Now what?

Michelle (as we will call her) wanted to know what to do with the money she’s now able to save. She had no idea where to start getting her finances in order. To get her started on the right track, I suggested she focus on a few key areas.

Live within your means

She’s already years ahead of many twenty-somethings in that she is living on less money than she earns. She wasn’t sure how much money she would be able to save on a monthly basis so I suggested she set up a rough budget. I didn’t encourage her to be terribly rigid with the budget but to use it to get a sense of where she is spending her money so she’s aware of her spending habits. This will help her decide what she wants to spend money on and what is less important to her.

Create an emergency fund

While she enjoys her job and has no plans to quit anytime soon, you never know what life will throw your way. So I recommended she save three to six months of income and have it very liquid (money market, for example), which will enable her to have a safety net in place.

Understand your insurance policies

Michelle wasn’t sure exactly what her benefits were at work. She knew she had medical but wasn’t sure of the deductible. She also didn’t know if she had dental or vision coverage. As a young woman in her twenties, the likelihood of an expensive surgery or illness is very low, but injuries can still happen.

She also had no idea whether her employer provided disability insurance. I recommended she read through her employee materials again as things are typically a blur when starting a new job. I also encouraged her to ask the HR department about any questions she may still have after reading the policy information.

I checked to make sure she has car and renter’s insurance and that the policies are up to date. When you’re just getting started financially, you don’t want to find out after an accident that your $10,000 car is only covered up to $5,000, or regret not having renter’s insurance after your upstairs neighbors leaves a faucet on, flooding your apartment and ruining your new laptop, couch and clothing.

Pay off your debt

This is typically the ball and chain around many people’s ankles when they first start their careers. I recommended that Michelle pay off the money she owes by attacking the debt with the highest interest rates first. She has about $10,000 in student loans and another $1,500 in credit card debt. The credit card debt has a much higher interest rate than the student loans, so she’ll pay the minimum on the student loans until she pays off the credit cards. Then she’ll pay down the student loans. A good way for her to keep debt in check moving forward is to use primarily cash for all purchases or to use a credit card and pay it off monthly.

I also recommended she compare her local credit union fees and programs to that of her bank. She’ll likely save money on ATM transactions, credit card interest and loans in the future by using a credit union.

Identify short-term and long-term goals

Michelle’s short-term goals include a trip with college friends to Hawaii later in the year. Her longer-term goals include retirement and buying a house. It was important to identify these goals so she can budget for the trip and start down the road to home ownership and retirement. While retirement is probably 40 to 50 years off for Michelle, she will not have to save nearly as much towards her future as friends who start saving in their thirties. She’s fortunate to have a 401k plan and the hospital provides her with some matching as well. The matching is basically free money to her so she would be wise to take advantage of it. By contributing to her 401k plan, she’ll pay less in taxes and benefit from the employer match, which is a win-win. She may not be able to add as much as she’d like to her retirement plan right now, but she can always increase that after building up her emergency fund and paying off debt.

Get organized

Michelle is well on her way to a successful future just by addressing her finances at such a young age. She’ll have a good handle on her spending habits, her debt level and goals.

My final piece of advice, which Michelle has already followed, is to talk to your parents’ financial advisor. The advisor may not be in a position to take you on as a client, but they should be happy to meet with you and get you headed in the right direction.

One solution you might consider is something called pension maximization. The question that we are trying to address then is: Can you buy life insurance to replace the pension for less than the monthly “cost” of taking the survivor option?

We don’t sell insurance, but work with highly qualified professionals that do this full time. We don’t receive any compensation for any insurance our clients buy, but looking at coverage is part of our comprehensive approach to addressing all of our clients’ financial needs.

How does pension maximization work?

Here is a recent example where one client could take a single life pension of $6,041/month or a 100% survivor option for $5,401/month, a “cost” of $640/month ($6,041 – $5,401). When considering the insurance option, we would need to recreate this income stream based on him passing away in year one with the following policies:

• A 10yr term policy for $225,000 ($44/month)
• A 15yr term policy for $125,000 ($32/month)
• A 20yr term policy for $100,000 ($31/month)
• A 25yr term policy for $105,000 ($54/month)
• A 30yr term policy for $110,000 ($103/month)
• A no-lapse guarantee universal life policy for $275,000 ($274/month)

The reason you would layer policies in the above example is because you need less insurance as you get older since the time you need the insurance to last is shorter. When you add up the above policies, you get a monthly expense of $538/month, which is $102/month less than the “cost” of the 100% joint survivor option. After 10yrs, the $44/month policy will drop so you will get a raise of $44/month. By the time the 20yr policy has lapsed, you’d be receiving almost $1,300 more per year than when you started. Also, if the spouse passes away first, then this client could cancel the insurance and keep the premiums or keep some of the insurance to pass on to their heirs.

Who does this work well for?

• People who are in good health and can qualify for lower insurance premiums.
• People who have kids or family they want to leave money to. If both spouses passed way together early on, their heirs would receive no additional money under the pension and survivor options. However, by using the pension maximization strategy above, this couple’s heirs could receive $940,000 income tax free.
• People who are comfortable with a little added complexity. It is much easier to just take the survivor benefit from the company. Dealing with insurance policies and then having to either invest the money or buy immediate annuities (this is what the example above solved for using current annuity rates) with any proceeds takes additional time and effort. The example above had six different policies, but I’ve often seen it work with  only three or four.
• People who have some time before a decision needs to be made. The underwriting process can take a few months and you don’t want to make this type of decision before life insurance is fully in place.

Final thoughts

I’ve looked into this strategy for many clients, and it doesn’t always work out. Sometimes, the company pension option is the best choice and you don’t have to go through any underwriting like you would in the example above. It is important to work with professionals who have the resources and expertise to help you solve these complex financial issues. Here are Merriman, we work with a number of professionals who are experts in their field to help solve problems like this, and other complex issues, for our clients. Please reach out to your advisor if you would like to discuss this option for yourself.

Two quantifiable means of controlling risk are diversification and asset allocation.

Proper diversification stretches well beyond your region and your country of residence. It has little to do with individual stock positions or individual sectors. It consists of all types of stocks – large, small, value, growth, etc., which are located all over the world. Global diversification is the goal.

Diversification is equally important for bond allocations. A bond portfolio consisting of high-yield bonds differs from one invested in U.S. treasury bonds. Obtaining an adequate amount of diversification on both sides of your portfolio is essential in controlling your risk.

Asset allocation speaks to the percentage of stocks and the percentage of bonds in your portfolio. While the specific mix has many variables, age and retirement goals are often large factors. Each investor’s situation is unique and there is no “one size fits all” solution. A good place to start is by answering the following questions:

• At what age do I begin adding bonds? 40? 45?
• How often do I add bonds and how much do I add?
• What is an appropriate allocation once I am retired?

If you are struggling to answer these questions, it may be time to seek professional guidance. The answers are essential to your long-term investment success.

Investor discipline is a less tangible but equally important component of risk mitigation.

As stocks outpace bonds, a portfolio’s risk increases. At some point, there will be a need to sell the stocks to buy bonds and maintain the target allocation. In essence, this follows the golden rule of investing – that is to sell high and buy low. The same logic holds within each asset class of the portfolio, such as when international stocks outpace domestic stocks or small cap stocks outpace large cap stocks.

I can almost guarantee that when the time comes, rebalancing will not feel like the natural thing to do. Why, for example, would you want to buy into an underperforming asset class? Despite our rational brain, loading up on the winners will feel like the right thing to do at that moment. There are two questions you must ask yourself:

• Do I have the discipline to rebalance my portfolio?
• What mechanical process will I use to rebalance?

Your long-term investment success hinges on your answers to these questions. If you do not know how to answer them, seek guidance.

Investing is about risk and return. Understanding how much risk you can afford to take and how much risk you’re willing to take is the key. Quantitatively, two ways in which we control risk for clients is through diversification and asset allocation. Keeping clients disciplined in their goals and executing on a well thought out rebalancing process is another, less tangible means of controlling risk.

As Warren Buffet famously said, “It’s only when the tide goes out that you learn who’s been swimming naked.”

1.      Reduce paper: Most banks, brokerages, credit cards, and utilities offer online delivery and storage of statements and bills. Sit down with your paper statements and see how many you can move to online. You will save the time spent opening mail, remove clutter and help the environment.

2.      Pay your bills online: Sign up for an online bill payment service if you don’t already. Set up automatic payments for recurring bills.

3.      Purge: Get a good shredder and use it aggressively. You really don’t need the water bill from two years ago. Purge! This can also help reduce your risk of identity theft.

4.      Eliminate redundancies: Eliminating clutter is not only about getting rid of paper; Identify what accounts are redundant and can be combined and/or closed.

5.      Organize: Get a label maker and create a small, efficient filing system.

6.      Reduce costs: Review bills you get from cable and phone companies, because when contracts expire they may revert to higher charges. Give them a call and you’ll be surprised how easy it is to have your rates reduced.

7.      Check your coverage: Review your insurance coverage to make sure that it is appropriate for you.

8.      Compare interest rates: Make sure your banks and credit cards are competitive for their fees and interest rates.

9.      Track your goals: Create easy-to-use systems for tracking your big picture goals, including a simple budget, college savings, and retirement.

10.  Think about getting help: Identify what areas you may need professional help, and create a plan to interview candidates.

When: April 20th and April 27^th, 2013, from 10:00 am – 2:00 pm

Where: McCormick Park in Duvall, WA

I am pleased to announce that Merriman employees and their families will be partnering with Sound Salmon Solutions to plant trees along the Snoqualmie River to help restore salmon habitat!

On April 20^th and 27^th, we will be working side by side with Sound Salmon Solutions staff and volunteers to restore salmon habitat at McCormick Park along the banks of the Snoqualmie River in downtown Duvall, WA.  Over 1,600 new trees need to be planted! These new trees will provide shade, erosion control, and essential food and habitat for the insects that rearing juvenile salmon need during multiple stages of their lives

If you are interested in making a positive impact on the future of salmon populations and our community, please come join us!  This is a unique site where volunteers will have the opportunity to see exactly how big of a positive impact their efforts will have on salmon recovery in as little as 5 years!

Please join us by emailing Dave@Merriman.com or signing up directly with Sound Salmon Solutions!

Consider someone who is planning to retire at 66 years old. Current actuarial figures give them a retirement window of about 25 years. Using 3% for average annual inflation, the future value of a dollar 25 years out is $.48. Put another way, you can afford to buy less than half as many goods 25 years into retirement as you could when you started. Fortunately, that is not the end of the story.

There are several ways to insulate your retirement income from the effects of inflation.

One solution has to do with retirement pensions. Once the pension spigot is turned on, one thing that can increase the flow is a Cost of Living Adjustment, or COLA. A COLA increases annual pension amounts based upon the previous year’s rate of inflation. The important thing to know is whether your pension has a COLA. Without one, you will become increasingly dependent upon other assets as time goes on. Remember, 25 years from now a dollar will be worth less than half of what it is worth today. With a COLA, you will still need to understand how your increasing income stream fits in with your other assets and your specific retirement plan.

Another pension source most people have in retirement is Social Security Income, or SSI. The COLA for SSI is tied to the Consumer Price Index. As such, it varies from year to year.

The final piece to consider is your retirement accounts, such as IRAs, Roth IRAs and taxable brokerage accounts. These accounts do not provide a fixed income stream in the sense that a pension does. Typically, they are invested in an allocation of stocks and bonds controlled by you or your investment advisor. Distributions are on an as-needed basis.

Stocks have historically been the best long-term hedge against inflation. In a sense, they act as a super charged COLA for your retirement accounts. How much stock you allocate to these accounts and how the accounts will supplement your pensions requires careful consideration.

No two retirement plans are alike. Understanding how the unique pieces of your retirement puzzle fit together to meet your retirement goals is what’s important. If you have not already done so, take the time to sit down with a professional who can help you figure out where you are, where you want to go and most importantly, how to get there.

When it comes to car insurance, I’ve found a few common mistakes.

Too little insurance

Many states require all drivers to maintain a minimum level of coverage in order to drive legally. Some states even require a minimum level of coverage for medical or personal injury. This is just a minimum standard and is often not even enough to cover the average cost of repair from an accident. In every accident, the human body is the weakest link in the chain and the one at greatest risk of injury. Cars are a fixed cost to repair – you know how much a BMW will cost to repair or replace, whereas we don’t know how much it will cost to save or repair a human body.

Rather than getting the minimum, consider carrying coverage based upon the car you drive, and more importantly, the cost of the other cars on the road.

Too much insurance

Every once in a while, I run across a situation where someone has purchased higher limits of coverage. Usually this person is terrified of the risks that exist in the world and will pay absolutely anything to protect themselves. As a result, they often have excess liability or umbrella insurance coverage, which is usually a very wise investment.

This additional insurance is fantastic, and something that I suggest for almost everyone. However, they might be paying more for auto insurance coverage that they just don’t need. If your auto insurance liability coverage is $500,000 and your umbrella coverage begins at $300,000, you are paying for $200,000 of unnecessary coverage. You could reduce your auto coverage to $300,000 and save on your premiums.

This is generally a good idea. However, if your umbrella coverage doesn’t include an additional layer of underinsured (or uninsured) motorist coverage, you might want to keep the higher coverage on your auto policy.

Incorrect deductibles

Generally speaking, the higher the deductible, the lower your premiums will be. The deductible is the amount you are responsible for before the insurance company provides protection.

I see situations where the deductibles are far too low and one could easily save 20-40% on their premiums by simply increasing the deductible. If you are able to stay accident free, you’ll often save enough on the premiums over the next few years to be able to cover this increased deductible. This isn’t always the case, though. I had a client looking to increase their deductible from $1,000 to $2,000 and we were both shocked that the premium savings was less than $100 annually.

If you drive an older car, it doesn’t make sense to have a low deductible for collision or comprehensive coverage on a vehicle that is relatively inexpensive to replace. In fact, if your car is older, consider getting rid of collision and comprehensive coverage altogether. If you do this, it’s still important to carry the proper amount of liability protection.

Not combining policies with one company

If you have your auto policy and homeowners policy with the same carrier, you’ll tend to save on your premiums and have better coordinated coverage with your umbrella policy, if you have one.

Failing to review your coverage

It’s very easy to get your insurance in place and then forget about it for many years. There are a few problems with the set it and forget it approach as your lifestyle and potential risks may change over time. It’s always good to have a history with an insurance company. However, you should periodically review your coverage to make sure that it fits your needs today.

Solely focusing on the cost

Insurance is one area where focusing solely on the cost could get you in a lot of trouble and financial pain. I find that many of us don’t want to be educated on the need for various types of insurance coverage, and often view this education as a sales pitch. You may find the lowest absolute cost for any given coverage, but it might pale in comparison with what a competitor offers for just a few dollars more. The devil is in the details, and I suggest looking at the details of the coverage so that you know exactly what you are getting for your money. Also, rather than focusing solely on the cost, you should work with a professional who will take the time to evaluate your situation and help you understand your insurance needs.

I recently picked up a copy of  “Abundance – The Future Is Better Than You Think.” The authors, Peter Diamandis and Steven Kotler, make a case for optimism. They present a neurological reason for why we are more sensitive to bad news than we are at recognizing opportunity. Fear has served the human race well in many ways for many years; it activates our limbic system, which manages our “fight or flight” circuitry. Diamandis and Kotler then look at how we have solved problems of scarcity in the past, and examine amazing advances in science and engineering that are being made right now.

This book presents a different perspective than we are bombarded with in the daily news, and I think it’s worth reading. Diamandis and Kotler explore some very exciting new technologies that are making giant strides against some of the world’s biggest challenges, like scarcity in access to energy, clean water and good medical care.

“I’m not saying we don’t have our set of problems; we surely do. But ultimately, we knock them down” -Peter Diamandis.

Before finding the book, take a few minutes out of your day to listen to his inspirational and educational TED talk here.

Fiduciary. Someone who is legally obligated to put your interests ahead of theirs. In the investment world, Registered Investment Advisors (RIAs) have a Fiduciary responsibility. Stockbrokers do not. The difference is dramatic. Do yourself a favor and make sure you work with someone who is legally obligated to put your interests first so that you can prosper.

Market index. Indices are measuring sticks for different sections of the market. A good example is the S&P 500, which represents the 500 largest companies in the United States. Understanding the indices allows you to track your relative performance. To do so, it’s important to understand which indices are fair representations of your portfolio. Using the S&P as a barometer against a portfolio of international stocks, for instance, does not make sense. In this case, using the EAFE Index (Europe, Asia and Far East) would be suitable.

Personal risk tolerance. In its simplest sense, how much of your portfolio should be allocated to stocks and how much to bonds? The answer depends upon your unique set of goals and circumstances. Remember – it is a personal risk tolerance. Speak with a Certified Financial Planner™ to guide you to an answer.

Stock risk. Ever heard the saying “don’t put all your eggs in one basket?” While some companies may seem like a sure thing, remember this – the S&P 500 of 1960 looked much different than the S&P 500 of today. Times change, companies grow and others fail to meet changing demands of the world. Eastman Kodak and Enron come to mind. Successful investors use diversification to increase their long-term risk adjusted return.

Loaded mutual funds. A front-end load is recognized when you purchase a mutual fund. A back-end load is recognized when you sell one. Choose their no-load counterpart. You will save the fee and the performance is more often than not just as good. After all, a no-load fund has a head start in the amount of the load, which can be upwards of 4% in some instances.

Pundit. Someone who prognosticates, in this case, about the financial markets. Their pedigree may be impressive and their intellect alluring, but do not follow their advice. No doubt they made a few good calls in their day. Chances are they made more bad ones. Your best bet is to develop a long-term strategy with your financial advisor that you can stick to. One that is tailored to your specific needs and goals.

Friends of the Cedar River Watershed has been a private, non-profit organization since 1996. Their mission is to engage people to enhance and sustain watersheds through restoration, education, and stewardship.

The Cedar River and Lake Washington Watershed is the land area in which rainwater drains to Lake Washington and out through the Hiram Chittenden Locks in Ballard. The watershed includes the Cedar River and its tributaries, May Creek, Coal Creek, Mercer Island, Mercer Slough, Kelsey Creek, Fairweather Creek, Yarrow Creek, Juanita Creek, Forbes Creek, Lyon Creek, McAleer Creek, Thornton Creek, Ravenna Creek, and Lake Washington. The river itself is about 45 miles long, originating in the Cascade Range near Abeil Peak, flowing generally west and northwest, emptying into the southern end of Lake Washington. The watershed is home to more than 83 species of fish and wildlife, including 14 species of concern, such as sockeye salmon, and the endangered Chinook salmon – it is considered to be one of the best remaining salmon habitats in King County.

So why exactly am I interested in helping Friends of the Cedar River Watershed carry out their mission? I was taught how to fly fish about 10 years ago and it quickly became a passion of mine. The best part of fishing, in my opinion, is not landing the biggest fish but simply being on the water. My fondest fishing memory is being on the banks of the Madison River in the Madison Valley of Montana, outside of Yellowstone National Park, and watching the sun set while listening to the fish munch on the latest hatch of insects. It is a day I’ll never forget and something I hope my future children and grandchildren will be able to experience.

Being able to live sustainably in places such as the Madison Valley, at home right here in Seattle, and everywhere in-between is very important for our future generations. The Cedar River/Lake Washington Watershed area is home to 22% of the population in the state of Washington. There are over 30 cities in the watershed and each of these cities is connected to the health of another and the greater whole. Think of it this way, if you live in the Cedar River/Lake Washington Watershed, everything you pour down the drain or onto the ground eventually gets to the river, making its way to one of the tributaries, and ultimately ending up in the Puget Sound. The connection between the people, the river, the lake, the sound, and the land is profound.

How can you help? Friends of the Cedar River Watershed offers a variety of events, programs, and services that you can learn more about on their website. They are always looking for volunteers and are currently looking for board members. I hope to see you there!