need harder to find and encourage impulse buying along the way. Online retailers create urgency with sales, email campaigns, and coupon codes. On top of that, keeping a credit card on file makes it all the easier to make last-minute instantaneous purchases. The less we use cash, the less we feel these fast, impulsive purchases. A great place to start tweaking our relationship with money is making the little purchases more of a treat than a given. Paying in cash is a good way to see where your money goes, allotting yourself a certain amount of spending money a day, when your wallet is empty, then you've reached your max. By practicing mindful buying you can also fight the urge to just speed-spend. Pick up items, try on clothes, price comparison shop. Retailers are very savvy about the psychology of the shopper's brain and design your experiences to upsell you. So, step one is to talk a pause and really think before you buy. Do you need a $5 coffee (and the extra calories?) is it better to grab a $10 wilted salad or to brown bag it? The average family wastes over $2,000 a year throwing out leftovers alone.[i] You may find that by making your purchases more of a special treat and not just a blah exercise in consumerism, that the things you own start to mean more. That cappuccino becomes a treat and not a daily caloric indulgence.

Most consumers typically have both a credit card and a debit card. Of course, the biggest difference between the two is that a debit card will immediately take money out of your bank account when used, unlike a credit card, which will pay for the purchase and later add the amount of the transaction to your monthly statement.

But are there any other differences between the two?

Socially responsible companies balance business concerns like revenue and profit with social concerns like the environment, community benefits, and sustainability. Likewise, socially responsible investing considers both financial return and social/environmental contribution to bring about a positive change.

We all have our own unique way of handling our finances. While some of us are natural born savers, others may have a hard time making it to the next pay cheque. Fortunately, most of us fall somewhere in-between, putting away money at times, while making frivolous purchases at other times.

Our economy is likely to move along at about the current pace for the next few quarters according to the Conference Board’s Leading Economic Index (LEI).  Their December 2018 release edged down 0.1 percent after rising 0.2 percent in November.  Versus a year ago, this index is up 2.1 percent.

Provided by Doug Fletcher

If your workforce includes recent college graduates, it’s likely that some of them have debt associated with their college years. Student debt may play a large part in the finances of these young (and even not-so-young) employees; that’s why a complete picture of employee financial wellness should consider it. In addition, carrying student debt may plan a role in how much workers are saving for their eventual retirement. Both of these are good reasons for employers to take an interest in the impact of student debt on their workforce.

Legacy planning is often the last piece folks tackle in their financial planning, because it’s the least appealing to think about.

Provided by Doug Fletcher

Changing careers can be rewarding for many reasons, but career transitions don't always go smoothly. Your career shift may take longer than expected, or you may find yourself temporarily out of work if you need to go back to school or can't immediately find a job. Consider these four tips to help make the financial impact of the transition easier.