Summer Staycation

In Pre-Covid times many of us would be enjoying or planning a summer vacation. I had originally looked at this month and planned to write about summer vacations, saving for them and the importance of enjoying your money and your time. Just as summer plans have shifted, I thought I’d shift to talk about ways to enjoy the opportunities for entertainment and relaxation you can find around you.

This may be your summer to save money. Being forced to stay close to home opposed to taking the big vacation should cost less. You could use those extra funds to put towards another financial goal or take those funds and add to next year’s vacation fund for a bigger dream experience. Even if you did not have a vacation planned it is still summer and you want to take advantage of the weekends.

So what do you do? You have the time off, might be tired of being home after self isolating for months, but still want to maintain social distancing. Following are a list of places to consider exploring, maybe you’ll find a treasure close to home you have experienced before.  I am located in Western, NY so I am going to share some local experiences I have been encouraged to check out. Let me know what you find in your area! 

• State Parks - Last summer I wrote a blog “Summer In the Park” sharing information about the New York State Park system. This is still one of my favorite go to options for an easy, frugal day out surrounded by natural beauty. A quick tip to find a park near you is to use Google Maps. Zoom out and type in the search bar the type of park you’d like to find (local, county, state) and they will be marked for you. 

• Wineries - I am blessed to be in the Finger Lakes region and we have beautiful vineyards. You do not have to be a wine drinker to enjoy this, seeing the operation and following the trails to see the scenery is a fun outing. One excursion in our area is the Seneca Lake Wine Trail, mapping out a journey to follow. 

• Museums - There are going to be more restrictions on visiting indoor locations so I recommend calling ahead to see if you need to reserve a time to visit. In nice weather you can also visit outdoor museums and historical sites. Right down the road from our primary Corning office is the Corning Museum of Glass and The Rockwell Museum of Art. A little further away we really enjoy the Rochester Museum and Science Center. Outdoor sites - Again right in Corning is Heritage Village and a little further away one of my favorite destinations is the Genesee Country Village and Museum. 

• Hiking Trails - Free to explore and likely easier to avoid people! A quick google search should bring up local trail maps. Please be safe and take a hiking partner. The Finger Lakes Trail runs right through my town, there are over 1,000 miles of trails so there are many opportunities to find a small section to hike. 

Use this summer as an opportunity to explore life in a way that may be different for you. See what your area has to offer. With conditions and requirements changing regularly I do encourage you to call or visit the website of where you plan to go beforehand to be aware of any closures or requirements they may have.

This is a summer to reconnect with your local community, and remember Amy’s saying, “Life is about events, supported by your dollars and cents.”

Five Money Moves for Graduates

By  Kate Welker, CFP®

Graduation, the day you’ve worked towards for years. Once you walk across the stage (or should we say proverbial stage this year) and take that diploma a new stage of life begins. There will be many new decisions and actions ahead of you, but here are a few simple moves to take as you enter that next stage of life.

1) Keep your cost of living below your income. As your income increases it will be easy to start spending more. You might feel like you deserve to splurge after those years of living like a “poor student,” but if you try to keep that mentality for a few years you will be able to build a solid financial foundation. Housing is one of the largest expenses you will encounter so look at ways to keep this low. Consider a roommate or even moving back in with your parents for a period of time. This will allow you to spend less each month and put that money towards your financial goals.

2- Make a plan for your student loans. Take the time to research your loans and to find out the details of each. Reach out for help if this is something  that you are struggling to understand. There are resources such as Loan Buddy (https://www.loanbuddy.us/), loan counselors, or financial planners like the team at Rooted Planning Group (don’t miss out on Becky Eason’s monthly blog on this topic) to help you work through these. Making moves early on these will get you on the right payment plan. If you are able to pay more on these early and lower your principal this will lower your interest paid over time. 

3- Start an emergency savings account. Get in the habit of putting away some money from each paycheck. Check with your bank to see if you can set up an automatic transfer into a separate savings account with each deposit. I also encourage people to make this money harder to get to so it is not tempting to spend it. Even a small amount will start to add up over time and will be available in the case of an emergency (so that expense does not go on a credit card) or the start of long term savings goals.

4- Take advantage of retirement plans. If your employer offers a 401(k) enroll as soon as you are able. If your employer offers a match your first goal should be to defer as much as they will match, for example if they match the first 3% defer at least 3%. That is like free money into your retirement plan. If you don’t have an employer plan you can open your own IRA. Set up transfers into your IRA to correspond with each paycheck.

5- Track your expenses. Just tracking where your money is going will be beneficial. It will make it easier to build a budget when you are ready for that step. Getting in the habit of looking at your expenses and seeing where your money goes naturally makes you more aware of your money. There are numerous apps to track this automatically or if you like to be more hands on you can create a spreadsheet or just write it in a notebook.

While it is tempting to start bumping up your standard of living after school, slowing that process down and being disciplined with your money will help build a strong financial foundation to take you into your future. If you find ways to keep your expenses low and work towards saving and paying down debt you will be ahead of your finances, less stressed over money, and develop long term healthy money habits.

Love and Money

With Valentine’s Day right in the middle of February, we are surrounded by reminders of love and relationships. We thought this month it would be appropriate to spend some time talking about relationships and finance.

by Kate Welker, CFP®

Money consistently is listed as one of the top reasons for stress in relationships and causes for divorce. Money is one of those topics that people sometimes like to avoid, as if they don’t talk about it it won’t exist, and that just leads to more stress. Along with your Valentine’s dinner I want to encourage you to set up a money date.

Make it a real date. Mark it on the calendar, get a babysitter for the kids, put on a nice outfit. You want to be able to focus and still enjoy your time together.

Spend some time reviewing what your current status is.  Take a look at your current accounts, your assets and your debts, income and expenses, to get a “snapshot” of what your financial picture looks like. Talk about your goals to see if you are spending your money in the right areas.If you’re not, ask why. Is it debt, unnecessary spending, or something else in your lifestyle? When you talk about these things together you have a teammate to work towards your goals with. It’s easier to say no to extra spending if there are two of you on board.

Check in on your feelings about your money. Do you feel stressed over your spending, do you feel like you aren’t saving enough, maybe you have plenty each month but you don’t feel in control over where its going. Whatever it is, spend some time discussing if you are happy with your money and why or why not. 

If you decide there are changes to be made talk about what that looks like and what the next steps are.

It is extremely important to be honest, hiding financial problems leads to more stress and bigger problems. There is actually a term for this - financial infidelity. If you are hiding anything it will be extremely difficult to bring this up, but it needs to be addressed. If you are struggling with how to work through this you may want to enlist the assistance or a counselor or financial professional. 

We hope you enjoy your money dates and it encourages you to do it more often. We would love to hear from you if you try this, let us know how it went!