Author- Sandra Cleveland

Interest rates affect the decisions you make with money. Some of these are obvious – think about how much more money you would stick in your savings account if it paid 15% interest instead of 0.5%. How much less money would you put into stocks if you could get 15% in a simple bank account?

Did you know that 70% of elementary school children have at least one living grandparent? And that 65% of seniors live for 30+ years after retirement?

The question of how long your money will last is more important now than ever before.

I think of it this way.

The American Dream is still alive, but it has changed over the past couple of generations. Homeownership previously defined our dreams. But now we pursue the modern American Dream through entrepreneurship.

If you are fortunate enough to continue to receive your paycheck during COVID 19 or to receive your usual retirement income, you may find that cash is building up in your checking account, as reported by several of our clients.

This is not a problem, but it is an opportunity.

An often-overlooked business planning activity is managing your current cash. During a crisis such as the COVID 19 pandemic and quarantine this becomes an essential factor for success. As Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said recently, liquidity problems can turn into solvency problems. These recommendations are intended to empower you with information for making good decisions.

We’re all in this…well, not actually together, but we are all experiencing the same disruption of our usual schedules, isolated at home, additional responsibilities of not just our job, but possibly also home schooling, keeping up with the current government restrictions, one way aisles at the grocery and the list goes on and on.

These times – the 2020 COVID 19 pandemic – highlight the value of a personal emergency fund more than ever. 

When you have your regular paycheck rolling in, with no disruption in sight, you may not value your stashed cash for emergencies in the same way you do today. 

Right now, you may be wondering, why didn’t I stash more?

Mature women have more choices now than ever. We spent our youth forging ahead despite the gender limits we faced. Women revolutionaries in the late 60s and early 70s invaded and changed the face of the American workplace.

Be Smart with Your Money – Make your Charitable Donations from your Required Minimum Distribution (RMD) using a Qualified Charitable Donation (QCD). This is a tax efficient way to use your RMD to make charitable donations and get the biggest tax bang for your charitable buck.

The global stock markets have dropped the last 2 days in response of fears about the spread of the coronavirus. As the reports of deaths due to the coronavirus expand beyond China, health officials in most countries, including the US, are developing containment and treatment plans. Pharmaceutical companies around the globe are developing coronavirus drugs and vaccines.