Carnival of Financial Planning – April 19, 2007 Edition
Welcome to the April 19, 2007 edition of the Carnival of Financial Planning. The Carnival of Financial Planning takes a long-term view of personal financial planning for individuals and families. We focus on efficient and sustainable personal financial planning practices that can lead to lifetime financial security. This edition is arranged by subject heading, so that you can browse efficiently.
We would like to call your attention to several articles:
1) In the estate planning category, you will find an article by Pushpa Sathish on the apparently low quality of Anna Nicole Smith’s estate planning: 15 Financial Lessons from the Demise of Anna Nicole Smith (Yes, I’m Serious). While preparing for one’s demise is not high on anyone’s list, do you really want leave a financial mess for your family when you die? Proper estate planning with a competent estate attorney can prevent large and small messes. Your financial affairs might not be confused as Anna Nicole’s, but if you neglect estate planning your friends and relatives may need a big broom and a lot of patience after you leave us. Furthermore, your hard earned money may not go to the people you prefer.
2) In the retirement section, Super Saver discusses the impact of inflation on personal financial planning objectives that are decades into the future: The Impact of Inflation. Super Saver provides some charts indicating the equivalent future nominal dollar income levels that are required to match current income levels, after the compounding effects of 3% or 5% annual inflation are included in the numbers. These nominal dollar numbers look very large, however that is only because most people are not very good at doing compound growth calculations in their heads. Nor should they have to extract inflation from projections, when computers can do this with such ease. If you are evaluating any future planning projections, you should always use “real dollar” values with inflation extracted. If you project your nominal assets to grow at inflationary rates, you might think you are going to be rich. You won’t think so in fifty years if a loaf of bread costs fifteen bucks, and your planning did not take that into account.
3) In the savings section, Wenchypoo hits the economics of buying food in Dollar Stretcher TNG–The Next Generation (L-O-N-G). All investing for your long-term financial planning objectives must start [...]