Financial Education for Colorado Educators (and those they love). Absolutely Free.
The Colorado Sun ran an article titled "As retiree pensions shrank, Colorado PERA paid its staff millions of dollars in bonuses". This article has lots of good and relevant information in it, and this is a legitimate topic to debate. But I was disappointed in some of the things the article left out. There are … Continue reading Is PERA Paying Its Investment Staff Too Much?
One of the things I try to stress in my financial literacy class for educators is the difference between savings and investments. Savings is more for the short-term, to deal with the expected expenses that arise. Investments are longer term, for longer-term goals (perhaps purchasing a house, paying for a college education, or retiring). Early … Continue reading Cash Isn’t Trash (But It Also Isn’t Investing)
A topic that comes up fairly frequently in discussions (both in person and in my financial literacy class for educators) is when does it no longer makes sense to spend money to repair your existing car and instead purchase a new (or new-to-you) car. In the vast majority of these conversions a phrase similar to … Continue reading Should You Repair Your Car Or Get A New One?
Last year I suggested PERA-related legislation that eventually turned into HB26-1026 and became law. I am now reaching out to my Colorado representative and the other two co-sponsors of that bill with a new PERA-related proposal. Here is the email I sent to those legislators. If you think this is a good idea, please consider … Continue reading New Proposal for Colorado Legislation: PERA 457b Auto-Enroll and Auto-Escalate
I've written previously about Colorado HB26-1026 and am happy to share that the legislature passed it and the Governor has now signed it. This bill has three provisions. New Option for Purchasing PERA Service Credit: PERA members have previously been able purchase up to 5 years of nonqualified service credit, but they had to have … Continue reading Great News! Colorado HB26-1026: Expanding Plan Options for PERA is Signed Into Law
I've written multiple times about the advantages of using 529 plans to save for post-secondary education. In this post I want to look at a front-loading strategy for 529 plans, both in terms of a practical way to approach this and as a somewhat philosophical way to frame the results. For this example I'll use … Continue reading Front-Loading a 529 Plan: Two Examples