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The Wall Street Journal
12 Money-Saving Hacks for Raising Kids, From Clever Parents Who Did It:
I opened a 529 college savings account when my son was born and shared the contribution link with friends and family. (The plan will typically generate a direct link to your child’s gifting page so others can contribute but won’t give them the ability to access your account details such as the account balance). It took the pressure off us having to save during our child’s first year and shielded our house from an onslaught of toys and clothes our baby would grow out of quickly. We continue to share the link before our son’s birthday each year. For his coming birthday, he would be thrilled to open yet another firetruck toy, but someday he will realize a contribution to his 529 was a more valuable gift.
The 401(k) Investors Convinced That Target-Date Funds Miss the Mark:
Michael Palmer, 35, balked at the cost. The Chicago resident was automatically enrolled in a target-date fund when he joined the workforce in 2011 and again when he switched jobs in 2018.
“The target-date fund was the default so it was the easy option,” said Palmer, who works in sales for a consumer-products company and has $420,000 in 401(k) savings.
He and his wife, Kelly Palmer, 35, recently decided to sell the target-date fund in his former employer’s 401(k) plan, which charges 0.26% a year, and replace it with a U.S. stock index fund and an international stock index fund that cost 0.02% and 0.03% a year, respectively.
He stuck with the target-date fund in his current employer’s plan, which charges 0.32%, because there are no lower-cost options, he said.
Kelly, a financial adviser, said the couple wants more in stocks than her husband’s target-date funds provide until they are within 15 years of retirement.”
Marriage, Kids, & Money Podcast
How to Choose a 529 Plan: A Parent’s Guide to Smarter College Savings
NerdWallet
How to Find ‘Advice-Only’ Financial Advisors
Palmer started her wealth management career at a firm that offered active investment management. She found that conversations with clients centered on investment performance. Now, as an advice-only planner, she focuses on the reasons behind the investment strategy. “I like talking about life,” she says. “What are we actually doing with these funds?”
She still provides investment advice and tax planning — two critical components of financial planning. She’s even willing to sit on a video call and tell a client which buttons to push on their brokerage’s website. But she’s not trying to prove her value by beating the market or taking control of a person’s portfolio.
Often, Palmer finds people want to meet with a financial advisor to get a trustworthy second opinion on their finances. And she thinks advice-only planners provide “a whole other level of fiduciary advice” by not basing their fees on a client’s investable assets. “We’re able to make recommendations that don’t change our fee,” she says.
Bloomberg
Bloomberg Wealth - How to Pay for College
Fortune
Kelly Palmer, founder and chief wealth officer at The Wealthy Parent, notes that “most influencers are recommending this credit card ‘hack’ because they have affiliate deals where they will earn money when you sign up for a card.” She also tells Fortune that some parents may not be thinking long-term enough when assessing the risk. It might seem like a harmless move when the child is young but you haven’t met your teenage child yet and don’t know what they might be capable of from a credit usage perspective,” she says. “I encourage parents to think carefully about a framework for financial literacy and a credit card certainly does not need to be a part of the plan early on.
Yahoo Finance
8 Millennial Money Traps Keeping the Generation from Financial Success