MOUNT POCONO — Mount Airy Casino Resort is almost ready to unveil a $40 million expansion to the general public.The venue is nearing the final stages on a project that will add an additional 100 hotel rooms and an area that will more than quadruple the size of their existing events center.“This project marks yet another bold and aggressive step to continuously elevate Mount Airy Casino Resort as the Northeast’s premier destination for the best in event [...]
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الاثنين، 25 فبراير 2019
5 Easiest Home Businesses to Start
When I first began my stay-at-home adventure, I was so excited to be home with my kids and spend some extra time with them that I didn’t think much about the transition. About a year into staying home, I was beginning to feel an “itch” to do something more. Don’t get me wrong, I love […]
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Best WordPress Booking Plugin – (Review Updated for Winter of 2019)
I’ll get straight to the point. If your company takes reservations or appointments, you need an online booking system — period.
Take a moment to analyze your current process. How does a customer schedule their appointment?
Without an online booking system, I’m willing to bet that the process looks something like this:
- The customer looks up your phone number.
- If they’re lucky, someone answers quickly. Otherwise, they wait on hold or reach your voicemail.
- The customer explains the service they’re looking for and asks for your availability.
- After some back and forth discussion repeating dates and times, the customer scrambles to find a piece of paper to write on so they don’t forget.
That’s assuming you can clearly understand each other over the phone. We all know sometimes it’s difficult to hear based on things like reception, accents, and background noise. Oh yeah — that’s also assuming nobody else called you while you were on the phone. Then you’re forced to let the incoming call go to voicemail, or place your current caller on hold.
Each time someone calls, it takes you away from the task you’re working on. Sure, there are some alternative solutions. You could pay someone to sit by a phone and answer calls all day. But do you really want to incur that added cost? This still isn’t your most efficient option.
Why you need a WordPress booking plugin
Adding a booking plugin to your WordPress site will do more than just improve your operational efficiency. This new system will optimize the customer experience.
Roughly 70% of consumers prefer booking appointments online.
Furthermore, 36% of people said that waiting on hold too long when booking over the phone was their biggest pain point for scheduling appointments and 20% of people said the biggest inconvenience was having to wait to call during office hours to book.
By adding a booking plugin to your WordPress site, you’ll eliminate more than half of the biggest pain points for consumers while simultaneously providing them with their most preferred booking option.
When evaluating a new service provider, 94% of consumers say they are more likely to choose one that has online booking options compared to a provider that doesn’t.
In short, adding online booking options to your website will:
- Improve your efficiency
- Enhance the customer experience
- Reduce the time it takes to book appointments
- Increase the chances of getting new customers
- Give you a competitive advantage
I think I’ve made myself clear. Now that you know the importance of having a WordPress booking plugin, you need to install one to your site.
How do you choose? What’s the best WordPress booking plugin?
Use this guide as a reference to help you decide which one is the best for your business.
1. Bookly
Bookly is fully customizable and extremely responsive. Its sleek design on both the front and backend is modern and visually appealing.
One of the features that makes Bookly one of the best WordPress booking plugins is the option for different employees to create custom pricing and availability. For example, let’s say you own a gym. Each personal trainer can set their own rates. Your customers would have the option to choose the trainer they want from a dropdown menu when booking a session.
From the user end, Bookly takes them through a quick four-step process on your website.
- Select the service with the options for categories and employees, if applicable.
- Choose a date and time.
- Enter personal details like name, phone, email, and additional notes.
- Pay.
That’s right. Bookly even processes payments or deposits. This is great for those of you who are getting lots of no-show appointments and missing out on those earnings. If you don’t want to force your customers to pay in advance, you can set an option for paying on-site at the appointment.
You can also set up automatic text and email notifications with Bookly. Those notifications remind the customer as well as your staff members about upcoming appointments.
Bookly also lets your customers translate the booking process into their native language. This solves the problem that I talked about earlier in terms of having trouble communicating with certain customers over the phone.
Bookly lets you create promo codes to discount your services. The plugin tracks all of the data, so you can determine which deals are working the best.
With Bookly, customers can set up recurring appointments, get added to a waiting list pending cancellations, attach files, and rate your services. This WordPress plugin even has a feature for group booking.
Overall, Bookly is one of the most complete WordPress booking plugins you’ll find.
2. EDD Bookings
EDD Bookings is definitely another top option to consider. In addition to booking standard services, this plugin is great for those of you who offer rentals.
Maybe you have a business by the beach and rent out bikes, skateboards, surfboards, and paddleboards by the hour. All of this can be managed through your website with the EDD Bookings plugin.
It’s one of the easiest plugins to integrate into your ecommerce platform. For those of you who are already using Easy Digital Downloads solutions for ecommerce, I highly recommend this plugin.
Customers can book appointments or rentals in just seconds on your website with EDD Bookings. All they need to do is:
- Choose the appointment type or equipment type.
- Pick a date.
- Select a time.
It’s as simple as that.
The EDD Bookings plugin makes it easy for you to manage all of your appointments in one place with different calendar views. They provide you with extensive details for your day, week, and month. You can color code your appointments as well to keep track of different types of services.
The plugin integrates with payment gateways, email lists, Zapier, and Slack as well. EDD will also provide you with reports and detailed analytics. EDD Bookings has a responsive design for desktops, smartphones, and tablets.
Compared to other similar plugins, it’s very affordable. Pricing for the EDD Bookings plugin starts at $80 per year.
3. Booked
The Booked WordPress plugin makes it easy for customers to book appointments on your website. I like this plugin because it comes with great add-ons for things like integrating payment options with WooCommerce, calendar integrations with Google Calendars and iCal, as well as front-end appointment management.
It’s a great option for beginners because it’s essentially ready to go right out of the box. You don’t need to worry about any custom coding. The interface is smooth and easy to navigate.
Booked makes it easy for you to add custom time slots to your schedule. This is great for adding in holidays or vacation days. The plugin also comes with some great shortcodes, making it possible to embed your booking calendar nearly anywhere on your site.
Booked is another option for managing calendars for multiple members of your staff. So let’s say you own a barbershop or hair salon. Customers can book with their preferred stylist online with ease.
This plugin also offers guest booking, so website visitors don’t need to be registered or logged into their profile in order to schedule a service or appointment on your website.
4. Booking Calendar
Booking Calendar has been around for ten years and is a top solution for those of you who are in the hospitality industry.
In addition to appointments, this plugin is commonly used to book stays at hotels, resorts, or a bed and breakfast. That’s because the system is designed to accommodate days-long bookings, as opposed to just an hour time slot for an appointment. Not every WordPress booking plugin offers this feature.
Booking Calendar is extremely responsive on both the frontend and backend. For those of you who aren’t too tech-savvy, you shouldn’t have any problems installing this plugin to your WordPress website. All you need to do is insert the booking shortcode into a page or post on your site.
Your bookings are stored in the Booking Calendar dashboard, so you won’t need any third-party services or accounts to manage them.
The plugin will automatically prevent double bookings based on this information. Again, this is ideal for those of you who are offering a service such as rooms in a hotel building.
Booking Calendar supports multiple languages, so you can accommodate website traffic that’s coming from other countries. The plugin also syncs with third-party platforms such as Booking.com and TripAdvisor, to make sure your availability dates are updated in real-time all over the Internet.
5. Team Booking
As the name implies, the Team Booking plugin is designed to accommodate the booking schedules of multiple members on your staff. We’ve seen some other plugins on our list that have this feature, but none that have it has their primary point of emphasis.
Team Booking integrates with Google Calendar, which makes it easy for managing appointments based on everyone’s unique availability.
But don’t let that that dissuade you if you’re a solopreneur. While this plugin was designed with teams in mind, you can still use it on your own if you’re providing an individual service.
This plugin allows you to set up multiple form fields to collect additional information about your customers.
Team Booking also has a map feature, which is another differentiating element. When a customer books an appointment, the map can pop up with the location. All of the directions are displayed in real time from the customer’s address.
You can collect payments or deposits with Team Booking as well. The plugin is supported by PayPal and Stripe.
Team Booking is a top choice for those of you who don’t want to spend a ton of money on a booking plugin. Pricing for this license starts at $28.
6. Amelia
Amelia is an automated booking specialist. This plugin is great for those of you who offer multiple types of services.
For example, let’s say you own a car repair center. Your customers can schedule things like tire rotations, oil changes, brake replacements, and other services that you offer. You can even set it up so they can choose a specific mechanic to service their vehicle, based on availability, of course.
This plugin is also great for law consultants. Your clients can schedule meetings based on the type of help they need. You can collect deposits and payments through this booking plugin as well.
As you can see, the applications for Amelia reach far and wide. Its versatility makes it one of the best WordPress booking plugins on the market.
You can install Amelia to your WordPress site in just a few clicks. You don’t need to be a technology wizard or have experience with coding to get it up and running.
I also like how this plugin has an administrative dashboard that lets you track and measure KPIs with graphs, tables, and charts. This provides you with deep insights into your performance.
The design of the booking calendar is completely customizable, so you can choose the colors and other design elements that compliment your website color schemes.
Conclusion
You need to have online booking options on your website. If you’re not allowing online booking, you’re leaving money on the table. Now that you’re aware of the importance of this feature, it’s time to find a plugin that fits your needs.
What’s the best WordPress booking plugin?
The answer will vary based on who you ask. I created this with all different types of businesses in mind. Depending on your needs, I’m confident you can find what you’re looking for.
- Do you want to collect payments with your plugin?
- Do you need to manage appointments for multiple staff members?
- Are your customers booking a service, making a reservation, or renting equipment?
Some plugins specialize in these features, so think these questions through and install a plugin that meets the needs of your business.
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Questions About 529 Excess, Multiple Roth IRAs, Cord Cutting Football, and More!
What’s inside? Here are the questions answered in today’s reader mailbag, boiled down to summaries of five or fewer words. Click on the number to jump straight down to the question.
1. Emergency fund before home purchase
2. Money doesn’t buy happiness
3. Post-college money in 529
4. Living closer to work?
5. Don’t like slow cooker food
6. Parents afraid to use 401(k)
7. Bank won’t close HELOC
8. Digging out of a hole
9. Napping at work
10. Should I combine Roth IRAs?
11. Watching football after cord cutting
12. Getting started with board games
Over the last few years, I’ve gotten into a routine of getting up from my desk once an hour and spending five to ten minutes stretching or exercising. I’ll do a brief stretching routine, do some pushups, do a plank or some squats – just enough to breathe heavy.
I find that if I do this, then I follow it with drinking a bit of water and walking around a little and looking out the window, I come back to my desk ready to focus and I absolutely hammer it down for the next 45 minutes or so.
If I don’t do it, I find that my attention will often wander.
Sometimes, if I’m lucky, I get into a “zone” where I completely lose track of time. That’s the best of all worlds, but it’s somewhat rare. However, I know that it’s far more likely to happen if I’ve had plenty of water to drink and I’m actually doing the stretching and mild exercise.
In short, if I take that time regularly to stretch and exercise a bit and drink water, I’m actually way more productive over an eight hour period than I would be if I didn’t do that.
Just a little tip that works well for me.
On with the questions.
Q1: Emergency fund before home purchase
My husband and I are working to save up a 20% down payment for our first home. Before we buy a house, I would be much more comfortable if we had a larger emergency fund to handle the unexpected. The gap between our income and expenses (including retirement savings) is about $1200. My question is, should we put all of our money into our down payment savings or should we split the amount between the two accounts? I know this is subjective, but outside perspective would be helpful.
– Erin
Keeping two separate “funds” – your emergency fund and your down payment fund – in the same account is possible, but it requires extra bookkeeping. You have to keep track of how much is in each account and you also have to determine where interest goes. Will earned interest go into the emergency fund, or will it go in the down payment fund?
It’s much easier, in my opinion, to keep them in completely separate accounts. That’s the approach we use for our own distinct savings goals. We have been long time users of ING Direct / Capital One 360 for this purpose, as it makes creating a new savings account as easy as a single click.
We have several accounts for different savings goals – our next two replacement cars, our home improvement fund (now pretty depleted, but rebuilding), holiday gifts, and a few other odds and ends. It works very well for us.
Q2: Money doesn’t buy happiness
Saw this article in NY Times Magazine and wanted your thoughts:
Wealthy, Successful, and Miserable
– Jim
That article nails it. Money doesn’t buy happiness once you’ve reached a certain level, and that level really isn’t very high. The perks that more money gives you beyond a certain point aren’t as big as they seem, and the downsides to wealth are quite real, as they cause you to sacrifice a ton to get there and then cause problems and stress on their own (relationships, money management, etc.).
The truth, in my opinion, is that the only genuine source of happiness in life comes from within. It comes from a content life cultivated to be fertile ground for happiness to bubble up on its own. It takes time, but most importantly it takes a real mindset shift if you’re not already in a place where you’re consistently happy. There’s definitely a neurochemical / mental health aspect, too, of which I’m really not qualified to speak.
All I can say for sure is this: the only lasting sources of happiness I’ve found in my life, and I’ve found more than a few, were really independent of money. At the same time, many sources of unhappiness in my life came from efforts to acquire more money.
Q3: Post-college money in 529
My daughter is 24 years old and graduated last May with a double degree in biology and secondary education. She is now a high school biology teacher! I couldn’t be prouder!
During the last half of her childhood, we put a ton of money into her 529 and she also got a lot of scholarships and attended an in-state school. So now that she’s done, she has no student loans but has a lot of money in her 529.
What should she do with it? There’s a stiff penalty for withdrawals for non-academic reasons. But it seems useless to just let the money sit in there.
– Lois
My first question would be whether your daughter would ever want to get a masters degree in secondary education, which would significantly improve her lifetime earnings. Many colleges offer evening and weekend programs that will help people get their masters in secondary education. She could definitely use the money for that.
Another option to consider is to just sit on the 529 plan and then, if she has children in the future, change the beneficiary on that 529 to the child, which doesn’t have any tax implications. So, if she were to have a child five years from now, the money in that 529 would grow for 23 years before that child would need it. That’s a pretty good start to that future child’s college savings.
Even if neither of those situations really applies here, your daughter might want to still hold onto that 529 money as an “educational emergency fund” should she ever decide to make a career change or perhaps train for a different teaching focus.
In the end, unless she has a good reason to do so, given that she doesn’t have any student loans, I’d probably sit on that money. The financial gain for doing so, if she were to ever use that money for educational purposes, is pretty significant.
Q4: Living closer to work?
How does it save money to live closer to work if you ride the subway?
– Ariel
If you ride the subway to work every day, you’re probably not saving much money by moving closer to work. All you’re doing is reducing the length of your commute, which might be a money saver for you in some secondary ways, such as increasing your ability to prepare meals at home or cutting back on child care costs. On some subway services, you may save money by being closer to your destination, but if you’re a daily rider, you’re likely buying a pass that makes this inconsequential.
The big advantage of moving closer to your workplace comes from being able to switch from driving a car to using mass transit or walking to work. This might enable you to sell off a car entirely, and will definitely enable you to spend less on gas and maintenance.
If that advantage doesn’t exist for you, then moving closer to your job won’t provide a major financial benefit, and will likely cost you if your rent goes up.
In general, if you live in a metro area, I usually encourage people to live in a reasonably safe neighborhood with the lowest rent they can find with reasonably good access to mass transit of some kind, assuming of course that your job is accessible by mass transit.
Q5: Don’t like slow cooker food
I like the slow cooker in concept but everything that comes out of it is mush. Texture is awful. I junked mine.
– David
My feeling is that if everything is coming out of your slow cooker as “mush,” you’re probably overcooking it. I make soups and stews in ours multiple times a week and it’s never mush. We also frequently make lasagna in it, and you can definitely make amazing roasts and whole chickens in one that are most definitely not mush.
My only experience where things have gone bad in a slow cooker is when it’s been allowed to run far past the time in a recipe. If you put something in there that’s supposed to cook 6 hours on low and you let it sit for 10 hours, yeah, it probably won’t be good.
If you find that you’re always gone for longer than your recipes, look for a slow cooker that has a programmable mode that has a “keep warm” mode, or else focus on soups and stews and roasts.
Q6: Parents afraid to use 401(k)
My parents are in their late 60s and recently retired. They are on Social Security and Medicaid. My father has about $400K in his 401(k) plan from work. They refuse to tap it for anything and are living on Social Security. They say that they’re keeping the money for “emergencies” but I suspect that they’re wanting to give it to grandkids when they pass. But they are staying at home all the time and not traveling or doing the things they always talked about doing. Struggling to make sense of it or how to advise them.
– Andrew
You shouldn’t advise them. Rather, you should just respect whatever it is they choose to do with their money and their life at this point.
It’s likely that their talk of travel was at least somewhat in the category of “pipe dream” and that they don’t really intend to do so. If that’s not something they’re actively pursuing now, it’s almost definitely due to a choice they’ve made.
They may have come to the realization that paying for their grandchild’s full college education is something that’s more important to them at this point, or maybe they have some other vision in mind. Whatever it is, it’s their business. If they have $400K in the bank but are able to live off of Social Security, they’re extremely unlikely to become a financial burden to you, so that shouldn’t be a worry.
Let them be. They’re fine.
Q7: Bank won’t close HELOC
We have a HELOC with a local bank that has a zero balance. We have asked them to close it and it remains open. This is a little annoying because of credit impact but not a huge deal. What’s annoying is that they just charged us an annual fee for it. What can we do?
– Andrew
If I were in your shoes, I would go right into a local branch and ask to speak to a manager and ask very directly that (a) the line be closed and (b) the annual fee be waived. If they won’t, I’d go up the chain of command at the bank, above the branch manager and into the corporate office. Make a nuisance of yourself.
Banks don’t want to close accounts for the very reason you’ve seen here. They can make money off of fees, plus they can keep up their “open accounts” numbers which is something that owners and shareholders and outside investors care a lot about.
You have to keep being a squeaky wheel about this issue. If nothing happens and you’ve contacted the bank several times, you may want to consider contacting bank regulators as there may be a minor bank fraud issue going on.
Q8: Digging out of a hole
I’m 36, wife is 32, three kids ages 7, 5, 2. I make about $50K. My wife made about $40K a year but lost her job in 2015. We made a decision to try being a single income household. Very hard. We ended up basically going pretty deep into debt to get by. She decided to go back to work last year if she could find work that could provide child care or make really good money to pay for it. She found a job that has child care as a perk and returned to work in November. Free child care, makes $31K a year.
We currently have $30K in credit card debt and about $20K in student loans and $10K and $8 left on car loans. About $2K in emergency fund. We live in a 3 bedroom apartment that is pretty tight with the three kids and would like to buy a house someday. Not sure what to even do.
– Dan
Well, you’re earning $81K a year, which is above the national average for household income, and you don’t have child care costs, so in that regard, you’re in good shape. What isn’t good is that you have a ton of debt, including a lot of high interest debt.
If I were in your shoes, I’d aim to make the apartment work for another couple of years at least, live as cheap as you can, and get rid of that credit card debt. Make minimum payments on all of your non credit card debt and try to use balance transfers to minimize the high interest on those credit cards, if possible. This may involve opening new cards solely to transfer the balance, if your credit rating allows it.
The best thing you can possibly do is eliminate some debts right now, particularly high interest ones. This gives you more and more breathing room between your minimum monthly bills and your income, and you’re going to want that gap as wide as you can get it.
If I were you, I’d aim for getting rid of all of the credit card debt, then I’d start saving all of that money you were throwing at extra credit card payments each month into saving for a down payment. Don’t speed up payments on the other debts.
Don’t panic – you have the resources in hand to be well on your way to being able to get into a house in two years. The key is to keep your spending in check. You need to be channeling at least 25% of your pay into extra debt payments – not the minimum payments, extra payments. If you can do that, then get rid of all of the credit cards, then start channeling that 25% into savings for a down payment. You’ll be in a house in no time.
Q9: Napping at work
What do you think about napping at work? If I don’t nap in the early afternoon I’m basically unproductive all afternoon. If I do sleep for 30 minutes I can usually knock out a lot of work in the afternoon.
– Aaron
That’s probably a strategy that works well for you, but it’s not a good look. Sleeping at work is often going to be frowned upon – employers don’t want to pay you to sleep.
The big thing is that you need to not get a reputation for sleeping on the job, and that starts with your boss understanding what’s going on.
My suggestion would be to have a serious conversation with your boss about this. Talk about different solutions to the problem. If you’re a good worker, your boss might be completely on board with the idea of a brief afternoon nap for you.
Q10: Should I combine Roth IRAs?
I started a Roth IRA at [Company A] in 2001 and funded it partially through 2006. In 2006 I went back to school and graduated in 2011 with a masters degree in a new field. Went back to work in 2012 and completely forgot about my old Roth IRA as the statements were being sent to my parents and they were just putting them in a box for me. I opened a new one in 2013 and funded it the last several years. In 2016 my dad passed away and I found all of the papers they’d been saving. I didn’t deal with it then and kept funding my current Roth. Now I’m starting to wonder what to do. What’s the game plan here?
– Orlando
You can directly roll over one Roth IRA into another. All you likely have to do is contact the company that’s managing the Roth you want to stick with and tell them that you want to roll over the other Roth IRA and they’ll be happy to walk you through the steps. There should be no tax impact for you at all, though there will be a little paperwork.
So, which one should you go with? If I were you, I’d examine the investments available at both of the companies you have a Roth IRA with. Which one offers investments you’re happier with? Which investments have lower expenses? You can probably figure this out by checking out both accounts online.
I’d probably move everything into the company that has the lowest expenses on the investments you’re most interested in. So, if you have everything in a Target Retirement Fund in both Roth IRAs, compare those two funds and figure out which one has the better expense ratio and compare their returns as well (unless the returns are way off, prioritize the lower expense ratio). If they’re close, choose the business you like working with more. Then, transfer the money from the other fund into the fund you’ve chosen by calling the company that manages the fund you chose and having them help you through the process. Problem solved.
Q11: Watching football after cord cutting
Considering cord cutting now that football season is over. What are the best options for watching football w/o cable? Interested in NFL mostly.
– Austin
Let’s break this down.
You can get all of the games that air on the major networks (NBC, CBS, ABC, Fox) over the air for free with a digital antenna. If you’re in or near a major metro area, you should easily be able to receive these signals for free once you’ve bought the antenna, which will cost $30-50.
If you have Amazon Prime, you can watch Thursday Night Football for free via streaming. Many TVs have an Amazon Instant Video app so you can watch it using that. If your TV doesn’t have such an app, there are a bunch of devices you can buy to stream to your television, like a Roku or an Amazon Fire stick.
If you sign up for Sling for $25 a month, you can get the NFL Network and NFL Redzone to supplement those viewing options. I have a couple of NFL junkie friends who swear by NFL Redzone and that’s all they watch.
That should cover most of what you’d want to watch.
Q12: Getting started with board games
Our family celebrated a late Christmas a couple of weeks ago and one of my cousins brought several board games and they were great. We played Shadows Over Camelot, 7 Wonders, and a few others and I really enjoyed myself. I had always wondered why you talked about enjoying boardgames so much and now I understand!
My husband also enjoyed the games and we want to “dip our toes” into the hobby but the games are really expensive! How can we dip in a little without spending a bunch of money?
– Sara
My number one suggestion is to see if there is a board gaming meetup or board gaming club in your area. The first place I’d look is Meetup; see if there’s anything near you. The next place I’d look is the website of any hobby gaming stores in your area, as well as the website of any libraries. You might also want to look on Facebook to see if there’s a group for board gaming or tabletop gaming in your city.
Most cities have a free public board gaming event most nights. I’d recommend going to a few to see which ones click with you. There’s no expectation that you bring anything, especially if you’re new – just show up and play a few games.
Before you purchase any games, I’d get a strong bead on what you and your husband really like. What games really click with both of you? Which games are playable with just the two of you? What about games you might play with other people in your life? You should be seeking out games that check all of those boxes at once, and I’d highly recommend playing a variety of games before really deciding on that.
When you do decide on a game or two, take your time and shop around. Look for used copies – often, local game groups will have people selling games when they need to make room in their homes. Some game stores facilitate this. You can also find really good sales at local stores and online (Amazon and popular board game sellers like Coolstuffinc and Miniature Market).
Be patient. Don’t buy games if you have games still on your shelf that you’re excited to play right now. Don’t feel bad about almost entirely playing games that others bring to public game nights, but be appreciative that people are bringing their games and teaching them to you and be a little flexible to accommodate what they might want to play. You can always reciprocate later when you have a few games in your closet. (Also, board games make GREAT gifts.)
Board gaming is a great social hobby that doesn’t have to be expensive. I really enjoy it.
Got any questions? The best way to ask is to follow me on Facebook and ask questions directly there. I’ll attempt to answer them in a future mailbag (which, by way of full disclosure, may also get re-posted on other websites that pick up my blog). However, I do receive many, many questions per week, so I may not necessarily be able to answer yours.
The post Questions About 529 Excess, Multiple Roth IRAs, Cord Cutting Football, and More! appeared first on The Simple Dollar.
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Working with Bloggers to Promote your Business
Have you ever had an experience with an influencer or blogger go sideways? Unfortunately, there are many ways this can happen. A sponsored post wasn't written and published as promised. They over promised and under delivered. They produced sloppy work that reflects poorly on your brand. Have any of these things ever happened to you? […]
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Should Women Be Investing Differently Than Men?
There appears to be some debate among financial advisors about whether women need to invest any differently than men, simply because they’re women.
The notion that one’s gender might factor into their investment strategy is based on various realities women face, including that, on average, women live longer than men, make less money, and typically spend fewer years in the workforce (which results in lower Social Security income). Women also have higher healthcare costs due to their longevity.
Figures from 2017 show that women are paid about 82 cents for each dollar a man makes, based on median salaries for full-time workers, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
That translates into a woman having to work about four more months per year to make the same annual salary as a man, points out Nadine Gordon Lee, CPA, and co-author of “Personal Financial Planning for Executives and Entrepreneurs: The Path to Financial Peace of Mind.”
Meanwhile, the average American woman is expected to live about five years longer than the average man (81.3 years vs. 76.3 years), according to the Kaiser Family Foundation.
“Greater longevity is one of many reasons women aged 75 and older are almost twice as likely to live in poverty versus men of the same age,” said Gordon Lee. “Of course, one of the biggest financial risks as we age is the cost of healthcare.”
For all of these reasons, it can be argued that a woman might need a slightly different investment approach than a man, in order to create a suitable safety net for their particular reality.
Don’t Leave Too Much in Savings
Stephanie Genkin, a Brooklyn-based certified financial planner, regularly hosts workshops focused on women and investing, and also works one-on-one with many single, professional women.
Investing, says Genkin, is a critical component to a woman’s financial future, but many smart women are afraid to get involved because they don’t fully understand risk.
“Very often when I do a first-time review with a woman, I see too much money sitting in cash in a savings account earning next to nothing. Women are often good savers, but it’s not helping them reach their long-term financial goals,” says Genkin.
In fact, she says, the only asset that’s guaranteed to lose money over the long term is cash.
“You think it’s safe but it’s losing to inflation year after year,” continues Genkin. “Your money for the future is rotting in the bank if you aren’t focused on investing.”
Examine Your Stocks-to-Bond Ratio
Take a good long look at your retirement account, whether it’s a 401(k), an IRA, or some other investment vehicle. Is the lion’s share of money sitting in stable value funds? Money markets? Or other low-growth or no-growth assets?
It may be time to shift that asset allocation, says Genkin.
“Many women were spooked by the financial crisis 10 years ago and they got the wrong message about investing. Others are put off by investing jargon and don’t know what they are supposed to do,” said Genkin. “The risk isn’t losing all of your money, especially if you’re well diversified — it’s actually outliving your money.”
In terms of your stocks-to-bond ratio, the rule of thumb is the more time you have until you need the money, the more stock-heavy your investment portfolio should ideally be, said Genkin.
Stocks are the growth engine. They’re volatile in the short run, but provide more growth opportunity in the long run, she added. If you have 15 or more years left in your investing timeline, make sure your investment portfolio isn’t too conservative.
Allison Alexander, of Illinois-based Savant Capital Management, echoes Genkin’s sentiments on this front.
“Worried about preserving their assets, women often invest too timidly,” said Alexander. “No matter what your age, keep a portion of your investments in stocks. Every person’s situation is unique, and in order to keep up with inflation and grow your wealth, it is important to participate in the stock market.”
Maximize the Power of Compounding Returns
Because women typically live longer, it’s imperative to maximize returns for the future by starting an investment program today and allowing compounding to work its magic.
“To truly appreciate the power of compounding returns, buy shares of stable companies that pay dividends and enroll into a dividend reinvestment plan offered through a company or a dividend purchase plan offered through your brokerage or bank,” advises Victor Chiu, author of “Wall Street Kitchen: The Recipe Behind a Housewife’s 1,000% Stock Return.”
Several sectors can offer relative stability when pursuing this approach, suggests Chiu, including the financial industry (think: banks and life insurance companies); utilities (electric and telecom companies), and infrastructure, such as railways and airplane manufacturers. Chiu also suggests looking at technology companies and food and beverage producers.
Diversify with International Exposure
Over the long term, international and emerging markets offer better potential growth rates, making them a good option for women, suggests Katie Vercio, certified financial planner with Evergreen Gavekal.
“Investors as a whole can be very focused on short-term results, such as how the investment performs within a six- to 12-month time span. I think international markets have a lot of growth potential over the next five to 10 years,” said Vercio. “Thinking long-term for women is particularly important as we are expected to have a very long horizon based on our average life expectancy.”
Investing for Social Impact
Not only should women adjust their retirement portfolios to reflect their longer lifespans — women often want their investments to reflect their values as well, says Ellen Remmer, creator of Invest for Better, a platform designed to help women use their money for social impact.
“What we know is that study after study has shown that women want to invest with their values, and they care about the purpose of the money in the context of meeting their financial security,” says Remmer.
However, because of time poverty, women simply do not spend as much time focused on investing as men do. A recent Fidelity study found that only 18% of women are the primary decision makers in relationships when it comes to long-term retirement and investment planning.
Remmer says social impact investing offers women an avenue to truly connect with their money in a way that has meaning for them, motivating them to become more actively involved.
“I don’t have research on this, but my experience was that when I started participating in responsible and impact investing, I found investing so much more engaging because it had so much more meaning,” continued Remmer. “It wasn’t just a bunch of numbers. I was helping to create better paying jobs or create a new technology, or improve the circular economy in terms of food waste.”
Women, says Remmer, have the power to unleash meaningful social change through their investment choices and need to bring their values to the fore of financial decision-making, much as their leadership drives commerce, politics, activism, and culture.
The Case for Ignoring Gender
There are plenty of financial advisors who point out that investment decisions should not vary based on gender. Rather, decisions should be based on one’s unique life circumstances and finances. It’s a valid point, one worth noting.
“Women on average live a few years longer than men, but all things being equal—hardly a reason to create different financial strategies,” said Len Hayduchok, a certified financial planner with New Jersey-based Dedicated Financial Services.
The bigger issue, said Hayduchok, is the different views tied to risk taking. Men tend to be more willing to take risks associated with investment.
Vercio, of Evergreen Gavekal, offers a similar analysis. “I don’t think that men and women need to invest differently to achieve their goals, but I think that many women have biases to overcome that can hinder their financial success,” she explained. “One of the biggest things that I see is that women are not comfortable investing, so they often avoid it all together.”
Women, continued Vercio, can be extremely fearful of making the wrong investment, and tend to be more focused on short-term results.
“Many women suffer from a lack of confidence, and in my experience, the only way to become more comfortable is to take action,” she said. “My advice is to do some research, start small, and think long-term.”
Read more:
- Don’t Let These Fears Stop You From Investing
- Seven Retirement Roadblocks for Women, and How to Get Around Them
- I’m a Financial Planner — Here’s How I Invest My Own Money
The post Should Women Be Investing Differently Than Men? appeared first on The Simple Dollar.
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