GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — The goal of our 13 ON YOUR SIDE Money Guide is help you save money and make more of it.
We are also helping you prepare for the future. 13 ON YOUR SIDE's Meredith TerHaar spoke with Grand Rapids financial professional Tami Wondergem with Equitable Advisors, who is especially passionate about helping women feel empowered with their money.
We're calling today's Money Guide "Tami's Top Tips" for women and finances.
Number 1: "Educate yourself and know your family's finances," said Tami.
No one wants to think about life altering events, but "Women who provide input in the financial decisions are so much better prepared in the case of a death of a spouse or in case a divorce occurs," explained Tami. "That's more than just replacing that paycheck...it's looking ahead at maybe a will or a trust...planning for weddings, planning for college, so many of those things you don't think about until all of a sudden you are a year or two out."
Number 2: Don't ignore investing. Know how to balance your needs with your risk tolerance.
"You know your goals and dreams, you know what is important to you in your life. Then we can sit down and figure out what you are comfortable with, what your risk tolerance is, what is the best strategy to get you where you want to be for the future," said Tami.
Number 3: Conduct a yearly review of your family finances.
"What do we have in our retirement accounts? What retirement accounts do we have? What do we have for life insurance? Where are those policies? Just knowing where that information is (is so important)," said Tami.
Number 4: Inflation is hitting all of us...what's her advice?
"The stock market over the years has gone up and down. Maybe don't check your 401K everyday...it's going to be down right now...in the past it has come back up, don't panic."
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