With a month to go until the ball drops and we flip to 2019 (a.k.a. the year in which Blade Runner and its flying cars are set — we’re just a bit behind!), now is the time to make sure all your year-end tasks get done. Without further ado, here’s your year-end financial checklist.
The Lottery: Hey, you never know — until you do
Do you live in South Carolina? Then quick: check to make sure you don’t live anywhere close to Simpsonville, point of sale of the winning $1.5 billion Mega Millions jackpot ticket. According to recent research, living in the same neighborhood as a lotto winner is fraught with financial hazards.
The Essentials of Everyday Estate Planning
A secret last will and testament, a fifteen-year fight to remove a comatose woman’s feeding tube, a last-minute model wife who sues for the late billionaire’s estate — this is the stuff of John Grisham novels, Supreme Court cases, and Us Weekly. For the rest of us, estate planning may be less dramatic (hopefully), but it remains an essential piece of ordering your financial world.
Willpower versus Healthy Habits
This month saw the passing of psychologist Walter Mischel, best known for his famed “marshmallow experiment” on delayed gratification. The marshmallow experiment became a symbol of the power of delayed gratification for life success. What does this mean for your finances? For starters, don’t rely on willpower for achieving your money goals. Instead spend that energy reshaping a single healthier habit next month.
How to Stick to Your Budget
We recently took a dive into the how and why of creating a budget. Now we’ll look at how to actually stick to that shiny new budget. Here’s the secret: it all begins with spending awareness. You can’t master your spending unless you first understand how you’re actually spending. The more aware you are of your spending, the more control you’ll have over your money.
The market: What goes up must come down
It’s official: the U.S. stock market has entered the longest bull market in its history. Since the stock market hit bottom in March 2009 during the financial crisis, U.S. stocks are up well over 300%. What does this mean for you? What goes up must come down. It’s inevitable the stock market will experience a downturn, and plenty of economists are predicting sooner rather than later. Here are three things you can be doing now to prepare for the next bear market.