Women's Money Wisdom
Balancing careers, caregiving, and personal well-being is no small feat—especially for women who often carry the weight of multiple roles. From supporting aging parents to raising children and managing demanding careers, financial planning can easily take a back seat. But your financial future deserves attention, and we’re here to help you take charge.
Welcome to Women's Money Wisdom, the podcast designed to empower women with the knowledge and confidence to build financial security and achieve their dreams. Hosted by Melissa Joy, CFP®, founder of Pearl Planning, each weekly episode offers practical financial insights, expert guidance, and real conversations about money.
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Investment advisory services offered by Pearl Planning, a DBA of Stephens Consulting LLC., an SEC registered investment advisor. Please remember that past performance may not be indicative of future results. Different types of investments involve varying degrees of risk, and there can be no assurance that the future performance of any specific investment, investment strategy, or product (including the investments and/or investment strategies recommended or undertaken by Pearl Planning, or any non-investment related content, made reference to directly or indirectly in this Podcast will be profitable, equal any corresponding indicated historical performance level(s), be suitable for your portfolio or individual situation, or prove successful. Due to various factors, including changing market conditions and/or applicable laws, the content may no longer be reflective of current opinions or positions. Moreover, you should not assume that any discussion or information contained in this podcast serves as the receipt of, or as a substitute for, personalized investment advice from Pearl Planning. To the extent that a listener has any questions regarding the applicability of any specific issue discussed above to his/her individual situation, he/she is encouraged to consult with the professional advisor of his/her choosing. Pearl Planning is neither a law firm, nor a certified public accounting firm, and no portion of the Podcast content should be construed as legal or accounting advice. A copy of Pearl Planning’s current written disclosure Brochure discussing our advisory services and fees is available upon request or at www.pearlplan.com. Content represents the opinion of the speaker and not necessarily that of Pearl Planning.
Women's Money Wisdom
Episode 182: Turning the Back-to-School Season into a Financial Reset
What if the back-to-school season wasn't just a time of frantic shopping and schedule juggling, but also an opportunity for a financial reset? Melissa Fradenburg discusses how this transitional period can be used as a stepping stone towards financial wellness, offering insights on re-evaluating your financial status and achieving your goals. We tackle a range of topics, from checking up on your retirement savings and credit score, to rethinking your spending habits and debt payment strategies. We also dive into the subject of open enrollment, tax withholding, and how to make the most out of your work benefits. So, if the back-to-school season has you worried about your finances, tune in for some practical advice on turning this hectic time into a path towards better financial health.
Resources:
- Learn more about Melissa Fradenburg, AIF® and Pearl Planning .
- Listen to Episode 140: Making the Most of Your Employee Benefits with Melissa Joy
- Listen to Episode 167: Demystifying Credit Scores with Melissa Fradenburg
- Register for our Year-End Planning Webinar.
Links are being provided for information purposes only. The information herein is general and educational in nature and should not be considered legal or tax advice. Tax laws and regulations are complex and subject to change, which can materially impact investment results. Pearl Planning cannot guarantee that the information herein is accurate, complete, or timely. Pearl Planning makes no warranties with regard to such information or results obtained by its use and disclaims any liability arising out of your use of, or any tax position taken in reliance on, such information. Consult an attorney or tax professional regarding your specific situation. Please note, changes in tax laws or regulations may occur at any time and could substantially impact your situation. Pearl Planning financial advisors do not render advice on tax matters. You should discuss any tax matters with the appropriate professiona
The previous presentation by PEARL PLANNING was intended for general information purposes only. No portion of the presentation serves as the receipt of, or as a substitute for, personalized investment advice from PEARL PLANNING or any other investment professional of your choosing. Different types of investments involve varying degrees of risk, and it should not be assumed that future performance of any specific investment or investment strategy, or any non-investment related or planning services, discussion or content, will be profitable, be suitable for your portfolio or individual situation, or prove successful. Neither PEARL PLANNING’s investment adviser registration status, nor any amount of prior experience or success, should be construed that a certain level of results or satisfaction will be achieved if PEARL PLANNING is engaged, or continues to be engaged, to provide investment advisory services. PEARL PLANNING is neither a law firm nor accounting firm, and no portion of its services should be construed as legal or accounting advice. No portion of the video content should be construed by a client or prospective client as a guarantee that he/she will experience a certain level of results if PEARL PLANNING is engaged, or continues to be engaged, to provide investment advisory services. A copy of PEARL PLANNING’s current written disclosure Brochure discussing our advisory services and fees is available upon request or at https:...
Welcome to the 52 Pearls Weekly Money Wisdom Podcast. I'm Melissa Joy, a certified financial planner and founder of Pearl Planning, and I'm Melissa Friedenberg, financial advisor with Pearl Planning. Pearl Planning is a financial planning and investment management company located in Dexter and Gross Point, michigan. We work with clients all around the country.
Speaker 2:The purpose of our podcast is to explore specific financial topics and provide advice you can use in your everyday life. Hello and welcome to the 52 Pearls Weekly Money Wisdom Podcast. This is Melissa Friedenberg. This week has been a week for all working moms well, actually, any moms. This is like our time to be on right.
Speaker 2:So back to school. Whether it's sending your kid off to college, sending your first off to high school, like I am, or middle schooler, elementary kindergartner, I mean, there is so much work to be done. I am looking forward to back to school in the sense of my kids by mid-August. They're just like, don't know what to do with themselves. Mine have become nocturnal. They stay up all night as teenagers talking to their friends on Snapchat, I don't know what else video games or just hanging out with each other, but they're not sleeping. And then they sleep during the day and I give up. By this time, in the beginning they're doing activities and camps and by the end of summer I'm like, okay, just rest up for school. This week I registered my kids for my daughter who's starting high school. I filled out 37 online forms on Sunday 37, slightly less for my son, but when you add up the expenses of it, I mean I think it was about $1,000. And that includes a sports fee for my daughter who's playing volleyball in high school. But like everything from spirit packs to workbooks that aren't included, I guess, in the cost of books. What else did I purchase, like PTO memberships, a homecoming dance ticket in advance, just all the things.
Speaker 2:I'm seeing some chatter in my mom's groups too that, like other people, are just blown away. Every year it comes up and it kind of shocks me. I'm not going to talk this episode necessarily about budgeting. It's kind of a hodgepodge episode. But in case you're listening and you are like me and think every year I'm going to create a sinking fund or save up in advance for this back to school stuff because it's expensive, right, my daughter just had her birthday, got her some clothes and stuff that she wanted and all of a sudden, two days after her birthday, she's sending me links for back to school stuff because this is different from birthday stuff sneakers and hoodies and all the things that she still needs. So I just want to say this is an expensive season. I, even as a financial professional, get kind of blindsided by this back to school nonsense.
Speaker 2:I am going to talk about kind of a financial reset here as we enter the fall season. I love routine and I feel like maybe in January, after the new year, everybody sets out to lose some weight and get to an exercise routine and clean up as they go around their house or other kind of goals that you may set for yourself in the new year. But for me the fall has always been a time of reset, refresh, better habits, because you kind of get out of some of those good habits in the summer when you're going on vacation or just taking it a little slower, spending time at the pool, hopefully, or beach on the weekends, and then you get back into a routine once school starts. So I personally am doing that. I thought it might be helpful to our listeners who may be thinking about getting things organized and clean up for the year after the kids go back. You may have a little bit more time after that initial hustle and bustle to look at things and make sure that the things you set out in the beginning of the year to do as far as intentions, such as retirement savings or emergency fund creation, that those things have all gotten done, because you have a few more months to figure that out before the holiday craze starts.
Speaker 2:One thing I personally am looking at is where am I at year to date with retirement savings? So what you wanna do is log into your company plan and see how much you've contributed for the year. If you are below the maximum, which for 2023 is 22,500 or 30,000, if you're over age 50 or 50 or older, and if you have not reached that yet and have some wiggle room in your budget to increase that, now's a great time to do it. Maybe it's just a question of increasing it by a percent or two. I would also just, at the very minimum, make sure that you're at least hitting that maximum for the match. So if your company matches up to 3%, maybe you're not quite there yet. You can bump that up in the last few months of the year as well.
Speaker 2:Another thing to kinda check out if you're doing a refresh would be to look at your credit score. Make sure there are no outstanding items on your credit report. It's a great time to run one, especially leading up to the holidays and making sure that all of your balances are paid off. I will link in the show notes our episode on ways to boost your credit score so you can take a listen to that one as well, if this pertains to you. Another thing would just be looking at that budget Again.
Speaker 2:I mentioned the holidays coming up. I know if you go into any store right now you're starting to see fall stuff and Halloween. My kids are talking about going to Spirit Halloween, but the holidays are just around the corner. So if you're traveling for Thanksgiving, if you have gifts that you're gonna be purchasing for friends and family for Hanukkah or Christmas, now is a good time to look at that savings. Make sure you have an emergency savings set up, but then also start putting a little bit aside extra maybe 100 or 200 a paycheck between now and the end of November, so that you have a nice balance that you could purchase these gifts from or use to purchase airline tickets to go visit family. So it doesn't necessarily sneak up at you all at once and you have to put everything on a credit card.
Speaker 2:Speaking of credit cards, I realized that some people may not be in the position to be maxing out their 401k and they may have a goal of paying off their credit card debt. So maybe think about those goals that you set for yourself to pay off debt back in January, see how you're doing and maybe up those payments to pay that down between now and the end of the year. Again, I personally just always think of fall and back to school time as sort of a back to organization. I try to clean out my coat closets, clean out my doors and kind of just do like a whole reset for the fall. So if you're feeling that way too, now is a good time to kind of look at some of these things.
Speaker 2:Another thing you can check is your benefits at work. So open enrollment is coming up. Think about health insurance. If you have the option of doing a high deductible where you can do an HSA, you may want to change that around when open enrollment happens this fall. How often have you gone to the doctor? Have you been using all the benefits that you have through work, or are there certain things that you really don't need but you just signed up for? Start thinking about those things, as now is the time when you're going to be able to make those changes. If you're not currently enrolled in your retirement plan through work, this would be a great time to do so, with open enrollment coming up as well.
Speaker 2:Another area work related would be withholding. How much have you been having come out of your paycheck for taxes. Is it enough? Did you owe money last year and not change your withholding through your employer? You don't have to wait for open enrollment to do that, but you can make up for some of that in your last couple of paychecks for the year. If you haven't been having enough taken out of your paycheck, that will go towards your taxes Again. With that, the ideal is that you break even. You don't have to write a big check and you don't get a ton back. A lot of people think of good tax years when you get a big check back, but that just means that you overpaid throughout the year. So make sure that those things are all set and cleaned up as you have a few more months here to kind of make up for anything that wasn't necessarily how it should be.
Speaker 2:And lastly, when you think about cleaning up your finances, take a look at your spending.
Speaker 2:It's your day to day budget. I don't look at it every month. I don't necessarily think that people need to, but if you've had a little bit of lifestyle creep throughout the year maybe with inflation I know my grocery bill has been off the chart Take a look at what you're spending and see if you need to adjust Some of those areas. Maybe take a little break. I personally, some of the things that get me are trips to Target and home goods and TJ Maxx, and every once in a while I just have to say I'm not going to go. It's too tempting, I'm going to take a break for a few weeks. I just not even poke my head in there because I know there's going to be some great fall candles or blankets or pillows all the things I can't control myself with. So really, just take a look at your budget, see if there's certain areas that you can cut back on to kind of lick your wounds from back to school if you've sent all of your money for all of the things.
Speaker 2:I hope that you are enjoying these last few days of summer and that you are feeling fresh and ready to start the fall on a good foot financially, as always. If you enjoyed this episode and feel there are others in your life that may also benefit from it, please do share. We love that. We are so excited that our listeners are growing and so grateful for all of you who listen every week. Thanks again for listening and I hope you're having a great day. You can access our first two seasons of this podcast on our website at wwwpearlplancom or on Spotify.
Speaker 1:If you're interested in learning more about pearl planning, feel free to sign up for our newsletter, also found on our website.
