bluecollardollar

a trusted source of investing, retirement and financial information since 1998

on the radio with Paul Petillo

We begin our second season at Financial Impact Factor Radio in our new daily format and time on January 3rd. Tune in everyday "where talk about money comes alive".

On 01.30.12, we will have as guest Professor Laurence Kotlikoff, presidential hopeful and celebrated economist from Boston University.

On 01.27.12, we were paid a visit by Kathleen Burns Kingsbury, a wealth psychologist expert and behavioral change expert to talk about women and wealth.
You can listen to the show here.

On 01.24.12 we were visited by Roger Wohlner of US News and World Report and CFP to discuss target date funds and investing in this complex world.
You can listen to the show here.

Join Paul Petillo, Dave Kittredge and Dave Ng every week on Financial Impact Factor Radio as they to discuss everything from retirement to insurance, investing to estate planning, from getting started to preparing to stop. It is where talk about money comes Alive!

from the blog

Are you thinking of going back to school to improve your job or your chances at getting one? Retirement Planning and the Worth of a College Education

Checking that clock: retirement is ticking away! Retirement Planning: The Time Value of Money

What sort of retirement plan have you cooked up? Retirement Planning: A Cooking Lesson

You are going to hear a lot about exchange traded funds this year. ETFs: Does the Herd have it Right?

We often think of retirement as a one-size-fits-all. It's not. The Reality of Retirement: Try it on for Size

Yes, life in the post-Recession world has changed. But it should not have changed your retirement plan if you were thinking with a plan. And even if you weren't, it's not too late.
Is Your Retirement Plan Really Different?

Just Past Shows
You can find all of the show we have done at Financial Impact Factor Radio

on family finances

Although Christmas is often a time for spending more than we have, it doesn't have to be that way. Paul Petillo offers some simple solutions for spending less anytime

And while the family is gathered, perhaps a conversation with your older relatives about money is in order. How to talk to older relatives about their finances

books by Paul Petillo

I just published my fifth book - this time with Smashwords! ReBuilding Wealth in a Paycheck-to-Paycheck World by Paul Petillo, copyright 2011 This ebook is available across all platforms including iPad and iPhone, Amazon and Sony.

on personal finance

In the world of personal finance, asking what's the worst that could happen is not the same as asking: "will I be able to afford this?" or "have I saved enough for retirement?"
Personal Finance: Your Money Under Stress

Most of us make a seriously flawed assumption about retirement. This sort of assumption, according to the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College, puts 51% of American households at risk of not having enough to sustain their pre-retirement lifestyle in a post-retirement world.
Retirement Risk and Taxes

Target date funds are the darlings of the skittish post-2008 investor, the new-hire and the plan sponsor who believes they are doing the right thing by their employees. In fact, they may not answer it at all.

More personal finance

on paying for college

How do you pay for college? This is the first of a two part series on the impact of college costs post-recession and how it might also have an effect on your retirement.
Part One: Should you pay for College?
Part Two: Funding Your Retirement Should Take Priority: Here's Why

Your retirement plan is being sliced and diced - so the retirement planning professionals will know you when they see you. Or when starting young means something else. Read more.

special features

Zack's Investment Tools: Stock Screener or Mutual Fund Screener
Calculators
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Your Home:
Mortgage/Buyer's Guide:
Repercussions: A Retirement Review

Our recent financial discussions

on investing

Five ways to come make peace with your inner investor and risk.

Mutual Fund investors have advantages. Are those advantages clear?

on 2012

So you say you want a resolution, well you know: Here's how to make them work in 2012 and improve your personal finances.

Our 2012 Predictions! Happy Better Year!
A look at your retirement plan, your investment options and how much you need to save to survive in 2012!

I Resolve: Six Resolutions for Retirement Planning in the New Year

As We Enter 2012: A Few Thoughts on Retirement

on credit

Tucked in the dark recesses of every closet are things long forgotten. So it is with your financial life.
The New Credit Score

on retirement

A lot of us just assume we will be able to get a mortgage in retirement. Is your mortgage part of your retirement plan?

If we have to work longer, will dividends save our retirement plans?

Personal Finance: The Logic of Gifts

Retirement and Your 401(k): Changes in 2012

On the Radio talking about Risk A must listen for investors and small business owners.

The rollover mistakes you could make with your 401(k)

Dreaming of an early retirement?

We like to think, even assume that we are reasonable. When it comes to investing, this "reason" is often called rational and when it comes to retirement, the rational is often the replacement for risk. Your Retirement Plan: Safety Isn't the Issue

Using metaphors for retirement such as "journey" or "financial highway" conjure up images of something languid and purposeful, even if the destination is less clear.
Your Financial Highway to Retirement

Is it your plan to retire early? How to keep the dream alive.
Three things to consider about retiring early.

On your retirement plans and target date funds

The Who, What, When, Where and Why of Retirement

on investing

Do Mutual Fund Managers Matter?

We can't really help ourselves. And increasingly, when it comes to investing and retirement planning and simply making personal finance decisions, there is an incredibly large chance we will do so with our emotions.
Investing Heart in Hand

It all seems so otherworldly these days. As if everything that seems familiar isn't and the laws the govern rational - and often irrational behavior no longer apply. Time for some cartoon laws

Can you invest for more than the simple gain? Learn about Impact Investing and your portfolio

Can Investing and charity mix?
Micro-Financing: A Socially Responsible Way to Invest

A Special two part series on investments and retirement that answers the question: Now what?
Part One: Retirement
Part Two: Investments

We have now officially been separated into two groups: those of us who have a bird-in-the-hand approach to retirement and those of us who are willing to wager against time.
Five things to consider about retirement.

Annuities Good and Bad for retirement.

I'm sure Warren Buffet doesn't mind the title of LouAnn Lofton's new book "Warren Buffet Invests like a Girl". But does he really or is he just showing a sensitive side?
Read more here

Traditional index funds are market weighted. This simply means that these funds have holdings that are based on the amount of investor dollars each holds or the company's capitalization.
But there are other options to index weighting
Indexing versus the actively managed mutual fund - again.

The mutual fund investor has a great many more options available to them in the post-Great Recession marketplace. The question is: are they right for you as you make a retirement plan using 401(k)s or IRAs?
Here's a look at a new kind of mutual fund

on insurance

Insurance : Life, Health, Auto, Home
Health Channel

Retirement Planning: The New Face of Financial Planning

The 401(k) has been called: a retirement plan, the answer to the pension, the worst thing for most people, a self-directed investment opportunity that few of us fully utilize, the reason we won't retire when we should, all of the above.
Your 401(k): As Good as You Make It

on mortgages

How mortgage insurance could hold up the housing recovery

Your Home in Reverse
American dream or not, the games you may have once played with financing your home are not available for the vast majority of homeowners. More here

Under the current laws governing tax-deferred retirement plans such as a 401(k), withdrawing money has consequences. Yet, those penalties haven't stopped many of the people who have found it difficult to make their monthly budget work.
HOME is where the Retirement Plan is?<