Comments about ‘Financial checkup may be as important as health checkup’

Open your wallet and relax. You may experience some discomfort. Actually, is this a financial or medical checkup?

Great article!
Not only families and individuals need this advice, so as our own government.

Right idea, wrong procedure. They are not yet financially secure and this plan is a plan that keeps and holds a consumer in a lifetime of debt. Investments accounts for savings or wall street gambling are "trust me promise" and financial traps this scam a counselor has convinced them to join.

Their saving accounts and security are pure fiction. There is no such thing as a savings account that divides your payroll deduction to invest it into many accounts for specific use. I have never heard of such a scam but some will believe anything. This counselor has control and the couple has nothing and will lose everything if they don't move their payroll deductions or transfers into "non investment" accounts. Then fire the adviser, banks have good accountants to track you savings and tell you how much you have.

People are so afraid of cash, they don't know how to maintain or use it. They are right to pay themselves first in payroll deduction never to be compromised or invested. Emergency funds are tax free independent tangible property (cash deposit or metals) in your possession and never invested.

I guess I don't get the math here. While I always contributed the maximum matchable amount to a 401K when I was working full time, I have started saving 10% of my income and I'm pretty sure I won't have 4 times my income by the time I'm 50.

The first key to managing your money and budgeting is to know where your money is going. If you have a gmail or hotmail account you can freely access office applications with which you can create spreadsheets to track your expenses. Make an entry for every expense w/ date, amount, budget category, and other details and sort or summarize (chart) to get a feel where things are at. Build your budget from there....