Some random thoughts about personal finance:

A lot of people who can't find jobs are going back to school. More education is usually good, but what happens if the take out additional student loans and still can't find a job after they complete their education. Seems that you'd need to be very sure that your chosen field will have job openings when you graduate to make this strategy smart.

Baby boomers will have a rough time in the job market. Even if the economy suddenly got much better, employers will hire the many 20-somethings that are unemployed first. Their wage requirements are lower and their medical insurance cost is lower. Boomers need to rethink the kinds of jobs they're looking for. The odds of finding a job like the one they lost are pretty low.

What would you do if gas hits $5 a gallon? Many experts think that's possible this summer. For most of us that would be a big burden on the family budget. Might be a good idea to start making changes now so that the adjustment isn't so painful later.

Wish everyone had joined us for our Twitter #DlrChat last Tuesday. One participant (@scg003twitparty) won a Kindle. Everyone who participated learned something about preparing to buy a home. The next #DlrChat will be on March 20th and will discuss retirement accounts. If you can, put 3pm Eastern on your calendar.

Finally, a reminder if you're getting a tax refund to use it wisely. Don't get a 'refund anticipation loan' (RAL). Typically you're paying an interest rate of over 100%. And, if you can apply your refund to a credit card balance you'll multiply the benefit. Kind of like the gift that keeps on giving!

Keep on Stretching those Dollars!

Gary

As many of you know, I'm a baby boomer. So it's only natural that I share many experiences and challenges with other boomers. One upcoming challenge is that I'm beginning to believe that many baby boomers will not get to retire. Not at age 62, 65 or 67. Not even at age 75. The reason is simple. Most of us simply haven't accumulated enough wealth so that we can live off of it for the balance of our lives.

I'm working on collecting the statistics and won't take your time for that here. Suffice it to say that I'm betting most boomers, if they're honest with themselves know that they haven't saved enough for retirement. Or maybe they thought that they were on the right track, but the drop in housing prices and the value of 401k plans put a hurt on their plans.

If you're a boomer how do you feel about your retirement plans? I'd love to hear what you think. As you enter or approach the 60's do you think that your plans are going well? Or are you becoming concerned that your nest egg just isn't big enough? Please shoot me an email and let me know what you're thinking.

Keep on Stretching those Dollars!

Gary

Just saw that the Federal Reserve says that they don't plan on raising interest rates until the end of 2014 (NY Times). That's going to create some challenges for folks like us who believe in savings. Probably a good topic for a future article. Finding good places to get a reasonable return on our money in this environment. I'll let you know when it's written!

Probably also means that the Fed doesn't expect the economy to take off any time soon. That they expect things to muddle along pretty much the same as they have for the last few years.

We don't have space to go into a 'what you should do now' type of piece. But, it is a good reminder that we'd all be wise to pay attention to our personal finances. Not only doing what we can to watch our expenses, but also to guard our savings, too.

Keep on Stretching those Dollars!

Gary

Learned something new (and probably irrelevant) the other day. My wife and I were heading for a conference near Cape Canaveral. We had left time for breakfast and were looking for someplace to eat. I expected to find something like Denny's or Bob Evans, but we weren't having any success. So my bride pulled out her handy phone to search for one.

After a few minutes I was surprised that she didn't have an answer for us. Her reason? Her phone was unable to find a satellite. Seemed pretty funny to me that in the place where the US started sending satellites into orbit you couldn't find one for an internet connection! Oh, well. Goes to show that the internet doesn't cover the whole globe just yet.