Hey Everybody!

We don’t mess around when it comes to understanding and reading about Finance.  We’ve been BURNED recently and we want to make sure our loyal friends-family and followers don’t follow the same path.  

We’ve seen many people struggle in this Herculean Economic Disaster otherwise known as the 2008-2009 Recession. (It’s really a deepening depression but you won’t get that from the Filtered American Media)

The Muscle Couple is 99.99999999999% convinced if you do these 6 things, you will maintain your footing financially and very likely position yourself well if/when the Global economy recovers.

Without further adieu:

• Make sure you are on track to saving 15x your desired annual retirement income.   This can mean different things to different people.  The best way to estimate this is your highest earned income bracket(or imagined one based on your current/potential career earnings).  So if you make 100k at the peak of your earnings career, you’ll want 1.5 Million stowed away in an investment vehicle that beats inflation.
• Ensure only 30% of any of your Credit Lines is maximally owed at any one time.  So if your Amex has a 50k Credit line, you should never owe more than $15k on the card for more than a month.  Having credit cards and lines of credit is becoming a game.  Learn how to beat the Lenders and Creditors at their own game so they don’t cancel your card or dramatically reduce your credit line.
• Your primary residence housing cost is no more than 27% of your monthly gross income.  If your mortgage is more, you’re living above your means.  In the event you lose your primary source of income ie your job, you’ve got big problems.  If you are currently in this situation, look to refinance, downsize or both.
• Ensure only 9-13% of your gross income is spent on recurring non optional debt like Auto Loans.  If you are spending more, sell your car or trade down ASAP.
• If you have children, make sure you are on track thru a 529 Plan to save a 1/3rd of the total cost of college.  A good 529 plan should be able to net you a 5% to 10% annual return.  If you continue to invest regularly over their 18 years before they enter college, you should get you close enough to finance most of their college tuition.

There are plenty of other things you can do but we figured these were the least commonly understood and ultimately the most important in your Big Picture.

Call your Financial Advisor/Investment Guru and instruct them to begin developing a plan to ensure the above 5 steps are met.  And if you have none of those people, do it yourself pronto.

You will be happier and more secure for it.

Good luck!

MIHWCS