Local financial experts share some advice on saving, investing
Page 4 • Wednesday, November 16, 2016 • The Hammonton Gazette
MONEY, from Page 1
ing their first full-time job may not be able
to fight their urges to splurge.
“I think every financial decision you
make, you really have to ask yourself: ‘is it
really necessary for me? Is it a want?’ We
talk about wants versus needs. You might
want something; you might want a new pair
of shoes, but do you really need that new pair
of shoes? If your shoes are falling apart, you
need a pair of shoes,” Financial Advisor Sam
Rodio Jr. said.
While discipline is key when learning how
to manage money, it’s also crucial to know
when to spend some time and money on oneself.
“I want people to take vacations. For me,
that’s an important part of family—of life—
is going away with my family … Nothing is
more upsetting to me than the older clients
that come in and are like ‘I wish I had done
more with my money. I wish I had spent
more time with my family.’ No one comes in
and says, ‘Man, I wish I had spent more time
at work,” Financial Planner with Edward
Jones in Hammonton Benjamin J. Ott said.
Like most financial advisors, Ott helps his
clients budget for every aspect of their financial lives, from vacation, to investments, retirement and more. Unfortunately, many
young people may have the burden of student loan debt hanging over their heads
when trying to save and invest their money.
However, it’s crucial to “pay yourself first”
and start putting money away early and
often, no matter how much.
“You get your paycheck every
week or every pay period. First
thing now, try to set up a direct deposit to your bank if possible. ‘If
the money never gets in your
hands, you’ll never miss it,’ is the
way we try to think about it. So, if
you make X amount a week and
you take out 10 or 15 percent right
away, it goes into a designated savings account. That’s a very big advantage starting out,” Rodio said.
Since savings is a very gradual
process that is often more difficult
to do with the more debt and bills
someone accumulates over time,
it’s imperative to start saving as
early in life as possible.
“Start now. At the end of the day,
no matter what you end up doing,
start it today. If you have to go put
a nickel in a jar, do that … Time is
on your side and if you start now, it
can end up being a lot of money because you have so many years of
compound interest ahead of you
where you can earn money on top
of money,” Ott said.
Even if student loan debt is a factor in someone’s financial plan, Ott
assures his clients there are far
worse types of debt to have due to
current interest rates on student
loans.
“You do have to chip away at it,
but it’s by far not the worst thing
because the interest rates are low,
and a lot of times, some of the interest can be tax deductible,” Ott
said.
While often the last thing on the
minds of recent college graduates,
saving for retirement is a large part
of the financial plan. Full-time employees are often eligible for a
401(k) match program where their
employer will match whatever contribution is made to the retirement
fund. Financial advisors and accountants alike agree that any employee not taking advantage of such
a program is doing themselves a severe financial disservice.
“I want you to put a little away
for retirement, especially if there’s
a match. If you work for a place
where there’s some sort of corporate 401(k) match or some incentive for you to save for retirement,
that’s free money that we’re giving
up. Most places you go, you save a
dollar, the company’s going to put
in a dollar on top of you and that’s
100 percent return on your money.
You have to do that,” Ott said.
“I think the key is: anything is
better than nothing once you get
started,” Certified Public Accountant with Alloy, Silverstein, Shapiro,
Adams, Mulford, Cicalese, Wilson & Co. in
Hammonton Kelly Raso said.
Raso said she believes the topic of money
management is an “educational process” and
that there’s a deficiency in the level of education regarding the subject being taught to
today’s youth.
“I do not think young people are being
guided enough. Actually, my own children
have said to me that the basic things like this,
they wish they would teach something like
this in school—just like the basics of money
management and planning ... I do think it’s
a problem,” Raso said.
It’s important that people invest their
money somewhere and aren’t overly conservative but not until they build up a stable
savings.
“We don’t believe anybody should be investing any money at all until they learn how
to save money,” Financial Advisor Bruce
Gandolfi said.
Investing can be the most intimidating
stage of the financial planning process, and
when people do decide to start investing,
they often want to be overly cautious. However, Ott says he believes the goal, no matter
what, is to put your money in the areas that
will generate the best return.
“Being too conservative when you’re in
your 20s and 30s is a huge long-term detriment. You have 50-plus years of earning
power ahead of you, and if you sit there and
sock it under your mattress and make nothing on it, you just made the hill a lot steeper
… You have to invest in something, some-
thing that’s going to make you a return,” Ott
said.
Getting started with investing isn’t always
challenging or expensive. To start an investment account, such as an IRA, sometimes
only a minimum of $1,000 is required, ac-
cording to Raso.
Unlike money, additional time can’t be
earned. So, whatever the financial plan is, it’s
important to start as early as possible, stay
disciplined and take chances whe