On today’s show we’re taking your letters, but first, we’re talking to Hannah Rounds, our favorite tax software reviewer, who gives us the lowdown on the good, bad and ugly of tax software. She’ll tell us which brands to avoid, which are her favorites, and which packages are surprising. Whether you’re willing to pay for your tax support or are looking for the best software package for free, we’ll dive into all of the brands to help make your filing season easier.
We’re happy that the government shutdown is over for now, but what if it happens again in three weeks? We’ll talk to Lacey Langford from the Mil Money Movement podcast about the fallout from the shutdown. If people are trying to duct tape together their financial picture until they receive their first paycheck after the shutdown, what do they do? We’ll discuss resources, advice, what NOT to do, and more.
Later on, we’ll throw out the Haven Life Line to Pete, who wants to know if he should invest some of his extra cash into a short-term bond fund. He has a large cash reserve, and with interest rates being very low on savings accounts, he wonders whether it’d be worth the time to spike the interest rate possibilities a little.
And don’t worry… we’ll still take some time for Doug’s trivia.
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Show Notes:
<5:07> Headlines
- Hannah Rounds
- You’ll find Hannah Round’s roundup of tax software at The College Investor.
- Lacey Langford
- You can find more from Lacey at her site, or on her Facebook page at the Military Money Expert.
Are you looking to actually learn something?
<22:52> Letters
Today we’ll dip into the mailbag and answer a few more of your letters!
- Osvaldo is interested in robo advisors. They come with diversified portfolios and automatic rebalancing for a small fee, which seems to him like a great idea for an investment platform. Is there anything Osvaldo should know before he gives the thumbs up to a robo advisor?
- Sue inherited some money in an IRA from her spouse in Fidelity funds. Sue doesn’t like how the funds are invested heavily in healthcare, and she’s lost about $10k on paper with the market downturn. Should Sue sell her funds now and move to an index fund, or wait until they recover to their original amount? She’s 33, so there’s no pressing need for retirement money right now.
- Keiko’s husband’s employer uses Vanguard as their 401k administrator. They can change their contribution amount in based on a percentage, but not in a dollar amount. They want to max out 401k, but it’s either going to be too short or go over the limit. What’s going to happen to the excess cash invested inside the 401k?
<34:36> Doug’s Trivia
- What famous Secretary of the Treasury formed the U.S. Coast Guard?
<36:45> Haven Life Line
Need life insurance? You could be insured in 20 minutes or less and build your family’s safety net for the future. Use StackingBenjamins.com/HavenLife to calculate how much you need and apply.
- With a big purchase coming out in a few years, should Pete put a small portion of his extra cash into a short-term bond fund?
Need help with your financial plan? Use this link to schedule a meeting with OG: StackingBenjamins.com/OG
Caution regarding over contributions to 401k. My employer matched 5% of contribution. If however I over contributed such that a contribution would not occur on my last paycheck(s), the employer would not be contributing on those paychecks as there was nothing to match.
Indeed! We were aware of this possibility of not getting the company match if we front-loaded the contribution so we contacted the Benefits Department. They told us that in the scenario above, they make adjustments and compensate us at the end of year according to the total amount of our year contribution. At least that’s how I understood! Just to avoid the mishaps anyhow, we just distributed the contribution more or less to end up with at least the company match for all the paycheck.