Perhaps you know someone who carries no cash. Maybe that someone is you. Ten or 15 years ago, it would have been anomalous and occasionally frustrating to go through the day without any bills or coins on you. Now, not so much.

In 2018, Americans used debit cards more than cash at the point of sale for the first time, according to a Federal Reserve survey. This year, many merchants have encouraged cashless payments to discourage money from changing hands, an effort to reduce the threat of COVID-19 transmission.

The earlier you start pursuing financial goals, the better your outcome may be.

As a young investor, you have a powerful ally on your side: time. When you start investing in your twenties or thirties for retirement, you can put it to work for you.    

The effect of compounding is huge. Many people underestimate it, so it is worth illustrating. Let's take a look using a hypothetical 5% rate of return.¹

A practical financial checklist for the future.

When our parents retired, living to 75 amounted to a nice long life, and Social Security was often supplemented by a pension. The Social Security Administration estimates that today’s average 65-year-old woman will live to age 86½. Given these projections, it appears that a retirement of 20 years or longer might be in your future.^1,2 

The SECURE Act - What you actually need to know. . .

This act intends to improve retirement security for Americans, with many new provisions for those saving for retirement. Of course, SECURE is actually an acronym: Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement. This act will affect most Americans eventually, and it is important that you understand its implications for your retirement. Here are four things you should know about the SECURE Act:

Do you know the difference?

Traditional Individual Retirement Accounts (IRA), which were created in 1974, are owned by roughly 33.2 million U.S. households. Roth IRAs, however, were created as part of the Taxpayer Relief Act in 1997, are owned by nearly 22.5 million households.1

Both are IRAs. And yet, each is quite different.

What’s the difference? What do these terms mean for you?

The COVID-19 outbreak has put tremendous pressure on stock prices, prompting some investors to blindly and indiscriminately sell positions at a time when the entire market is trending lower. Worried investors believe "this time it's different." When the market drops, some investors lose perspective that downtrends – and uptrends – are part of the investing cycle. When stock prices break lower, it's a good time to review common terms that are used to describe the market's downward momentum.^1,2

What steps might help you sustain and grow your retirement savings?

“What is your greatest retirement fear?” If you ask any group of retirees and pre-retirees this question, “outliving my money” will likely be one of the top answers. In fact, 51% of investors surveyed for a 2019 AIG retirement study ranked outliving their money as their top anxiety.¹

Retirees face greater “longevity risk” today.The Census Bureau says that Americans typically retire around age 63. Social Security projects that today’s 63-year-olds will live into their mid-eighties, on average. This is a mean life expectancy, so while some of these seniors may pass away earlier, others may live past 90 or 100.^2,3

Founded over 25 years ago by John Creekmur, CFP^® Creekmur Wealth Advisors is a full-service financial planning firm. Our primary purpose is to help provide goal-based financial planning to our clients. We strive to partner with our clients to maximize their finances in pursuit of their goals and dreams.

Steps to get your credit rating back toward 720.

We all know the value of a good credit score. We all try to maintain one. Sometimes, though, life throws us a financial curveball and that score declines. What steps can we take to repair it?

Reduce your credit utilization ratio. Your credit utilization ratio (CUR) is the percentage of a credit card’s debt limit you have used up. Simply stated, if you have a credit card with a limit of $1,500 and you have $1,300 borrowed on it right now, the CUR for that card is 87%. Carrying lower balances on your credit cards tilts the CUR in your favor and promotes a better credit score.1

The 24-Hour News Cycle moves from Impeachment to COVID-19 to the Primaries – What’s next?

In recent weeks, we’ve seen several major stories in the news. On the political front, in addition to the arrival of the presidential election through the 2020 caucuses and primaries, we have just experienced the third presidential impeachment in American history. In international news, the latest coronavirus outbreak has hit China, now referred to as COVID-19, leading to closed borders and heightened screening at hospitals worldwide.¹

It’s not so much the facts of what’s going on that are unusual – none of these matters are unprecedented – but the way that they are reported in the media can be alarming. Even frightening.