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Compound interest is the eighth wonder of the world. He who understands it, earns it ... he who doesn't ... pays it.someone

30-day challenges

We are pleased to continue our 30-day challenge series. Past challenges can be found here.

This month's 30-day challenge is to Check your percentages! There are two different challenges this month depending on your position in the "How to handle $" list of steps.

  1. If you're on steps 0 through 3, do the first challenge. That's you if you're:

    • Building an emergency fund
    • Paying down expensive debt (interest rate over 10%)
  2. If you're on steps 4 through 6, do the second challenge. That's you if you're:

    • Saving for retirement
    • Investing for other long-term goals
  3. If you're not sure which challenge applies best to you (e.g., not saving for retirement yet, but don't have credit card debt), feel free to pick and choose from either challenge.

  4. Bonus points: do both challenges!

First challenge

Your challenge is to pursue improving your interest rates. You've successfully completed this challenge once you've done 2 or more of the following things:

Second challenge

Your challenge is to audit your investment expenses and emergency fund. You've successfully completed this challenge once you've done 3 or more of the following things:

  • Request a fee schedule/statement from your financial advisor (if you have one).
  • Request a fee schedule/statement from the administrator of your 401(k) or other employer-sponsored retirement plan (or find out your fees by logging into your plan account).
  • Look through recent statements to see if there are any charges you don't recognize.
  • Calculate your blended expense ratio.
  • Evaluate your emergency fund and adjust it accordingly if your expenses and/or risk tolerance have changed. If you raised it, make a plan to meet your new e-fund goal sometime in the future.

The idea here is that you might uncover some expenses you didn't know you were paying, which in turn might give you a reason to make a change for the better. The impact of costs on investments can be depressing. If you find a clean slate, sleep well knowing that your money is working for you first and your investment company second. Another way to sleep well is to ensure you have enough set aside for emergencies. You may have set up your emergency fund goal and met it a number of years ago and perhaps times have changed for you. It's a great time to ensure you have an appropriate amount set aside for your expenses and risk tolerance.

More information on investment expenses:

Challenge success criteria

You've successfully completed this challenge once you've done 2 or more of the items from either the first or second challenge. You may substitute an item from the extra credit if you run out of items that apply to your financial situation.

Extra credit



Submitted February 01, 2019 at 08:09AM by AutoModerator http://bit.ly/2S1krAp

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