Category: Balance Sheet Design

If You’re Self-Employed and Have Zero Employees, You Should Set Up an Individual 401k Plan Before the End of the Year

Friday, December 12, 2014 at 1pm
By John Friedman

Financial planners and tax advisors tend to shy away from simple blanket statements. They’re far more comfortable using highly-detailed, multi-faceted statements that, while accurate, nonetheless lose something in the telling due to, ironically enough, their completeness. It’s understandable. After all, the arena in which financial planning and taxation come together […]

15-Year vs. 30-Year Mortgages (Part 2): Which is Better for You?

Tuesday, October 29, 2013 at 5pm
By John Friedman

Quick! Which would you rather have: a 30-year mortgage at 4% or a 15-year mortgage at 3.25%? I thought I knew the answer — the 15, right? — until I recently spent a good deal of time what-if’ing the numbers. And what I found surprised me.

The Heartbreak of Student Debt

Wednesday, January 30, 2013 at 1pm
By John Friedman

As a financial planner, I sometimes hear really sad stories. And sometimes I hear stories that are so . . . repugnant, let’s say . . . that I feel them in my gut and it takes my breath away and leaves a big pit in my stomach. On the […]

15-Year vs. 30-Year Mortgages (Part 1): Fun with Pix and Historic Data

Tuesday, December 18, 2012 at 11am
By John Friedman

A few days ago I wrote about the difference between tax-deferred retirement accounts and tax-paid retirement accounts, and commented about how the difference between the two is akin to a choice between instant gratification (for TDAs) and delayed gratification (for TPAs). So how about taking that same framework to mortgages? […]

Roth Accounts: The Most Underused, but Very Useful, Retirement Tool

Friday, December 14, 2012 at 12pm
By John Friedman

During the 12/12/12 concert a few nights ago I was double-screening — with the big screen tuned to one of the many networks showing the event and the little screen tuned into my own little slice of the Twitterverse. It’s always interesting to see non-music folks commenting on music. One […]

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