Financially Fearless: The LearnVest Program for Taking Control of Your Money - Hardcover

Von Tobel, Alexa

 
9780385347617: Financially Fearless: The LearnVest Program for Taking Control of Your Money
Hardcover
ISBN 10: 0385347618 ISBN 13: 9780385347617
Verlag: Crown Currency, 2013

Inhaltsangabe

Finally, a financial plan that lets you be YOU, only richer.
 
It’s time to throw away all your old notions of what financial advice should look like. Because if you’re looking for a book to put you on an austerity savings plan that has you giving up vacations and lattes, you’re out of luck.  But if you’re looking to get your finances in rock-hard shape--in less time than it takes to finish a workout--then Alexa von Tobel, Founder and CEO of LearnVest, has your back.

How? Through the LearnVest Program. First, you’ll take stock of where you stand today. Then, you’ll create your customized 50/20/30 plan. 50/20/30 simply refers to the percentage breakdown of how to spend your take-home pay each month. The 50 gets the essentials out of the way so you don't have to stress about them. The 20 sets your foundation for the future, then the 30 is left to spend on the things that bring happiness to your life.

By the time you’re finished reading this book, you’ll walk away with a financial game plan tailored to your priorities, your hopes and dreams, and your lifestyle. And, because von Tobel and the team at LearnVest are experts at financial planning in the online era, you’ll also learn how to integrate your financial plan into your mobile, social, digital life.  Like your own personal financial planner between two covers, this book will set you up for a secure, worry-free money future, without having to give up things you love.

So toss those old-school financial guides out the window, and get ready to start living your richest life.

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Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

 ALEXA VON TOBEL, CFP® is the founder and CEO of www.LearnVest.com, an award-winning financial planning site.  A Certified Financial Planner™ who attended Harvard Business School, Alexa has been featured as a financial expert in the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, BusinessWeek, Fast Company, Forbes, InStyle, Glamour and on the Today show, Good Morning America, Anderson, Katie, ABC News, Bloomberg News, and more.  Her speaking engagements include Maria Shriver's Women's Conference, SXSW, Fortune Most Powerful Women's Conference, and TEDxWallStreet, and she is a columnist for Cosmopolitan, Inc. Magazine, and Ladies Home Journal.

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The F Word

Why, hello there. I’ve got some good news. You’ve just taken the first step toward getting your finances in check.

Wait, come back here! I know what you’re thinking. What finances? Does this meek retirement account really need managing? Or: Here it comes; she’s about to tell me to never go on vacation. Or: Give me a break, I don’t have time to even think past lunch, let alone calculate interest compounding for thirty years.

If you think financial planning isn’t for you, think again. Financial planning is not just for the 1 percent. Everyone deserves the peace of mind that comes with having a good financial plan.

It doesn’t matter how much money you do or don’t have. Financial planning is not about getting rich; it’s about enriching your life. While money doesn’t buy happiness, it does buy security, stability, and the freedom to do the things that make life worth living, whether that means going back to school, starting a restaurant, buying a beach home, having a baby, going on a safari, or leaving a crappy relationship. Money is our lifeline.

When I first started writing this book, I wanted to call it The F Word. Why? Because talking about finances is still a massive taboo. We talk openly about everything else, from sex to diets to politics, yet when is the last time you spoke with your friends about money?

Well, in this book you better believe we’re going to talk money, over and over again, from all different angles. We’re going to take a hard, honest look at your spending and saving habits, and we’re going to take a fine-tooth comb through your bank accounts and your wallet. We’re going to make money an issue, so it becomes a nonissue.

In this book I’m going to put you through the financial planning program I’ve developed in my years founding and running LearnVest one of the leading online personal finance companies in the United States, and LearnVest Program, a registered investment adviser that provides personal financial planning services. This is a Program designed to help you earn better, save better, and spend better, so you can achieve the peace of mind that comes with knowing you are in real control of your finances. And a key component of the Program is openness--with others and with yourself.

By the time we’re done here, you’ll create a detailed, personalized financial plan tailored to how you actually live your life. In the process you’ll get a clearer picture not only of what your money situation looks like now but also of where you’ll be financially in twelve months, in five years, even thirty years from now.

I want to give you that feeling of relief that comes with getting in control of your money--the relief that comes from not having to lie awake at night worrying about bills or credit-card payments, the relief that comes with knowing you have enough saved for tomorrow without having to sacrifice the things that bring you joy today.



Why Not Having a Plan Is a Plan--a Bad One

If this is the first time you’re thinking about this stuff seriously, you might think you don’t yet have a financial plan, but guess what? Not having a plan is a plan--just a really, really bad one. When you play it by ear, you’re throwing away money that you could be spending on the things in life that really matter. Worse, by not making financial decisions you are in fact making decisions--ones that leave you vulnerable to scary blind spots that will hurt you down the line, like not having proper insurance. Winging it is no way to build the future of your dreams.

When I started out in personal finance, I believed I was the only one with oodles of “stupid” money questions. Then I realized that some of the smartest, most educated people I knew had similar questions. Despite all the books that have been written on the topic and all the financial experts out there touting their services, most people have no idea how to wade through the endless stream of conflicting and confusing advice online and on television, and who can blame us?

Most high schools and colleges and grad schools across the country do not teach you anything about it. I had a top-notch education and graduated having been taught diddly-squat about managing my money. How are we supposed to get off on the right foot when literally no one shows us how?

Not to mention that there’s an endless amount of financial “stuff” to wade through--401(k)s, APRs, 529s, et cetera. It’s easy to see why our nation has been struggling financially. How the heck is a normal person supposed to stay up to speed on all this stuff?

And with this confusion comes anxiety. Since founding LearnVest I have looked deep into the American financial psyche, and what I’ve found there is worry. Loads of it. I’m in the unique position of reading confessional e‑mails from tens of thousands of LearnVest users on our free site. So I know what I’m talking about when I tell you that most people worry about money. Most people have doubts. Even those earning what the majority of Americans would consider to be a perfectly livable or even much more than livable salary are up at night worrying about money.

In poring through mountains of research, one thing I’ve found is that whether we’re single or married, rich or poor, making $13 an hour or $300,000 a year, we all have the exact same questions about money: Am I spending on the right things? Am I saving enough for my future? Am I making the best money decisions for me?

The consequences of being in the dark about our finances are pretty scary: according to the American Payroll Association, more than two thirds of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck.1 And I’m not just talking about people earning minimum wage. Three in ten Americans make more than $100,000 a year and still live paycheck to paycheck.2 Clearly, having money doesn’t mean you’re immune to money stress. Not for nothing did Notorious B.I.G. coin “Mo Money Mo Problems.”

And it’s a vicious cycle: The less we know about money, the more stressed we feel about it. So we avoid dealing with it. And the more we avoid dealing with it, the more stressed we get, and so on into an infinity of sleepless nights.

But the good news is that no matter how much or how little money you have, you can manage it more strategically and put it to work for you. We all deserve that sense of freedom and power. We all can make progress.

I believe that financial literacy is a fundamental human right. That’s why I started LearnVest: to give everyone the information and tools to take control of our financial futures, so we can finally stop feeling so alone and anxious about money. Before we get started, let me tell you more about why I got into the financial planning field in the first place and why I have devoted my life to blowing the lid off the money taboo.



Here’s Why I Care So Much

When I was fourteen years old, my father passed away in an accident. I returned home from a fun summer night at the movies with friends to the worst news of my entire life. My mom, who was forty-eight at the time, was completely blindsided. In her twenty-five years of a very happy marriage she had never once imagined that she would find herself suddenly alone, caring for three children.

Not surprisingly, in the days that followed, we were all in paralyzing shock. Through the haze, I overheard my mom on the phone trying to better understand exactly where we had our financial accounts. On top of dealing with the most heart-wrenching, soul-shaking news she’d ever received, she also had to face another challenge: she would need to start...

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Verlag
Crown Currency
Erscheinungsdatum
2013
Sprache
Englisch
ISBN 10 
0385347618
ISBN 13 
9780385347617
Einband
Gebundene Ausgabe
Anzahl der Seiten
336
Kontakt zum Hersteller
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Verantwortliche Person
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