Jennifer's Compass

NECN Ask Jennifer: Credit cards

Viewer credit card questions are answered. 

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NECN Ask Jennifer: Retirement savings

Eventually, everyone must begin to save for retirement.  Tips to help you prepare for retirement.

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Do you need a virtual bookkeeper?

Business owners are in business to do what they love - and for most that doesn't include bookkeeping. Finding a solution to make keeping the books easy and fast until you're big enough to hire someone in house is a challenge. Could a virtual accounting department be a good option? What do you think?

Here's a recent article in The New York Times about just that.

http://boss.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/08/01/a-virtual-accounting-department-for-small-businesses/

 

 

 

 

The Backdoor Roth IRA for High Income Earners: A Step-by-Step How To Guide

Greetings.

I normally contribute to Roth IRA lump sum of $5K for previous year before April 15th of this year. While filling taxes (married jointly) for 2012, I realized that my wife’s and mine combined salary is at $185K which is above the limit of $183K. Could you please advise on what options I have to invest in Roth IRA. I have been doing this diligently for last 5 years and so far my returns have been at 47%. I really don’t want to miss out on the contribution.

Thanks!

via www.nerdwallet.com

Back Door Roth IRAs are worth a look if your retirement accounts are all work plans (read: 401k/403b type accounts) and your income is to high to contribute to a Roth.

NECN Ask Jennifer: Marriage and merging finances

This week's topic is on marriage and finances.

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The real reason the US labor force is shrinking: millennial women – Quartz

A big takeaway from last week’s US jobs report was that the labor participation rate fell in July. The decline hints that people who don’t find the job market favorable just stop actively looking for work, which complicates the actual unemployment rate because they are not counted. But research by the Urban Institute (pdf) finds that really isn’t the case. The labor force participation rate hasn’t been falling because of discouraged workers, but because the very people who used to look for jobs are now choosing to go to college. And most of them are female millennials.

By 2010, fewer women across all age groups—except 67 and older, where there was no change—entered the workforce, compared to the beginning of the decade. The biggest dip came from women between 18 and 22. During the same time period, men between 18 and 29 became more represented in the labor force. On the other hand, labor force exit rates for both men and women fell during the same time. So the case for discouraged workers hurting job participation rates weakens. And why are millennial women choosing to defer their entry to the workforce? The most obvious reason is education. Since 1970, the total number of female undergraduates has exceeded that of male undergrads. That difference is only widening. Thus, these findings do offer some optimism on the overall employment picture.

We welcome your comments at [email protected]. 

via qz.com

Interesting view on why there are fewer people (particularly women) looking for work right now. Hint: They're not staying home with their kids.

NECN Ask Jennifer: Social Security benefits

Social security is the focus of this week's viewer question segment.

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