Axial Financial House In Order

Building a Healthy Financial Foundation

When you read about money matters, you will sometimes see the phrase, “getting your financial house in order.” What exactly does that mean? When your financial “house is in order,” it means it is built on a solid foundation. It means that you have six fundamental “pillars” in place that are either crucial for sustaining your financial well-being or creating wealth. #1: A savings account. This is your Fort Knox: the place where you store and build the cash you may someday use for your biggest purchases. Savings accounts pay a modest interest rate. You should still consider having a savings account, even in today’s low-interest rate environment. Banks and credit unions often limit the number and amount of withdrawals you can make from savings accounts per month.

Money Philosophy 101

Tunde continues his talk with Jamarlin Martin from GHOGH Podcast. They discuss how QE or quantitative easing (money printing) is likely to look different in the next financial crisis in America and some tax benefits with side hustles....

Bond Market, Yield Curve
and Global Economy

Tunde Ogunlana talks to Jamarlin with GHOGH Podcast. We discuss what an inverted yield curve usually means in the bond market and why Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell can't tell the public the truth when he sees big trouble on the horizon. We also discuss the global economy being trapped between massive debt and a starting place of low rates at the end of the economic cycle.

Fear Must Not Inhibit
a Financial Strategy

Too often, it persuades investors to make questionable moves.  Fear affects investors in two distinct ways. Every so often, a bulletin, headline, or sustained economic or market trend will scare them and make them question their investing approach. If they overreact to it, they may sell low now and buy high later – or in the worst-case scenario, they derail their whole investing and retirement planning strategy.    Besides the fear of potential market shocks, there is also another fear worth noting – the fear of being too involved in the market. People with this worry are often superb savers, but reluctant investors. They amass large bank accounts, yet their aversion to investing in equities may hurt them in the long run. Impulsive investment decisions tend to carry

Active & Passive
Investment Management

What do each of these terms really mean? Investment management can be active or passive. Sometimes, that simple, fundamental choice can make a difference in portfolio performance. During a particular market climate, one of these two methods may be widely praised, while the other is derided and dismissed. In truth, both approaches have merit, and all investors should understand their principles. How does passive asset management work? A passive asset management strategy employs investment vehicles mirroring market benchmarks. In their composition, these funds match an index – such as the S&P 500 or the Russell 2000 – component for component. As a result, the return from a passively managed fund precisely matches the return of the index it replicates. The glass-half-full aspect of this is that the investment will never underperform that benchmark. The glass-half-empty aspect is that it will never outperform it, either.

Why Retirees Need
Good Credit Scores

Careers & businesses end, but the need to borrow remains. We spend much of our adult lives working, borrowing, and buying. A good credit score is our ally along the way. It retains its importance when we retire. Retirees should do everything they can to maintain their credit rating. A FICO score of 700 or higher is useful whether an individual works or not. For example, some retirees will decide to refinance their home loans. A recently published study from the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College

How Will You Spend
Your Retirement Savings?

Keep an eye on where it goes, as some destinations may be better than others. You can probably envision how most of your retirement money will be spent. Much of it will be used on living expenses, health care expenses, and, perhaps, debt reduction. Beyond the basics, you will unquestionably reserve some of those dollars for grand adventures and great experiences. If your financial situation permits, you may also contribute to charity. You just have to remember that your retirement fund is not a bottomless well. If outflows begin to exceed inflows (that is, you repeatedly withdraw more than you make back), you will face a serious financial problem. With that hazard in mind, be wary of these four spending sieves. Some retirees fall prey to them, and all four can potentially reduce a

Ways the Middle Class Can
Make a Difference for Charity

You don’t need to be wealthy to make an impact & get a win-win. Do you have to make a multimillion-dollar gift to a charity to receive immediate or future financial benefits? No. Consider the following options, which may bring you immediate or future tax deduction Partnership gifts. These gifts are made via long-term arrangements between donors and recipient charities or non-profits, usually with income resulting for the donor and an eventual transfer of the principal to the charity at the donor’s death. For example, a charitable remainder trust allows you to pay yourself a dependable income (perhaps for life) derived from assets placed within the trust. When you die or the trust term ends, the remaining trust principal can go to charity. A charitable lead trust works the opposite way. It makes annual, charitable gifts, giving you the potential to reduce gift and estate taxes; your beneficiaries get the leftover...

Should the Self-Employed
Plan to Work Past 65

Some solopreneurs think they will “work forever,” but that perception may be flawed. About 20% of Americans aged 65-74 are still working. A 2016 Pew Research Center study put the precise figure at 18.8%, and Pew estimates that it will reach 31.9% in 2022. That estimate seems reasonable: people are living longer, and the labor force participation rate for Americans aged 65-74 has been rising since the early 1990s.1,2 It may be unreasonable, though, for a pre-retiree to blindly assume he or she will be working at that age. Census Bureau data indicates that the average retirement age in this country is 63.3

How Millennials Can Get a
Good Start on Retirement Planning

Some simple steps may make a major financial difference over time. If you are younger than 35, saving for retirement may not feel like a priority. After all, retirement may be 30 years away; if your employer does not sponsor a retirement plan, there may be less incentive for you to start. Even so, you must save and invest for retirement as soon as you can. Time is your greatest ally. The earlier you begin, the more years your invested assets have to grow and compound. If you put off retirement planning until your fifties, you may end up having to devote huge chunks of your income just to catch up, at a time when you may have to care for elderly parents, fund college educations, and pay off a mortgage. Do your part to reject the financial stereotype that the media places on millennials. Are you familiar with it...