Jenny Logan, CFP®

Don't let a pension ruin your life! If you can obtain a higher paying job you can plan for retirement without one #financialfreedom #financialplanning #retirementplanning

You should not let a pension trap you in a job hate. With proper financial planning, you can successfully change jobs and still save for retirement without a pension. #financialfreedom #financialplanning #retirementplanning

Roth money is a powerful tool! Set one up with my eCourse - link on insta @chisholmfinancial ​#shorts #financialfreedom #financialplanning #financialplan #retirementplanning #retirementplan #401k #401krollover

Everybody is different , but Roth money is a powerful tool! #shorts #financialfreedom #financialplan #retirementplanning #financialeducation #financialliteracy

Begin the year off right with these five steps to take towards financial freedom! 1. Establish an emergency fund. 2. Create a debt repayment plan. 3. Increase your retirement savings. 4. Review investment allocations. 5. Update your financial goals. Check out the full video: https://www.youtube.com/live/fUfrLxLJxls?feature=share #shorts #financialfreedom #financialgoals #financialplanning #financialplan #retirementplanning

Begin the year off right with these five steps to take towards financial freedom! 1. Establish an emergency fund. 2. Create a debt repayment plan. 3. Increase your retirement savings. 4. Review investment allocations. 5. Update your financial goals. Check out the full video: https://www.youtube.com/live/fUfrLxLJxls?feature=share #shorts #financialfreedom #investing #financialplanning #financialplan #retirementplanning

Planning for financial freedom? Increase your retirement savings! #shorts #financialfreedom #emergencyfunds #financialplanning #financialplan #retirementplanning

#shorts #financialfreedom #emergencyfunds #financialplanning #financialplan #retirementplanning

Begin the year off right with these five steps to take towards financial freedom! 1. Establish an emergency fund. 2. Create a debt repayment plan. 3. Increase your retirement savings. 4. Review investment allocations. 5. Update your financial goals. Check out the full video: https://www.youtube.com/live/fUfrLxLJxls?feature=share #shorts #financialfreedom #emergencyfunds #financialplanning #financialplan #retirementplanning

This week we will focus on debt. We will discuss debt as a symptom of a much larger problem, I will outline how to characterize debt—useless versus useful, and provide some payoff strategies that may be helpful in getting control of your debt. Debt Is a Symptom of a Larger Problem To master this foundational step, requires you first evaluate the type of debt you hold and make an aggressive plan to pay off debt that is not moving you forward financially (which is most debt). Debt is often a result of money mismanagement and overspending and it stops your financial advancement by forcing you to allocate monthly cashflow to debt service instead of other goals such as saving. Are you living outside your means? Depending on the type of debt you have, it is most often a result of living outside your means. Particularly, if much of your debt is consumer debt (credit cards, personal loans), it is time to go back to step one (Budgeting & Lifestyle Management) and evaluate your spending habits and put yourself on a budget. Are you engaging in the cycle-of-debt? If you find yourself engaging the cycle-of-debt, meaning, you payoff debt only to constantly accumulate it once again, this is a mismanagement of your resources. We will discuss creating an emergency fund in the next Stack, as an emergency fund will help end this cycle. But for now, if you find yourself in this cycle, you must begin with foundation #1—Budgeting & Lifestyle Management and then proceed to creating a way to payoff your current debt and end this cycle. Debt Stops You From Funding Other Goals When your monthly cashflow continues to be allocated to debt service, that is cashflow you cannot allocate to things like: Building an emergency fund. Saving in advance for expense goals such as vacations, activities, and other enjoyable life events. Saving for a car or a home. Increasing your retirement savings. Get Started Tackling This Once & For All First, create a list of all your outstanding debt (mortgage, car loan, credit cards, personal loans, etc.), paying particular attention to high-interest debt. Make sure your list includes what each loan is charging in interest. Now, you want to categorize your debt. I use two categories for debt—useless and useful. Useless Debt This is debt that does not move you forward financially. Credit cards, personal loans, and other high-interest borrowing is often acquired because of emergency needs and/or lack of budgeting and failing to live within your means. This is the debt you accumulate when you are engaging in the cycle-of-debt to keep your lifestyle going. Typically, this debt is carried at high interest rates—so once acquired, this debt can be very difficult to get under control. Useful Debt Some other types of debt such as mortgages and student loans is money borrowed with the intention of improving your financial situation in the near-to long-term. Generally, debt acquired for long-term financial improvements I consider “useful” debt and most often these loans are at lower interest rates, and can even tax deductible. There are certainly caveats to this characterization and your situation may illustrate when a mortgage or student loan payments enter into the useless debt category, but in general, you should focus on the consumer debt first. Create a Debt Repayment Plan Once you have a list of all your debt, focus solely on paying off the useless debt. Allocate all your excess resources to paying down this debt. For example, do not make extra mortgage payments if you have credit card debt. As a rule of thumb, anything with an interest rate over 5% should be paid down as quickly as possible. Anything under 5% can wait until the higher-interest loans are dealt with. If you have multiple high-interest, useless loans, there are two strategies that can assist in paying them down: Snowball Debt Method - Begin paying off the smallest useless loan aggressively, knocking that out and then moving on to the next smallest loan. Apply whatever payment you had on the smaller loan, to the next. As you payoff these loans, you will start to feel more in control of your situation. Pay High-Interest Debt First - Another way to attack your debt is to simply pay the most you can towards your highest interest loan until it is paid off and then moving on to the next loan. This strategy can sometimes be discouraging, particularly if your highest interest loan is also your largest loan. Unlike the snowball debt method, you may not immediately see results in your efforts. Whatever method you choose, make a plan to attack your debt and stick with it.

Not knowing what your lifestyle costs cripples both your present and future. In the present, you are likely mindlessly paying bills as they come due and spending whatever money is available until your next paycheck. Even if you are not acquiring debt and “living within your means” you are not implementing a strategy to find more money to save, invest, leverage, or otherwise utilize to move you forward. Equally as bad for your future, not understanding your lifestyle costs prevents you from effectively evaluating if you are saving enough for retirement. You must know—at the very least—your annual expenses to determine how much you need to save to sustain that spending level in retirement. Where to Start If you have never budgeted, step one is to go back and track your spending as accurately as possible. I recommend looking at your credit card and bank account statements, and piecing together the last 6 months of your spending. Categorize the expenses and compare what you spend each month in each category. There are several online tools that assist in gathering the data—even looking backwards. Our planning software for clients has this ability, and I know some who use Mint.com or Quicken with success. Budgeting for Goals Tracking and evaluating what you are spending is the first step to understanding where all your money is going. Next, you may need to find room in your spending for savings, debt repayment, or other goals. This is where a budget comes in. Looking at the categories of spending, evaluate if there are places you need to cut back so you can allocate those monies to your other financial goals. Part of budgeting is going to require you to understand what financial goals you may need to be working towards. Perhaps you have student loan, consumer, or other debt that is not moving you forward. Or maybe you do not have an emergency fund or have not started saving for retirement. If you have neglected planning for these needs, you are not building a foundation for success and now is the time to review your budget and begin looking at where you can make cuts to begin tackling these other needs. If You Need Help There is a need for straightforward advice on the basics of financial planning. Seeing this need, we have opened registration for our Foundational Financial Planning ecourse, launching April 3. This six-week course will go over one pillar of foundational financial planning each week. Once you have mastered these principals— you have mastered the basics giving you a firm fiscal foundation and can progress onto more complex financial goals such as buying real estate, starting a business, or planning to retire early. It is vital that we each master the basics, building a solid foundation of which to create a long-term financial plan that moves us closer to freedom of our own lives and choices.

If you are the person who is counting down years, if not decades, in their tiresome employment all for the pension—you know exactly the self-imposed prison a pension can create. I have some thoughts on escaping... This short live stream will cover pensions in general--most common in the public sector. We will discuss how enticing they can be to workers and generally how they grow over the time you are employed. Then we will discuss the realities of waiting out a pension for months, years, or decades--and what that may mean for your daily existence. If you find yourself chained to a desk waiting for the magic 20-year vest, there are some things to consider that might enable and escape sooner: 1. If you left your job, and found something equivalent without a pension, would it pay more? Often times, private sectors pay more than public sector jobs partly because they do not have the robust pension benefits. If this is a possibility, how much more would it pay? Could you save and invest the increase in income and build your own future pension? 2. Can you leave your job at your current pension level and find something else and plan for retirement without the 20-year magic pension? This question is similar to the one above, but just really, if you left your pension job now, took whatever small pension you may have vested in and started working somewhere else, could you plan for retirement as if the pension didn’t exist. If you are young, and under 10 years into a pension system, the answer to this is most likely yes. 3. How much more do you really need to work to vest? Now, if you are 18-years into a 20-year vesting schedule, hate your job, but have gotten through it hating it most of time—now is not the time to leave. The reality is, you may have already sacrificed a lot of happiness, health, and other parts of your life to get close to that 20-year mark. You should earn what you’ve sacrificed so much for. But my advice to those who are at much less than 20—even only five years, and you already hate your job—begin making an exit strategy. Most people would not stay in a relationship—whether it be a family member, spouse, or friend for twenty years if it made them entirely miserable. Why would you sacrifice for something much less valuable—money? Don’t let a pension ruin your life.

MADOFF: The Monster of Wall Street What this tale of Wall Street’s largest Ponzi scheme, perpetrated by the infamous Bernie Madoff, should teach investors. I highly recommend this docuseries on Netflix. There is entertainment, intrigue, and most importantly, Bernie Madoff's story can teach investors a few important things to consider before they hire someone to manage their money: 1. Where is your money being held. You should not be giving a money manager direct access to your account. Instead, your funds should be in your name and housed at a custodian. A custodian is a financial institution that holds customers securities for safekeeping to prevent them from being stolen or lost. Custodians tend to be large reputable firms such as banks. Large, well-known custodians are: Bank of New York (BNY) Mellon, Pershing, JPMorgan Chase, Schwab, T.D. Ameritrade. There are plenty of other reputable custodians, but be sure to do your due diligence. 2. What is the investment strategy. Throughout the entire documentary, Madoff refused to explain his “strategy”. Investing successfully does not require a top-secret decoder ring nor is it reinventing the wheel. New strategies are not being developed and implemented each day or week. Rather, time and time again the single strategy that works consistently is to buy and hold and grow your money with the market. This is the strategy I encourage for self-directed investors and implement with my own clients. If there is another strategy either being proposed or insinuated (and not explained), this is a red flag. 3. Complexity does not indicate breadth of knowledge. Madoff not only refused to explain his strategy when questioned, but insinuated it was very complex and proprietary. Ironically, he claimed such complexities existed solely to hide what was only the most basic robbery—robbing Peter to pay Paul. On a much smaller scale, I often see complexity built into client portfolios by managers as a means of “proving” their worth. At Chisholm, because our asset management services include comprehensive financial planning so our value is inherent in working with us. We keep our portfolios simple, low cost, and straightforward. At the end of the day, if your investment advisor cannot easily explain to you what your portfolio is holding and why the returns are as they are it’s time to move on. 4. Are the portfolio returns reflective of the broader market. Bernie Madoff claimed to make great returns consistently, even during periods of down markets. With the exception of a lucky stock pick, which I compare to betting on the right horse at the track, an investment manager will not consistently beat the market; If he or she is claiming some clairvoyance that the rest of the market does not have, something is not right. When we discuss investment portfolios with clients, we are open and honest about how they will fair in up and down markets and make sure the client knows that investment growth requires various levels of risk, and down cycles of the market. There are a few other takeaways I will touch on in this lives stream, but they are more subjective. I will touch on: 1. Virtue and how it relates to the earning and investing of money is an important topic, and one I think is overlooked. 2. The sad choice that Madoff made, willingly, to go down the wrong path. Imagine what his life could have been had he made the right choices.

Last December, congress passed a spending package which included updates to the SECURE act originally passed end of 2019. The SECURE Act 2.0 of 2022 made some major changes to the retirement rules for individuals and employer plans. There are many provisions in the act that will benefit investors. I will cover the two I think are most pertinent here—the raising of the age for required minimum distributions and changes in 529 planning that allows more flexibility. Required Minimum Distributions (RMDs) - The beginning date for required minimum distributions (RMDs) was raised from 72 to 73, starting in 2023, and to 75 in 2033. 529 Planning & Roth Funding - Families with leftover 529 money will be able to roll it into Roth IRAs. Meaning, if your child does not use all the funds you’ve saved into their 529, you may utilize the excess to supplement your retirement needs. This provision is effective in 2024, giving investors 2023 to factor this new rule into their long-term planning. We will also discuss a few other benefits to investors this act has put in place. --- #secureact

What you need to know when it comes to Student Loan Forgiveness. We will cover: 1. Where do borrowers stand as of January 2023. Depending on the litigation holding up the forgiveness, loan payments could resume as early as 60 days from end of litigation OR 60 days from June 30, 2023 at the latest. 2. What should borrowers plan while they wait for a decision on this legislation? We discuss some financial planning strategies to consider. 3. Where to find out the most updated information: https://studentaid.gov/announcements-events/covid-19 https://studentaid.gov/ 4. For future borrowers--parents or students--make sure you consider the investment in higher education before you take out loans. College is all about planning for your future--so what should you consider before you enroll and take out loans? --- #finance #investing #money #financialfreedom #personalfinance #financialliteracy #retirementplanning #financialadvisor #livefreeordie #financialdiscipline #disciplineequalsfreedom #studentdebt #studentloans

Five things you can do right now to improve your Financial Success in 2023: 1. Establish an emergency fund. 2. Create a debt repayment plan. 3. Increase your retirement savings. 4. Review your investment allocations. 5. Update your financial goals. --- #finance #investing #money #financialfreedom #personalfinance #financialliteracy #retirementplanning #financialadvisor #livefreeordie #financialdiscipline #disciplineequalsfreedom

In this short video we will compare the tax benefits and outcomes of planning with a traditional IRA versus a Roth IRA. --- With simple online tools and transparent pricing, Chisholm Financial Planning offers the convenience of working with a remote financial planner on an ongoing basis—no matter where you live or where life takes you! Schedule a complimentary 30min consultation today! https://bit.ly/3ynQhdP --- Find us on Social Media! Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chisholmfinancial/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/chisholmfinancialplanning Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/chisholm-financial-planning-san-diego-3?osq=chisholm+financial+planning

In this short video we will discuss ​​​​​income limits, required minimum distributions, and withdrawal rules related to Roth IRAs. --- With simple online tools and transparent pricing, Chisholm Financial Planning offers the convenience of working with a remote financial planner on an ongoing basis—no matter where you live or where life takes you! Schedule a complimentary 30min consultation today! https://bit.ly/3ynQhdP --- Find us on Social Media! Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chisholmfinancial/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/chisholmfinancialplanning Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/chisholm-financial-planning-san-diego-3?osq=chisholm+financial+planning

In this short video I explain the methods available to starting a Roth - ranging from self-directed to utilizing an employer-sponsored plan. --- With simple online tools and transparent pricing, Chisholm Financial Planning offers the convenience of working with a remote financial planner on an ongoing basis—no matter where you live or where life takes you! Schedule a complimentary 30min consultation today! https://bit.ly/3ynQhdP --- Find us on Social Media! Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chisholmfinancial/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/chisholmfinancialplanning Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/chisholm-financial-planning-san-diego-3?osq=chisholm+financial+planning

What is a Roth IRA? How does it compare to a Traditional IRA? In this short video we define Roth IRAs and provide an example of how they work and the benefit they provide when it comes to retirement. --- With simple online tools and transparent pricing, Chisholm Financial Planning offers the convenience of working with a remote financial planner on an ongoing basis—no matter where you live or where life takes you! Schedule a complimentary 30min consultation today! https://bit.ly/3ynQhdP --- Find us on Social Media! Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chisholmfinancial/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/chisholmfinancialplanning Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/chisholm-financial-planning-san-diego-3?osq=chisholm+financial+planning

Chisholm Financial Planning was founded to offer individuals and families comprehensive financial planning services that set them on the path to financial freedom. At Chisholm, we require no account or net-worth minimums but instead utilize a fee-based structure; you pay us for our time and expertise. Your success is our goal. With simple online tools and transparent pricing, Chisholm Financial Planning offers the convenience of working with a remote financial planner on an ongoing basis—no matter where you live or where life takes you! Schedule a complimentary 30min consultation today! https://bit.ly/3ynQhdP --- Chapters: 0:00 – Who We Are & Our Services 1:02 – Our Expertise 1:48 – Our Financial Planning Process 3:29 – How Did Chisholm Get Its Name? 4:31 – Who We Work With 6:00 – Pricing Options --- Find us on Social Media! Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chisholmfinancial/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/chisholmfinancialplanning Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/chisholm-financial-planning-san-diego-3?osq=chisholm+financial+planning

Chisholm Financial Planning was founded to offer individuals and families comprehensive financial planning services that set them on the path to financial freedom. At Chisholm, we require no account or net-worth minimums but instead utilize a fee-based structure; you pay us for our time and expertise. Your success is our goal. With simple online tools and transparent pricing, Chisholm Financial Planning offers the convenience of working with a remote financial planner on an ongoing basis—no matter where you live or where life takes you! Schedule a complimentary 30min consultation today! https://bit.ly/3ynQhdP --- Chapters: 0:00 – Who We Are & Our Services 1:02 – Our Expertise 1:48 – Our Financial Planning Process 3:29 – How Did Chisholm Get Its Name? 4:31 – Who We Work With 6:00 – Pricing Options --- Find us on Social Media! Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chisholmfinancial/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/chisholmfinancialplanning Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/chisholm-financial-planning-san-diego-3?osq=chisholm+financial+planning