Personal Finance

On Business Insider, an early retiree shares 10 things that surprised him after he left the workforce for good. This early retiree, ESI from ESIMoney.com, decided he has enough at 52 with a $3 million net worth. He share his revelation so anyone that considers early retirement can better prepare for it.

Here are the 10 surprised things:

1. Mondays became the best day of the week
2. My colleagues can’t accept I’m retired
3. I’m busier than ever
4. I’m in the best physical shape of my life
5. I’ve gotten very comfortable wearing casual clothes
6. My family relationships are much better
7. I’m learning and growing more than ever
8. I can’t go back to work anymore
9. The stress is gone
10. I’ve turned into a morning person

Detroit Lions defensive end Brandon Copeland only lives on 15 percent of his NFL salary and saves the rest. Copeland knows too well that his lucrative NFL career will not last forever. The 25-year-old defensive end told ESPN’s Michael Rothstein: “It’s guaranteed football is going to be over one day.” So he smartly saves nearly 90% of his income — which averages $615,000 a year.

Here’s a break down of Brandon Copeland’s personal finance. He invests around 60 percent of his post-tax salary. The DE also saves the extra 30 percent of the salary, while he only lives off the remaining 10 to 15 percent.

That’s a very impressive plan for a high-income earner. Copeland understands the power of compounding earnings to reap the most benefit from his investments. He explains his strategy: “Now anything that I have in my account the year previous, I don’t touch it.” Furthermore, he adds: “I’ve literally hoarded money. I’m literally stacking, stacking, stacking. Anything I can get into an account and just let sit, I’ve got to a point where I have enough, where if football is over today, I have more than enough to take care of me for a while.”

While Copeland is planning ahead for his financial security, he also works part-time for a Wall Street firm. During the NFL off-season, the Wharton School graduate works remotely for Weiss Multi Strategy Advisers. He’s already making plan for life after NFL. This young man is well set on his road to financial independence.

The IRS has announced the new 2017 contribution limits for health saving account. Each year the IRS provided the inflation-adjusted HSA contribution limits, along with minimum deductible and maximum out-of-pocket expenses for the high-deductible health plans. The health savings account annual limit for individuals rises by $50.  Aside from this $50 increase, other limits for HSA remain the same.

For calendar year 2017, the annual limitation on deductions for an individual under a high deductible health plan is $3,400. The annual limitation on deductions for a family is $6,750. The additional catch-up contribution for 55 years old or older is still $1,000.

HSA Guidelines for 2017

	HSA Contribution Limit	HDHP Minimum Deductible
Single	$3,400	$1,300
Family	$6,750	$2,600

[Read more…]

According to the Department of Labor, the number of Americans drawing unemployment insurance benefits dropped to its lowest level in 28 years in April, 2017. The unemployment rate also fell to 4.4 percent as more people are now finding jobs. That’s a great personal finance news for many families. The Washington Examiner reported:

The end of April saw the fewer workers getting unemployment benefits than anytime in the last 28 years, the Department of Labor reported Thursday in a sign of the labor market’s increasing health.

Just 1.9 million people received unemployment insurance benefits at the end of the month, the fewest since 1988. Benefits are available for up to 26 weeks in most states.

Even more engouraging: Averaging over the past four weeks, total unemployment benefit claims are running at the lowest rate since 1974, despite the workforce being 75 percent bigger.

Thursday’s report also showed new jobless claims dropping to 236,000 in the first week of May, an extremely low level.

In April, a teen named Carter Wilkerson asked Wendy’s how many retweets he would need to get in exchange for a year of free chicken nuggets. The fast-food chain replied that it would take 18 million retweets.

The 16-year-old set out on a wild mission to get free Wendy’s chicken nuggets for a year by asking the internet to help his challenging quest. Carter took a screenshot of the conversation and asked the internet to help him because, as he tweeted, “a man needs his nuggs.” Soon Twitter’s most retweeted tweet was born as his post quickly went viral.

HELP ME PLEASE. A MAN NEEDS HIS NUGGS pic.twitter.com/4SrfHmEMo3

— Carter Wilkerson (@carterjwm) April 6, 2017

The tweet from Carter Wilkerson for a year of free chicken nuggets from Wendy’s is now the most retweeted post of all time. [Read more…]

This is the second month that our net worth stays over $1 million. Unlike the previous month, our net worth didn’t fluctuate below the 7-figure mark.

Net worth is the value of all assets, minus the total of all liabilities. As we have no debts, in our case net worth is simply the sum of our cash, retirement accounts, houses, cars and college funds. For the month of April, our net worth came out to be $1,031,243. Here is the breakdown.

Most of the increase in net worth this month came from the retirement accounts. As mentioned in March, I intentionally increased my 401(k) contribution to accelerate the saving rate. At the moment the contribution rate is at 30%.

Future Game Plan

I intend to keep around six months’ worth of living expenses in the emergency fund. As long as my cash holding continues building up, I will keep on increasing the contribution rate to retirement accounts up to 50%. [Read more…]

Read the latest news about the tax brackets for 2017 here. Tax brackets are the divisions at which tax rates change. In another words, they are the cutoff values for taxable income — income past a certain point will be taxed at a higher rate. The United States has a progressive federal tax system with seven federal income tax brackets: 10%, 15%, 25%, 28%, 33%, 35% or 39.6%. Basically, the higher your income the higher your tax rate. Find out your tax rate below.

Every year, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) lets you know in advance what the tax brackets will be well before the tax deadline. The IRS has announced the latest numbers for the tax year 2017, effectively starting on January 1, 2017. Here’s the latest tax brackets and tax rates.

What Are the 2017 Tax Brackets?

Tax Rate	Single (Taxable Income)	Married Filing Jointly (Taxable Income)
10%	$0 to $9,325	$0 to $18,650
15%	$9,326 to $37,950	$18,651 to $75,900
25%	$37,951 to $91,900	$75,901 to $153,100
28%	$91,901 to $191,650	$153,101 to $233,350
33%	$191,651 to $416,700	$233,351 to $416,700
35%	$416,701 to $418,400	$416,701 to $470,700
39.60%	$418,401 +	$470,701 +

What Are The 2017 Standard Deduction?

Filing Status	Standard Deduction Amount
Single	$6,350
Married Filing Jointly	$12,700
Married Filing Separately	$6,350
Head of Household	$9,350

New Jersey teen entered a guilty plea in horrific murder of 19-year-old former classmate. Monmouth County prosecutors announced that Preston Taylor, 19, pleaded guilty to robbery, conspiracy, disturbing or desecrating human remains, hindering apprehension and tampering with physical evidence.

In return, prosecutors agreed to drop a felony murder charge he also faced in the death of 19-year-old Sarah Stern. Taylor admitted that he helped throw the body of Sarah Stern into a river and agreed to testify against Liam McAtasney, who is accused of strangling Stern and stealing $10,000 from her.

Preston Taylor (left), 19, has pleaded guilty in the horrific murder of 19-year-old, Sarah Stern (right) whose body was thrown off a bridge after she was strangled to death.

[Read more…]

Maurie Backman writes for The Motley Fool: “Though Americans are notorious for abusing their credit cards and taking on more debt than they should, new data shows that collectively, consumers have an average FICO score of 700. And that’s not too shabby, considering that the highest possible score is 850, and that a perfect credit record is pretty hard to come by. If you’re among the countless Americans with excellent credit, you should by all means celebrate that achievement — but don’t get too cocky. Sometimes, all it takes is a single mistake to turn a great score into one that’s mediocre or, worse yet, downright poor.”

Your credit score gives lenders the detail picture of how well you responsibly manage your credit. By avoiding mistakes that can derail your credit score, you can secure loan approval at a lower interest rate and save money over the long run.

Here are the some tips to avoid in order to preserve your credit:

1. Missing a payment
2. Opening too many credit cards or accounts at once
3. Using too much of your available credit
4. Closing old credit card accounts
5. Co-signing a loan

These moves can derail the credit you’ve worked so hard to build, so be sure to avoid them at all costs.

Net Worth:	$55 Million
Age:	56
Born:	September 3, 1960
Source of Wealth:	Radio Host, Author, Businessman
Known For:	Founding the Dave Ramsey Show
Last Updated:	2017

Introduction

David L. “Dave” Ramsey III is a businessman, financial author, radio host, and motivational speaker. He has written numerous financial books including five New York Times bestsellers.

Ramsey’s syndicated radio program, The Dave Ramsey Show, is heard on more than 500 radio stations throughout North America. In 2015 Ramsey was inducted into the National Radio Hall of Fame.

Ramsey has been married to his wife, Sharon, for over 30 years. They have three children: Denise, Rachel, and Daniel.

Early Life

Dave Ramsey was born and raised in Antioch, Tennessee. In 1982 he graduated from the College of Business Administration at University of Tennessee, Knoxville with a degree in Finance and Real Estate.

At the age of 26, Ramsey built a rental real estate portfolio worth more than $4 million and brought home a quarter of a million dollars a year. Two years later he was forced to declare bankruptcy as the bank demanded him to pay back the debts. The young Ramsey gained millionaire status and quickly lost everything in his 20’s which taught him a lasting lesson about debt management. To this day, Ramsey runs his business completely debt-free.

Later on, Ramsey would go on to develop personal finance lessons based on his experience to teach people nationwide. In 1992, he started his first financial book, Financial Peace. Ramsey set his mission in life to educate people about personal finance and to give hope to everyone in every walk of life.

Career

Dave Ramsey created the Dave Ramsey Show with a combined listenership of over 12 million weekly. The financial talk show is available on more than 575 radio stations and it’s the third largest talk radio show in the United States. Every year he earns millions of dollar from his lucrative show.

Ramsey is also the creator of Financial Peace University, a biblically based training series for adults that integrates video teaching, class discussions, and small group activities. Some topics covered in the series are cash flow planning, investing, saving, credit, retirement, and giving. The membership and class fees give Dave a very nice income while helping people dealing with financial issues.

Ramsey supports the debt snowball method, where debtors pay off their lowest balance debt first instead of paying off their highest interest rate debt first. A 2016 study by Harvard Business School found people who used the snowball method to pay off their smallest account first paid down more of their debt than those who used other methods. Dave’s method really works. He always preaches: “Debt is dumb. Cash is king!” Today millions of people follow Dave Ramsey’s teaching to guide them along the path to financial peace and security.

Personal Finance Quotes from Dave Ramsey

“The thing I have discovered about working with personal finance is that the good news is that it is not rocket science. Personal finance is about 80 percent behavior. It is only about 20 percent head knowledge.”

“I believe that through knowledge and discipline, financial peace is possible for all of us.”

“Your decisions from today forward will affect not only your life, but your entire legacy.”

“You never cash out a 401(k) or IRA to pay off debt, unless it’s to avoid a foreclosure or bankruptcy.”

“We’ve really got to stop looking to Washington to fix our problems. It obviously doesn’t have the ability to do that. People who are successful are not successful because of the president.”

Dave Ramsey Personal Finance Video

This is a great, quick, overview of what Dave Ramsey’s 7 Baby Steps are all about. Easy info to understand and hard to apply but it works!

The 7 Baby Steps

• Step 1: Save $1,000 to start an emergency fund
• Step 2: Pay off all debt but the house
• Step 3: Build 3 to 6 months of expenses in savings
• Step 4: Invest 15% of household income into retirement
• Step 5: College funding for children
• Step 6: Pay off home early
• Step 7: Build wealth and give

Summary

Since filing for personal bankruptcy in his 20’s, Dave Ramsey has come a long way. Ramsey made his first million, lost it and rebuilt an even larger fortune. With a net worth of $55 million, he’s living proof that anyone can turn a bad financial situation around.