Welcome to Personal Finance 101. Today’s lesson comes courtesy of Jean Chatzky, a financial editor for the Today show and author of “Money Rules.” The Sacramento Bee recently scored an interview with the financially-savvy Chatzky, and the content is basically a crash course in personal finance. Chatzky talks about coming out of the recession on top, how to teach your children to handle money, and how to figure out how much you need to save for retirement. The below article is a great read, and will give you starting points for several different financial topics. Read on:
“When it comes to personal finances, Jean Chatzky is seemingly everywhere.
From TV to blogland, she dispenses smart advice as a financial editor on NBC’s “Today” show, her own website and as the author of eight books on money matters, including her newest, “Money Rules.”
Last month, she debuted as the new “financial ambassador” for AARP’s monthly magazine and its website. Following her inaugural column, “Six Smart Moves To Make in a Scary Economy,” we caught up with Chatzky by phone from New York. Here’s an excerpt:
Even though we’re told the recession is officially over, it still doesn’t feel that way for many people. Is that why you call this a “scary economy?”
If anything, what we’ve learned coming out of the recession is that it’s not an event, it’s a process.
Some of it is driven by the market’s volatility, even if you’re not an active (stock) trader. If you’ve got retirement accounts with ETFs or target date funds, the volatility is scary.”
Even if you think you know it all, I recommend giving this article a read… you just might find a tidbit of something in there that applies to you, which hadn’t occurred to you before. As Sir Mix-A-Lot would say, “Jump on it!”
