CapitalWe Financial Planning

03/28/2023

Runaway subscriptions and massive piles of paperwork? Financial clutter can cost money and add stress (I know it does for me). Take control and spruce up your financial life with this quick read.

Less clutter can make it easier to achieve your goals.

03/23/2023

Women - Does it ever feel like the financial industry ignores your concerns, without even knowing what they are? If so, this FREE guide about women’s money myths is for you. Inside, you’ll discover how to overcome the obstacles society puts in front of women.

A FREE Guide: 3 Wild Truths and 2 Worn Out Fairy Tales

03/21/2023

Do we control markets? Nope. The economy? Nope. Lawmakers? Still nope. A pandemic? Definitely nope. What do we control? Ourselves and our finances. Take control of your financial clutter in 7 easy steps. Click to learn more!

Your financial clutter needs to go. Here's why.

03/21/2023

Do you file/need to file Taxes in the US?

YOU CAN FILE TAXES FOR FREE, but NOT the way TurboTax claims.

If you were told to use TurboTax, then STOP and read this!

TurboTax sucks.
They lobby to keep taxes complicated, so that they can profit.
They use unethical practices to put you into a paid offering, even if you qualify for free filing.
Not to mention it is time consuming and annoying software.

So here are some alternatives:

If you earn less than

03/20/2023

These are the same.

But they are not the same.

And the difference is time. (or rather, inflation)

I bought the same brand at the same store, one year apart and I noticed that the box was smaller.
Even though I had paid the same $$ for it.

Turns out, companies know we will notice if they increase prices.
But we wont notice if they reduce quantities?

This is a concept called Shrinkflation.

You’ve all experienced it before, especially in India (which has a high inflation rate)

- The Aloo Tikki burger is smaller ( no we didnt just get bigger hands)
- The Hot chocolate fudge is smaller ( yes, the ice cream to fudge ratio is off)
- The Lays Magic masala is basically just air ( that is all you will get for Rs 20 these days)

This year, with high inflation in the US, the same thing is happening here.

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03/17/2023

I made ONE change to reduce a client’s taxes ~5%

It is, sadly, something the Tax preparer did not inform the client about.

But it took me less than 5 minutes to fix.

My client had their taxes done by a standard tax prep service which told them HOW MUCH they had to pay.

They never mentioned WHY they had to pay.

I was able to review their tax return and catch they that they were paying a PENALTY for underpaying the IRS.

You can also avoid the underpayment penalty if:
1) Your tax return shows you owe less than $1,000
2) You paid 90% or more of the tax that you owed for the taxable year or 100% of the tax that you owed for the year prior, whichever amount is less

In the clients case, they were withholding less taxes on their paycheck due to some stock grants from their company.

Effectively, we just went and completed a W-4 form to change their tax withholding (~5 minutes)

People often think Financial Planning is only about Investing, so I am sharing a Friday series where I talk about things we do for clients: Financial Planning Friday!

03/16/2023

When it comes to talking about money, many women feel like men take up all the air in the room. Things like modern marketing, society, and the men in their lives have convinced women that managing money is challenging and confusing. The truth is, your finances can be as simple and easy as you want. Learn more in this FREE guide!

Discover 3 wild truths and 2 worn out fairy tales

03/16/2023

These three words could change your life.

And they will make you rich, but ONLY if you use it in a very narrow context.

JUST.

KEEP.

BUYING.

Note: This is not for material possessions.

This is for income producing assets.

But what if you dont have enough money left over after expenses to invest?
Well, we just need to flip that habit on its head!

Set your AUTOMATED transfers in the following order to save 15%:

Method 1: Waterfall method
- Set your paycheck to come into your savings account
- Transfer 10% immediately to investments
- Transfer 85% to your checking account from the savings account.
- Use all the money in your checking account for monthly expenses.

Method 2: Hub and spoke Model
- Set your 401k to come out of your paycheck
- Set your paycheck to come into your checking account
- Transfer 5% immediately to a brokerage account
- Transfer 5% percentage to a Roth IRA
- Transfer 5% percentage to a savings account
- Transfer 15% into a secondary checking account for discretionary expenses
- Use all the money in your primary checking account for monthly expenses.

It takes 10 minutes to automate and you literally never have to think about it again.

How do you manage your money? Waterfall or hub-and—spoke?

03/15/2023

Marriage is a $250,000 mistake.

And it one of the most expensive mistakes you can make.

Even if you get married in India.

The BIG FAT Indian wedding is a reality for many people whether they agree with it or not.
I am NOT saying that expensive wedding = Bad.
I just think Putting your entire savings towards one special day = BAD.

Each $10,000 that you invest at 31 years old will be worth $255,477 assuming the historical return of 10%.
(Even assuming a nominal return rate of 7% it is ~$100,000)

The memories you make on this day are for life.
But it does not mean you have to stretch yourself financially for the wedding, especially since an average wedding in the both the US and India cost roughly about $30,000.

The worst part?
Weddings WILL go over budget.

Which means you will need to take out a loan, OVER AND ABOVE your savings.

So make sure you can REALLY justify the costs to yourself.

How much did you spend/ do you plan to spend on your wedding?
Was the cost worth it?

03/14/2023

Friends and clients in [LOCATION]! There’s plenty of uncertainty to go around this month, but there’s a lot we can do to spruce up what’s in our control: our finances. Here are 7 surprisingly simple things we can do to *spring clean* our finances.

Say goodbye to financial clutter & hello to clarity.

03/14/2023

There is a fear that Charles Schwab might go out of business

And people are worried because their investments are held at Schwab.

That is billions of $ of life savings.

But what would ACTUALLY happen?

Most brokerages tend to carry SIPC insurance insurance so your money is safe…
Sort Of.

Here are some scenarios:
1) The brokerage will get bought out by a different brokerage. e.g. HSBC bought SVB Europe for $1 after the bank failed on Friday. Similarly, a healthy company can just buy that arm of the business and your accounts would transfer in kind to the new brokerage.

2) If you had

03/13/2023

I spent a lot of money going out.

And it was affecting my budget.

Meeting friends at a bar for a drink to hang out.
Eating out to catch up with friends.
Going out on weekends.

I realized loved experiences but it was hurting my pocket.
And then I realized there is ONE way to fix it:

Identify WHY you are doing the things you are going out, and think of alternate solutions.

Here are a couple of ways of achieve them.

1) You want the ambience of going out:
- Drink only Water at the restaurant.
- Eat at home before you go.

2) You want the company of your friends:
- You can host at your home or meet at a public place.
- Spending quality time is important here, how does it matter where?

3) You want to try new cocktails/food:
- You can limit your purchase to ONE item.
- You can go with friends to share “family style”.
- You can also try to cook recipes from the internet with friends at home.

4) Overall experience:
- You can go in with a pre-defined limit to the $ you will spend (each meal/ each week/ each month). e.g. only $30 for one dinner.
- Build a buffer of 20% since some places are now instituting a mandatory tip (which are not reflected in menu prices)
- Don’t be pressurized by friends to spend more money to hang out

What about spending money is important to you?