We all have financial fears. I was reminded of this as I read a guest post by Ashley at Wide Open Wallet on Being Frugal. The post was excellent, outlining some of her financial fears. And it got me thinking about my own financial fears. So, here they are, and what I plan to do about it:

1. Losing a lucrative regular gig. I have one client that accounts for a little more than 1/3 of my monthly income. It’s a regular, monthly gig that is quite lucrative. I worry that some day (especially in this economy), the company will decide that getting rid of the corporate blog would be an excellent way to cut costs. In which case I will be in some serious trouble. What I plan to do about it: Look for other, small opportunities that can be leveraged into larger opportunities should the need arise. I also plan to build my emergency fund so that we can keep up with expenses for a couple months while I look for replacement income. It might also help to look at our budget and try to arrange things so that we are living on 2/3 of our income, rather than 3/4 of it.
2. Having something happen to the car. We’ve paid it off, and I really, really, really don’t want another car payment. Plus, we only have one car, so if it dies, it makes things sticky. Happily, we have relatives in town with extra vehicles. What I plan to do about it: Set some money aside for a car fund. We were doing this for a while, continuing to make the “car payment” to a savings account. But then we started putting in the yard, etc., etc. and that sort of fell off. We need to revive the practice. Also, we checked our insurance to see if there is coverage for a rental car in the case of an accident. There is.
3. My husband will have a hard time finding a job. My husband is working on his Ph.D. right now, and gets a modest stipend. I worry what will happen if he doesn’t get a job within a few months of finishing is degree. The stipend isn’t huge, but it does pay the mortgage and the car insurance. What I plan to do about it: Again, this a job for a better emergency fund and better budget planning. Also, I have encouraged him to attend conferences and make contacts so that he has a professional network in place to help him when he finishes.

What are some of your financial fears? And what are doing about them?

Tags: car insurance, finances, financial fears, job, personal-finances, yielding wealth

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It seems just about every day lately, someone is emailing me to request a link swap.

And I have to say to all of you: STOP!

I understand why you think swapping links will help you in your quest to be number one on the search engines. (It doesn’t… just read Rebecca Murtagh’s info on what makes Google’s search engine tick.)

When link swaps started, websites exchanged links with other websites that were complimentary to provide a useful resource for their own visitors. Nowadays, many webmasters will swap links with any site that will agree, or any automated link swap page. These reciprocal links are easily detected by the search algorithms and discounted as such. Trading links doesn’t show the same vote for the quality of your site as a link that isn’t reciprocated.

Then there’s another question: But folks, what’s in it for me? You get featured on a highly-ranked blog and Startup Spark gets… what? If you really want me to consider linking -or better yet - writing about you: you need to earn it.

And that takes savvy PR - not page rank - but public relations.

Tags: entrerpeneur, google, link swapping, marketing, page rank, PR, public relations, Rebecca Murtagh, SEO, small-business, website

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My mom is trying to organize and simplify her financial accounts, which I applaud. A major part of this is to finally move her orphaned 401(k)s and IRAs into one location. I recommended Vanguard, since that’s where all my IRAs are. She was okay with sticking with low-cost and passive index funds, which is Vanguard’s specialty. They are also known to be investor-oriented and have high client loyalty.

If you intend to buy individual stocks or ETFs, I wouldn’t go with Vanguard Brokerage Services because they are relatively expensive. Open an account elsewhere - check out Zecco, TradeKing, or Sharebuilder.

Make A Phone Call To Old Administrator
There are a variety of ways these rollovers can happen. They may want to know the name of the company you’re going with, and also have some various paperwork to fill out. With some companies, you can request everything be done online. Even so, I think the easiest way is to simply call them and ask them the easiest way to do it (my mom didn’t like having to deal with the old company “Why are you leaving us? You can simply rollover to an IRA here…”).

You have to ask for a “direct rollover”, because otherwise you may be subject to a 20% automatic withholding, taxes, and also penalties. If the transfer can’t be done electronically, the old company will liquidate your account and send you a paper check made out to your new company. Be sure to send the check to your new company within 60 days.

Open An Account At Vanguard
Just go to Vanguard.com, click on “Open an account” at the top-right, and follow the guide. We went with “Invest for retirement” > “Roll over a 401(k) or other employer-sponsored plan” and then “Vanguard® mutual funds”.

Choosing Initial Investments
If you don’t know what to buy yet, just choose a conservative money market fund to get started. One popular option is the Prime Money Market Fund (VMMXX). You can switch into other mutual funds later easily as there are no transaction fees.

If you have over $100,000 in assets at Vanguard, you reach their Voyager level which includes a discounted financial plan. The pitch: “Pay just $250 for a plan developed by a Certified Financial Planner™ from Vanguard—a $1,000 value.” I haven’t actually paid for this myself, so I don’t know how customized it is.

Avoiding Fees
Don’t want mom getting hit with crazy fees! Vanguard charges a $20 annual fee for each Vanguard mutual fund in which your balance is under $10,000. Again, if you are at the Voyager level ($100,000+ in total assets at Vanguard) these are all waived. After that, the easiest way to avoid this fee is to sign up for electronic delivery of documents. Most people are willing to save a potential $20-$100 a year by printing out their own statements.

So now she has a funded Vanguard IRA. Next task is to provide her some investment options which fit within her overall portfolio.