Category: Financial Planning

Your Money Revolution Video Clip: How Mutual Fund Fees are Devouring Your Savings

October 27th, 2014 by Pamela Yellen | Leave a Comment

For the past year, I’ve been working full-time on creating a comprehensive go-at-your-own-pace coaching program designed to eliminate your biggest money worries – and let you take back control of your financial destiny.

I call it “Your Money Revolution,” and initial response to the program has been terrific.

Today I’m excited to share a 5-minute excerpt from this new program with my loyal subscribers.

I want you to be able to see for yourself how truly life changing the information, tools and strategies that I’ve packed into this program can be.

This 5-minute video excerpt deals with how the fees you’re paying in the mutual funds or ETF’s you own in a retirement or investment account may be draining far more of your account value than you realize. [Read more…] “Your Money Revolution Video Clip: How Mutual Fund Fees are Devouring Your Savings”

End Your Biggest Money Worries in 90 Days

October 21st, 2014 by Pamela Yellen | 2 Comments

The top-secret project I’ve been working on for a year is now live!

As I mentioned in my previous emails, it has the potential to completely transform your finances and end your biggest money worries in short order. It’s a culmination of ten years of research… and the result of listening to the concerns of more than 92,000 subscribers to this ezine.

I can honestly say that watching this video I’ve put together for you could end up being the single most important thing you do for your finances – bar none. And as one of my loyal subscribers and supporters, I wanted you to know about it first.

Click here to watch it now.

Here’s a few of the things you’ll discover in this video presentation: [Read more…] “End Your Biggest Money Worries in 90 Days”

Why Your Retirement Account is Missing $186,000

October 16th, 2014 by Pamela Yellen | Leave a Comment

An eye-opening Report released last month by the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College reveals that the fees charged by mutual funds and 401(k) and IRA plans will slash the value of the typical person’s account by almost 37%!

That means if your account should have been worth $500,000, you end up with only $314,000 – all because of stealth fees that are draining your hard-earned savings! That’s $186,000(!) of your money that will end up in other people’s pockets, not yours.

These money-sucking fees often apply even to funds that track stock market indexes such as the S&P 500… as well as to the “Target Date” Funds that most employers now automatically put employees’ 401(k) money into.

Listen to John Bogle, the founder and former CEO of Vanguard, who many consider to be the father of the indexed mutual fund, quoted in MarketWatch:

Question: “If you pay a hefty fee to an active manager, what happens to your potential return?” [Read more…] “Why Your Retirement Account is Missing $186,000”

Fed says most Americans “extraordinarily vulnerable” to financial setbacks

October 9th, 2014 by Pamela Yellen | Leave a Comment

A comment last week by Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen (read Is Pamela Yellen Related to Janet Yellen?) sent my inquiring mind down an investigative rabbit hole. (Update: Janet Yellen was replaced by Jerome Powell in January, 2018.)

Janet stated that the Great Recession showed that a large number of American families are “extraordinarily vulnerable” to financial setbacks because they have few financial assets to fall back on when the you-know-what hits the fan.

She cited a new study showing that an unexpected expense of just $400 would force the majority of American families to borrow money or to have to sell something to cover it.

Just $400! Yikes! What is that? A minor car or appliance repair or a small medical or dental expense?

That stat came from a survey released by the Federal Reserve this summer that was so ignored by the media that it even escaped my notice.

When I finally tracked down that Federal Reserve survey (Report on the Economic Well-Being of U.S. Households in 2013), I could see why the media wanted to keep it under wraps.

Here are a few startling revelations from this Report…

Do you feel lucky?

September 19th, 2014 by Pamela Yellen | Leave a Comment

For two years before the dot-com stock market bubble crashed, my husband Larry and I studied “stock charting” with one of the country’s top technical analysts. It’s one of the 450+ financial strategies and vehicles I’ve investigated over the last 25 years.

Stock charting looks at patterns in the charts of stocks, indexes and various market indicators to determine the best times to buy or sell, based on the knowledge that history repeats itself. (Frankly, I don’t have the patience for that kind of analysis and found it excruciatingly boring.)

History repeats itself in the stock market We owned a lot of tech stocks, and we’d check our retirement account balance every day because it was growing so fast. Some weeks we’d see such an enormous jump that we’d high-five each other shouting, “We’re rich! We’re rich!”

Yup, back then we were part of the “dumb money” – following the crowd like lemmings blindly following each other off a cliff. But I’m getting a little ahead of myself…

We were paying this analyst a good chunk of change for his coaching. Just when the dot-com bubble was peaking (as we now know with 20/20 hindsight), the analyst sent us this urgent one-sentence message: [Read more…] “Do you feel lucky?”

The Secret Connection Between Health and Wealth

September 2nd, 2014 by Pamela Yellen | Leave a Comment

Is there a connection between your physical health and your financial wealth?

Absolutely! And it’s more important than you may realize…

When you’re not in good health, you’re not as effective on the job, in your investing strategies or at home.

Often, the price we pay for inattention to the care and feeding of our bodies doesn’t become evident for years or even decades. However, when the tab finally does come due, it is often shockingly high and can instantly erase a life’s worth of careful financial planning.

Diabetes… a heart attack… cancer can all drain tens – or even hundreds – of thousands of dollars out of your pocket over time.

Other tolls, such as worry, insecurity and loss of companionship, can’t be measured in dollars.

I’ve been a “health nut” for decades – reading and learning voraciously about ways to prevent and cure illness without relying on drugs, surgery or other invasive, debilitating procedures.

What I’ve discovered is that there is a whole world of natural alternative cures that you and I weren’t being told about.

Which is why I want to introduce you today to Dr. Stephen Sinatra – the world-renowned cardiologist and nutritional expert who’s advice my family has found incredibly helpful and effective.

Cardiologist Cures Chronic Conditions… Without Drugs

Are we living in the United States of Amnesia?

August 27th, 2014 by Pamela Yellen | Leave a Comment

It was announced that more than $1 trillion has been added to the value of American equities since the stock market hit a two-month low on August 7th. Americans’ wealth has reached a record high, thanks to a surge in the value of stocks and homes.

I’m sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but here’s a news flash: You haven’t made a penny in the stock OR real estate market!

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We’ve been here before…

Just like those glowing reports about how much Americans’ wealth had ballooned prior to the last financial crash, the new reports are pure fiction. Until you sell your assets and lock in your (hopefully) gains, you have nothing more than a bunch of eye-popping numbers on paper. Those numbers repeatedly sucker many of us into believing we have real wealth and financial security when we do not. [Read more…] “Are we living in the United States of Amnesia?”

A Special Message for Women Who Want to Be Financially Independent

August 22nd, 2014 by Pamela Yellen | Leave a Comment

Best Kept Secrets of Successful Women - Financial Edge — Free Bonus Report when you subscribe to the Women’s Financial Edge

I was really excited when one of the largest consumer newsletter publishers in the world, Agora Publishing, asked me to be the Editor-In-Chief of The Women’s Financial Alliance, a new publishing franchise dedicated to helping women grow their wealth safely and enjoy a richer lifestyle.

We launched a free e-letter – The Women’s Financial Edge – at the beginning of May, and it’s being extremely well received. We’ve already been featured in USA Today, CNBC, Huffington Post, The Detroit Free Press and more.

If you haven’t already subscribed, you can do so here right now. And when you do, you’ll be able to instantly download our Bonus Report, The Best-Kept Secrets of Successful Women.

This Report contains 28 powerful, easy-to-implement strategies and tips for saving more, avoiding costly financial mistakes, saving a relationship, gaining a career advantage most men will never have, getting more done in one day than most people do in a week, losing weight effortlessly, and much more! (Get this Report instantly when you sign up to receive the Women’s Financial Edge here.)

Perhaps you’re wondering…

Do Women Really Need or Want Different Financial Advice than Men?

Good question! And one I asked myself when I was first offered the position of Editor-In-Chief of this new publication. That got me doing a lot of research, and I was surprised by what I discovered…

Pamela Yellen Named Top Personal Finance Influencer

July 21st, 2014 by Pamela Yellen | Leave a Comment

I’ve just been named one of the 30 most influential people in personal finance and wealth, and I wanted to share the exciting news with you!

Starting with a field of more than 1,000 finance experts, the study (commissioned by MoneyTips) used a rigorous process to score and rank each expert to whittle it down to a ranked list of the top 30 influencers in wealth and personal finance.

I’m ranked #19 on this list of the Top 30 social influencers impacting Americans’ financial lives.

The list was published last week on the Huffington Post, titled, What the Top 30 Personal Finance/Wealth Influencers Know That You Don’t. I was also one of a handful of the top experts quoted in the article.

I am very gratified by this acknowledgement. For the past decade I’ve devoted my life to educating people about alternatives to traditional investing and retirement planning that have enabled hundreds of thousands of people to stop using the crystal-ball-hope-and-pray method of financial planning and start knowing how good their financial future can be.

And I’ve learned several important lessons along the way – I’ll share the most important one with you in a moment.

7 Ways to Spend Less and Enjoy Life More

July 15th, 2014 by Pamela Yellen | Leave a Comment

Do you remember during the recession when it was actually trendy to cut up your charge cards and get out of debt?

Well, that fad wore off rather quickly, didn’t it?

Americans have since resorted to their free-spending ways, and now total debt in the US has hit a new all-time record.”

Over the past several years, 6-year-term loans have become the norm for financing cars, according to Experian Automotive.

And subprime loans to business have skyrocketed – at rates equal to as much as 125% per year, when the fees are included. (You read that right – 125%.)

Borrowing creates the illusion that we can afford a better lifestyle than we really can. And sooner or later, the chickens will come home to roost. It’s never pretty when that happens.