A chance to rebuild homes

In President Barack Obama’s recent State of the Union address, he mentioned a bill in Congress“that would give every responsible homeowner in America the chance to save $3,000 a year by refinancing at today’s rates.” Once passed, the bill will help families to not only save up to the aforementioned amount but also get back on their feet and get proper housing loans.

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The home is everyone's first school.  And everyone should be afforded the opportunity to protect and preserve it.  Passing this bill would give significant aid to those who have been terribly hit by the recent global economic recession--middle class families and retired citizens whose homes were foreclosed.

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People needing financial advice to get back on their feet can seek the help of companies, like Kelly Ruggles’ American Reliance Group and Ron Blue’s Ronald Blue & Co. LLC, which offer assistance in financial planning, estate planning, and investing. And now that the president is, once again, calling for this “bill” to be passed, there is a prayer made out to those homeowners who want to start anew.

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Loud and simple: Your future and the Pareto principle

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Not all successful men, notwithstanding the presence of auditors and accountants they pay to consolidate their own monetary matters, are unaware of or too-fastidious a man to track every detail of their funds’ endpoint. Most of them are actually oblivious to how they spend it, and some just don’t care if they would end up having a reasonable amount of money in the bank to finance their retirement days, or sadly, if they get broke even before that glorious time comes. Just like the 80-20 rule, or the so-called Pareto principle, which tangentially means “eighty percent of what one earns come from the twenty percent of what he does.”

If all working men—and women—could only be faithful to the aforesaid principle, no trade owner from the financial assistance industry would worry about someone else’s monetary future—not even Kelly Ruggles or Mark Kantrowitz or anyone who devotes his life to helping other people assuage and escape their money problems.

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The problem is that most working men lay the higher percentage (80%) of their mindset to everyday, ephemeral matters such as what to eat and what to wear or buy, to things that are enclosed only by the constraints of today and the present (or the “needs”), and the other 20% to things they can splurge on or reward themselves with (the “wants”); thus, as the principle says: a little spending becomes a larger scope of spending. The thing is, it should be changed. Or at least the latter. One has to put a little effort on saving money and turn a minute fraction (at least 20%) of his focus to the future. And optimistically, that little percentage put in saving would turn out to be a bigger portion of cash to finance one’s retirement day.

And twenty percent isn’t really too demanding a number, right?

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Kelly Ruggles is a respected figure in the financial services industry and also the founder of American Reliance Group, Inc. Learn more about him by visiting this website.

Financial resolutions: How to achieve them

The start of a new year provides a fresh chance to get finances in order. But just like any other New Year’s resolutions, getting out of debt and saving money are among the top 10 resolutions commonly broken. So how does one stick to his financial goals?

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Some suggest starting financial resolutions early. This means that instead of vowing to curtail spending in February, do so in January. Being upfront about one’s financial standing is a powerful starting point in getting finances on the right track.

Other exercises that can get one financially fit in the coming year include:

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1. Prioritizing goals. If there are several financial goals for 2013, it is best to write then down in order of importance, and start with one or two. Trying to tackle too many at once may leave one feeling overwhelmed or discouraged.

2. Sticking to a budget. If there is one advice to follow, it’s “Don’t deficit spend.” Financial experts recommend creating a budget and reviewing it each month. Studies show that successful savers have a dedicated and disciplined approach to spending and saving money.

3. Increasing savings. These include saving for educational expenses with tax free earning in a 529 plan and reducing income taxes by starting or saving more in a workplace plan, like a 401(k) or 403(b). Financial advisors explain that there is no best time to save and prepare for the future than today.

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Kelly Ruggles’ Spokane, WA-based American Reliance Group has helped people meet their financial goals and retire with peace of mind. Learn more about the company’s services by visiting this website.

What Does Your Retirement Plan Really Cost?

This article discusses key ideas that can potentially determine a retirement plan’s true cost.

Written by: Karen E. Klein
Article re-posted from: www.BusinessWeek.com

Are you shopping for a new 401(k) plan for your employees this holiday season? For many employers, the impetus for switching providers comes from new fee-disclosure rules that took effect in July 2012. The rules require providers to detail all costs associated with their 401(k) plans. The idea was to improve transparency by preventing providers from hiding fees, thereby helping employers shop for the best options to their employees.

But the disclosure rules don’t apply to the proposals from retirement plan companies soliciting business.

That’s a problem, because employers could be steered into buying plans that cost more than they were led to believe, says Brandon Bellin, a senior associate actuary for Securian Retirement, a division of Securian Financial Group, based in St. Paul, Minn. Many employees—and employers—don’t fully understand how much difference a small increase in fees makes over a lifetime of saving for retirement, he explains. For example, consider what happens to an individual who earns $50,000 annually and defers 10 percent of her salary into a retirement plan earning 8 percent. Over 30 years, what might seem to be a small, 1 percent fee increase adds up to $100,000 in lost retirement savings. “[Employers] who are unaware of the hidden revenues and fees associated with a particular retirement plan provider’s proposal put themselves at risk if they move their plans to that provider,” Bellin says.

Below are a handful of questions Bellin suggests you ask to ferret out a retirement plan’s true cost. He acknowledges that because Securian sells retirement plans, he’s not a disinterested party. But he says a paper (PDF) he wrote recently about revenue models in the retirement plan industry helps explain why employers should heed his advice.

Where do you make your money? Some companies charge explicit fees that can be evaluated and compared across different plans. Small business plan providers, however, often rely on making money through something the industry calls revenue sharing, Bellin says. These are amounts paid by investment funds to retirement plan providers who offer their funds in the investment options available to employees.

Are there any conflicts of interest? For instance, if the provider is affiliated with a particular mutual fund, that company’s funds may generate higher revenue for the provider, who will have an incentive to promote them. Or the initial pitch may feature low-cost investment options that look like good values, but later, “the provider may suggest a ‘better lineup’ that pays higher revenue sharing [to them] and drives up plan costs,” Bellin says.

How do expense ratios compare across investment options? Oftentimes, retirement plans default to proprietary “target-date” funds that automatically move employees’ savings into more conservative investments as they get older. But despite the fact that many of these funds use low-cost, passive index funds as investment vehicles, they often charge fees closer to those of funds with active managers. “In these cases, investment management expenses can be unreasonably high,” Bellin says. “It’s a way [for them] to make more money without being too explicit about it.”

Will managed accounts be offered in your plan? For an additional fee, some plans allow employees to purchase professional management services for their assets, called managed accounts. “These fees can be substantial and may exceed the actual cost of providing managed accounts,” Bellin says. Some retirement companies may use such managed accounts to help subsidize the plans’ administrative cost. “When managed accounts are offered, they should be considered part of the total cost” of the plan, he says.

The bottom line: Before choosing a new retirement plan provider, try to get a side-by-side comparison of several providers’ plans, how much they will charge in fees, an explicit accounting of any fees that might be hidden, and what the total bottom line is for each provider. The other option is to simply avoid providers that get different levels of revenue from different investment funds. “That way it’s transparent and a lot easier to see than having the money hiding in various places,” Bellin says. “And the employer will avoid the situation where some participants pay more towards plan expenses than others based on which investments they are using.”

Karen E. Klein is a Los Angeles-based writer who covers entrepreneurship and small-business issues. 

Kelly Ruggles and financial planning: No place for fads

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Today, many people are being bombarded with overly sensationalized investment fads based on hype and short-term gain rather than sound and intelligent planning. Kelly Ruggles notes that this faddish behavior has no place in a person’s long-term financial plan, which must be grounded on well-thought-out investment choices. He notes that there are many common mistakes committed by many investors as a result in investments based on spur-of-the-moment fads, which can often do more harm than good financially.

Many first-time investors base their investments on fleeting, faddish behaviors that may seem sound at first glance (such as investing in a company that is currently a major player in the industry) without thoroughly analyzing the risks involved. These often lead people into investing in large companies from similar industries based solely on fleeting factors like past performances, causing them significant losses when these businesses underperform.

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For Kelly Ruggles, “beating the market” is an impossible and illusory goal that usually leads to more ill-informed investment decisions. Realizing that a person has made bad decisions in the past and is willing to take time to understand his investments is the best way that an investor can turn a bad financial situation around.

Financial planning should be an activity reliant on thoughtful, well-informed decisions based on sound financial advice rather than sporadic guesswork based solely on poorly analyzed current trends.

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More information on common financial and investment follies and more can be accessed from Kelly Ruggles’ official website.

Kelly Ruggles: Symptoms of bad investment

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For many people, because of poor knowledge and lack of experience, investment is a tricky proposition that is more akin to gambling than anything else. According to Kelly Ruggles, financial planner and educator, there are five main symptoms to bad investments, which are usually easier to detect than the actual cause. This makes it more difficult for them to devise a solution to keep them from losing money and actually start gaining a return on their investments.

The first of these symptoms are doubts. While no one can ever be completely sure of their investments, too much doubt on the part of the investor or his or her advisor is a clear sign that the decisions made were incorrect.

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The second, huge losses, may appear to be natural at first; after all, losses are to be expected from time to time. For Kelly Ruggles, however, it is bad practice to continue investing after large losses.

The third is complexity and confusion. These take the form of investments so complicated and poorly understood that many suspect that it was designed to confound them.

The fourth, broken promises, can be really frustrating; one has the right to be fed up when an advisor gives unrealistic promises while glossing over or whitewashing risks.

The last, unnecessary tax burdens, can be particularly harmful to the investor. This is what happens when the stocks in a mutual fund are periodically sold instead of maintained, accruing taxes in the process.

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More information on the symptoms to look out for while investing can be accessed from Kelly Ruggles’ website.

Kelly Ruggles and why retirement planning is necessary

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Investment expert and founder of American Reliance Group Kelly Ruggles provides highly advanced investment strategies and money management services to clients who are already nearing their retirement. By combining several methodologies—such as the modern portfolio theory, three-factor model, fixed-income strategies, and institutional approach—Mr. Ruggles is able to stimulate the financial growth of his clients and provide them with a secure post-employment investment.

From Kelly Ruggles

There are reasons why retirement planning is crucial toward the financial health of every worker. The following can give some hints:

Uncertainty of Social Security and pension benefits Government-sponsored retirement does not always produce good harvest. In a decade or two, social security might be gone from the shelf. Counting on personal discipline and resourcefulness is still the most viable way to remain financially stable even after service.

Unforeseen medical expenses Kelly Ruggles and his company focus not only on the financial independence of their clients but also on their physical well-being. Living outside the minimum standard of living means that one has the capacity to remain healthy despite old age. A robust nest egg can help people live out their golden years less burdened of medical expenses.

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Estate planning Retirement planning is way beyond the exclusive confines of the workers’ welfare. Part of their retirement savings may help contribute to their children or grandchildren’s lives, whether through financing their education or simply keeping sentimental assets, such as land or real estate, within the family.

Kelly Ruggles has always focused on the retiree market in both financial and estate planning, and his firm passionately adheres to a client needs-based planning philosophy. More about him and his company can be read at www.argplanning.com.