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Content Highlights
A
Financial Warm-up
Your Savings
Fitness Dream
How's Your
Financial Fitness?
Avoiding
Financial Setbacks
Boost
Your Financial Performance
Strengthening
Your Fitness Plan
Personal Financial Fitness
Maximizing Your Workout Potential
Employer Fitness Program
Financial Fitness for the Self-Employed
Staying On Track
A Lifetime of Financial Growth
A Workout Worth Doing
Resources
text
version
pdf version
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Savings
Fitness:
A Guide To Your Money and Your Financial Future
 Strengthening
Your Fitness Plan
Do
you have debt problems? Here are some warning signs:
Borrowing to pay
off other loans.
Creditors calling for payment.
Paying only the minimum on credit cards.
Maxing out credit cards.
Borrowing to pay regular bills.
Being turned down for credit.
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Facts Women Should Know
About Preparing For Retirement
Women face challenges that often
make it more difficult for them than men to adequately save for
retirement. In light of these challenges, women need to pay special
attention to making the most of their money.
- Women tend to earn less than
men and work fewer years.
- Women tend to change jobs
or work part time more often, and they interrupt their careers
to raise children. Consequently, they are less likely to qualify
for company-sponsored retirement plans or receive the full benefits
of those plans.
- On average, women live 5 to
7 years longer than men, and thus need to build a larger retirement
nest egg for themselves.
- Some studies indicate women
tend to invest less aggressively than men.
- Women are less likely to be
financially informed than men.
- Women tend to lose more income
than men following a divorce.
- Women are twice as likely
as men during retirement to receive income below the poverty level.
For more information, call the
Employee
Benefits Security Administration at 1-866-444-EBSA (3272) and
ask for the booklets Women
and Retirement Savings and QDROs:
The Division of Pensions through Qualified Domestic Relations Orders
(for example, divorce orders). Also call the Social
Security Administration at (800) 772-1213 for their booklet
Social
Security. What Every Woman Should Know, or visit on the
Web at http://www.ssa.gov.
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Avoid
high-interest rate loans. Loan solicitations that
come in the mail, pawning items for cash, or "payday" loans
in which people write postdated checks to checkcashing services are usually
extremely expensive. For example, rolling over a payday loan every 2 weeks
for a year can run up interest charges of over 600 percent! While the
Truth-in-Lending Act requires lenders to disclose the cost of your loan
expressed as an annual percentage rate (APR), it is up to you to read
the fine print telling you exactly what the details of your loan and its
costs are.
The key to recognizing just
how expensive these loans can be is to focus on the total cost of the
loan-principal and interest. Don't just look at the monthly payment, which
maybe small, but adds up over time.
Handle
credit cards wisely. Credit
cards can serve many useful purposes, but people often misuse them. Take,
for example, the habit of making only the 2 percent minimum payment each
month. On a $2,000 balance with a credit card charging 18 percent interest,
it would take 30 years to pay off the amount owed. Then imagine how fast
you would run up your debts if you did this with several credit cards
at the same time. (For more examples of how long it will take to payoff
a credit card balance, see the "Resources"
section at the end of this publication.)
Here are some additional
tips for handling credit cards wisely.
Keep only one or
two cards, not the usual eight or nine.
Don't charge big-ticket items. Find less expensive
loan alternatives.
Shop around for the best interest rates, annual fees,
service fees, and grace periods.
Pay off the card each month, or at least pay more than
the minimum.
Still have problems? Leave the cards at home or cut
them up.
How
to climb out of debt. Despite your best efforts,
you may find yourself in severe debt. A credit
counseling service can help you set up a plan to work with your creditors
and reduce your debts. Or you can work with your creditors directly to
try and work out payment arrangements.
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