Simple Manifesto #67: Simplify your financial life
This is part of our series on Leo Babauta’s Simple Living Manifesto. We invite you to join us on the journey.
The 67th idea in the manifesto is:
Simplify your financial life. Article from a financial planning expert here.
Financial Blues | Photo by Psyberartist
I know very little about finances outside of the standard checking, savings and credit card accounts.
Currently our financial planning involves the automatic deductions our companies take out for retirement. Perhaps its the simplest approach — auto-pilot — but I realize it’s also probably not the smartest.
However, Damien Olenslager gives some great advice about investing your age.
Damien suggests the older you are, the less risk you want to take with your investments.
And the younger you are, the more liberal you can be with your risk since you have more time to recover if your investments go south.
So if you’re 20 years old, you should invest 20% of your investment money in safe, secure funds. The other 80% should be invested in stocks. By the time you’re 31 (like myself), you should invest 31% of your money in safe funds and the other 69% in stocks.
As you age you continue to adjust the funds to stock ratio.
(Read more in Damien’s FREE e-book)
Are there other tips/pointers you have for folks like me who have simply put their financial life on auto-pilot?
Join us!
Write a blog post about the point above and then share the link in the comments below…
Have you enjoyed this post? Would you consider subscribing to our blog via 
Hey Jonathan, thanks for the mention! Your advice is spot-on. One of the simplest ways to get proper diversification between stocks (risky) and bonds (safer) is through a “target-date” account.
A target-date account is one that balances itself, depending on when you decide to retire. You just pick the plan which most closely matches your retirement year, and the account will gradually switch from risky to safe investments as you age.
Check out your 401(k) plan through your employer; many 401(k) plans offer target-date accounts. Simple and smart.
Thanks for the comment Damien. I’ll have to see if our “company” offers the target date option. Since we’re technically state employees we don’t have a traditional 401(k), however I believe my wife may, so we’ll need to check with hers as well.
Thanks again for the great advice!