Live Debt Free

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Online Retirement Planning [Top 5 Tools]

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Planning for retirement is an often confusing and overwhelming task. With all the various numbers and information that has to be figured, it is easy to see why anyone would get confused. However, if you want to have a comfortable retirement, you need to begin saving and planning for retirement as soon as possible, and the sooner you begin saving, the better.

Hiring a financial planner is a solid option for those wanting to plan for the most secure retirement possible; however, affording a planner isn’t a viable option for many folks. If you don’t want to or can’t afford to hire a financial planner you’ll benefit greatly from using the many online retirement planning tools available to help you plan things yourself.

A few of the best online tools available now include:

Quicken’s Retirement Planner

Costing users only $59, Quicken’s Retirement Planner is a great resource for any retirement planner on a strict budget. Although the program doesn’t produce reports as detailed as some of the more expensive programs, it does provide users with a rough number of how much will need to be saved. The program also allows users to roughly track monthly payments into their retirement accounts so that they can make sure they are keeping on track.

RetirementCalculator.com

For those planning their retirement who simply need to plug in some numbers, retirementcalculator.com is a free and easy resource to use. Simply by typing in a few figures, users are able to figure out how much they need to be saving each and every month to meet their goals. The only downside to this tool is that it only gives you a basic figure and doesn’t factor in medical costs or any future unforeseen expenses that may happen along the way. It truly is the most basic of all online retirement planning tools.

ESPlannerPlus

The ESPlannerPlus provides users with highly detailed projections of all their future investments returns. Users are also able to calculate accurate projections of their retirement spending and future insurance needs. Although it can be mildly complicated to use, it is still a great planning service as it gives such highly detailed reports, was created by 2 leading economists, and comes at an affordable price of only $199.

The Vanguard Retirement Center

The Vanguard Retirement Center is a free online resource that allows you to create an online portfolio to better manage your retirement. The online site offers plenty of free tips, reviews of stocks, and even help with taxes. This resource is great for anyone unable to afford a financial planner or not wishing to purchase a expensive online service. However, the Vanguard Retirement Center isn’t as thorough as other programs and won’t provide specific reports like other retirement services will.

WealthRuler

WealthRuler is TD AmeriTrade’s free online resource which allows users to calculate how much they need to start saving each month in order to reach their goals. For a free online resource, WealthRuler is actually quite detailed, and can provide users with a fairly accurate estimate of their monthly savings needs.

Adequately planning for retirement is important for anyone wishing to have the type of retirement they have always longed for. Extravagant trips and comfortable living don’t happen in your Golden years without proper planning. Even with the above tools it is still wise to have a financial adviser review your information just to make sure that you didn’t miss any important equations. The last thing you want to do at 65 is find out that you were improperly saving and now must put off retirement for an additional 5 years.

Money Crashers Top Personal Finance Blogs

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Cutting to the chase…

Looking for more Personal Finance blogs to read?  Check this out…

Money Crashers has developed the ultimate ranked list of the best personal finance blogs.

Introducing the Money Crashers Top Personal Finance Blogs list.  Enjoy.

For those who like details…

Up till now, similar lists have been easily finessed by simple efforts of cross-linking and targeting visiting, thus reducing the credibility of the rankings.  Enter Money Crashers.  Tired of the status quo, the MC team committed to formulating a unique algorithm that factors oodles of statistics to calculate a weighted score based on all data sourced.

For you nerds out there, here are the criteria used to assemble this balanced list:

FeedBurner subscribers, Twitter followers, Alexa rank, Compete rank, Technorati authority, Google PageRank, number of inbound links according to Yahoo, SEOmoz rank, and SEMRush organic search value, etc.

Money Crashers found that by accounting for all of these factors, they are able to compile a very accurate, continually up-to-date list of all of the top blogs.  Pretty cool stuff.

Another neat feature is that you can look at the rankings by category (e.g. Investing, Frugality, Deals & Coupons).

Introducing the Money Crashers Top Personal Finance Blogs list.  Enjoy.

How this helps you…

This list provides us with a solid list of credible resources all in one place.  Narrow the selection to your category of interest and beef up your feed reading and/or email subscription list.  I already added a few I was unaware of and I’ve been immersed in the PF blogging community for years.

Way to go MC, thanks for putting together this helpful resource.

Christian Finance Directory – For Bible Based Finance Information

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I am excited to announce that today we have officially released the all new Christian Finance Directory to the public!

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It is INCREDIBLY IMPORTANT for me to explain my intents and purposes for this directory, so please read the following brief explanation.

What This Directory IS NOT

This directory is not in any way, shape, or form intended to discount or discredit blogs & websites across the Internet that do not feature Bible or Christian oriented financial advice.  In fact there are so many excellent Personal Finance blogs and websites that I use every day that do not present their information from a Biblical perspective including but not limited to:

Hopefully you get the point.  My goal is not to offend anyone, but simply to provide niche information which a lot of people are looking for…personal finance from a biblical perspective. It is something I am very passionate about and feel a burden to share.

What This Directory IS

The goal of the Christian Finance Directory is to bring together an exhaustive collection of links to help educate and strengthen Christian’s on their journey to debt free living.  I also pray that non-Christians will use these resources to learn the great lessons & insight the Bible gives on the subject of money and stewardship.

Here is the theme verse of our directory, may God bless our efforts!

“This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein:  for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.”  Joshua 1:8

You get the point right?  I pray & trust you will understand and support our efforts.  Please let me know if you have any thoughts, questions, comments or concerns, I appreciate your visit…

So what are you waiting for???  Join today!

A Few Simple Rules

  1. Blogs who want to link to the directory have to provide a reciprocal link by way of an image in their sidebar, footer, or anywhere else on their site that links back to the directory.
  2. To be added, your website/blog needs to be written from a Christian and/or Bible perspective, after all…it is the Christian Finance Directory!

Happy linking!

DFA is passionately dedicated to helping others break the bondage of debt using biblical principles.