Financial Advice

I don't really have anything exciting to post this week. Life has just been too busy to think about much other than conference papers, dissertation, and research results. I think if I tried to post any of that I would lose all 2 of my readers (thanks Mom and Dad!), so instead I'll post something that made me re-evaluate our finances. A couple of weeks ago I attended a Women's Conference at school and the keynote speaker tried to motivate the audience of women college students to TAKE CHARGE of their personal finances and plan for the future. It was an interesting talk but two statistics stuck out:
1. Over 50% of single women in the US over 65 are living on $12,000 or LESS a year. Wow. Vanessa's advice: have a retirement plan and invest early - let compounding do its magic.
2. Funds in a savings account are LOSING money to inflation. The average inflation rate is 3 to 4% a year. I checked and my "premier" savings account earns a whopping 0.6% annually. Vanessa's advice: move emergency savings to a CD and change from regular saving account to a money market account.