Don’t miss these top money and investing features:

• The real reason for the stock market’s 7% plunge shouldn’t surprise you — and it happens every time
• Here’s how FOMO could power fresh gains in the stock market
• Low-information ‘investors’ rule the stock market — at least until they lose every cent
• 3 ways the tax code ‘amplifies’ the black-white wealth gap
• How to build an investment portfolio that supports racial justice

These money and investing stories, popular with MarketWatch readers this past week, offer ideas about how to manage your financial portfolio at a time when stocks are more volatile and the fear of missing out on recent gains has introduced a wave of newcomers to Mr. Market — who has a way of making people think he’s their friend.

INVESTING NEWS TRENDS

The real reason for the stock market’s 7% plunge shouldn’t surprise you — and it happens every time

Market-timer sentiment had reached extreme bullishness, setting up a sell-off, writes Mark Hulbert.
The real reason for the stock market’s 7% plunge shouldn’t surprise you — and it happens every time

Here’s how FOMO could power fresh gains in the stock market

Desire to play catch-up could drive additional gains.
Here’s how FOMO could power fresh gains in the stock market

Low-information ‘investors’ rule the stock market — at least until they lose every cent

Robinhood and day-trading newbies already are getting their comeuppance.
Low-information ‘investors’ rule the stock market — at least until they lose every cent

It’s too easy to blame retail investors for ‘rampant speculation’

“There’s definitely a fear of missing out. That’s why people are chasing the market.”
It’s too easy to blame retail investors for ‘rampant speculation’

Barstool Sports founder believes he’s a better investor than Warren Buffett and has determined day trading is ‘the easiest game’ there is

Did we just witness “an epic signal of a blow-off top”?
Barstool Sports founder believes he’s a better investor than Warren Buffett and has determined day trading is ‘the easiest game’ there is

Here’s how the stock market tends to trade after brutal selloffs

Declines of this magnitude have historically been followed by sizable rebounds.
Here’s how the stock market tends to trade after brutal selloffs

Don’t give up on low-volatility stock strategies just yet, despite their poor recent performance

Over the long term, this approach handily beats the SP 500, with much lower volatility.
Don’t give up on low-volatility stock strategies just yet, despite their poor recent performance

American fund investors are paying half what they did two decades ago, report finds

U.S. fund investors are paying fees that are nearly half what they were two decades ago, reflecting not only investor thriftiness, but also a shift in the way Americans pay for financial products and services.
American fund investors are paying half what they did two decades ago, report finds

Investors are fleeing to bond funds and that’s good news for stocks

Favor stocks over bonds as long as current buying trends continue, writes Mark Hulbert.
Investors are fleeing to bond funds and that’s good news for stocks

Government’s cure for the coronavirus recession is worse for the global economy than the disease

Heavy debt and slow economic growth threaten stocks, bonds and currencies.
Government’s cure for the coronavirus recession is worse for the global economy than the disease

3 ways the tax code ‘amplifies’ the black-white wealth gap

Many black taxpayers aren’t in a financial position to access the tax code’s ‘special aspects.’
3 ways the tax code ‘amplifies’ the black-white wealth gap

How to use real estate investments to hedge against market volatility

Many are looking at real estate as an alternative asset class to protect their investment portfolio and boost income. Here’s what investors need to know
How to use real estate investments to hedge against market volatility

How to build an investment portfolio that supports racial justice

You may be looking at your stock portfolio and wondering: what can I do to support racial justice with my dollars? Here’s what you need to know.
How to build an investment portfolio that supports racial justice

BloombergQuint’s Big Decisions podcast gets you the insights you need to make big money decisions with confidence.

What if someone asks you to allow an algorithm-driven robo-adviser to manage your money? Chances are, you would say, “Is that a thing? Is it safe?”

Given a choice between trusting another human being and a mathematical model, most investors would choose a living person over a software programme. According to Gaurav Rastogi, founder and chief executive officer at Kuvera, this is a natural reaction despite statistical evidence that algorithms tend to outperform humans over the long term because they make fewer mistakes.

On this Big Decisions podcast, BloombergQuint spoke with Rastogi to understand the merits of robo-advisory services and the drawbacks.

Real estate investing is popular, and perhaps now more so than ever, as low mortgage rates make real estate more affordable. In fact, Americans love real estate, and a 2019 Bankrate survey showed that it was their favorite long-term investment, even beating out stocks.

Consumers have a variety of ways that they can invest in real estate, including many options beyond just becoming a landlord, although that’s a time-tested option for those who want to manage a property themselves. Plus, new business platforms also make it easier than ever to invest in real estate without having to come up with tens of thousands or more in cash.

Below are five tested methods for investing in real estate and what to watch out for.

5 best ways to invest in real estate

While many people get involved in real estate to generate a return on investment, it can also be about just simply finding a place to live. So for many, a real estate investment is their home.

1. Buy your own home

You might not normally think of your first residence as an investment, but many people do. It’s one of the best ways for you to invest in real estate, offering numerous benefits.

The first benefit is building equity in your home from your monthly payments, rather than paying rent that always seems to rise year after year. Some portion of your monthly mortgage goes into your own pocket, so to speak. However, experts remain divided on the pros and cons of owning your own home, and a home is not a buy at any price, as homebuyers of the 2000s learned.

If you’re planning to stay in an area long term, it can make sense to purchase a home because you’ll be able to lock in a monthly payment that may be as affordable as rent. Plus, banks treat owner-occupied properties more favorably, giving borrowers a lower mortgage rate and requiring a lower down payment. You may also be able to deduct interest expenses on your taxes.

Mortgage rates are now at historical lows, helping to make homes more affordable than they have been in the recent past. Unsurprisingly, then, demand has been surging.

“For owners and occupiers now is the best time to invest because they are never going to get mortgage payments this low and can get more square footage for their price point,” says Chris Franciosa, principal agent at Compass Real Estate in Delray Beach, Florida.

How you make money: Capital appreciation, building equity, potential tax break on appreciated value

2. Purchase a rental property and become a landlord

If you’re ready to step up to the next level, you might try your hand with a residential rental property such as a single-family home or a duplex. One of the bigger advantages of this kind of property is that you know the standards of the marketplace and the market may be easier to gauge, as opposed to commercial properties, such as a shopping center.

Another advantage is that it may take a lower investment to get started, for example, with a single-family house. You may be able to get into a property with $20,000 or $30,000 instead of the potentially hundreds of thousands required for a commercial property. You may be able to buy in even cheaper if you’re able to find an attractive distressed property via a foreclosure.

You’ll generally have to put up a sizable down payment to start, often as much as 30 percent of the purchase price. So that may be prohibitive if you’re just starting out and don’t have a huge bankroll yet. One way around this may be to buy a rental property in which you also live.

Another downside is that you’ll need to manage the property and make decisions as to what needs upgrading, for example. While owning property is considered a passive activity for tax purposes, it may end up being anything but passive as a landlord. And if a tenant ducks out on rent, you still have to come up with the monthly payments, lest you go into default on the loan.

Also note that real estate is relatively illiquid and usually requires a substantial brokerage fee, often 6 percent of the sale price, so you usually can’t sell immediately and without a big bite being taken out. Those are some of the bigger downsides, but landlords have other ways to mess up, too.

Historically low mortgage rates may make this avenue more affordable than in the recent past. A 1031 exchange can also help you roll your investment into a new one tax-free.

How you make money: Capital appreciation, growing rents and equity over time, 1031 tax-free exchanges

3. Consider flipping houses

House-flipping has become more of a popular avenue to investing in real estate, and it requires a keen eye for value and more operational expertise than becoming a long-term landlord. However, this path may help you realize a quicker profit than being a landlord, if you do it right.

The biggest advantage of this approach is that you can turn a profit faster than by managing your own property, but the expertise required is also higher. Typically house-flippers find undervalued properties that need to be cleaned up or even completely renovated. They make the required changes, and then charge market value for the houses, profiting on the difference between their all-in price (purchase price, rehab costs, etc.) and the sales price.

House-flippers need a sharp eye for what can be fixed at a reasonable price and the unfixable. They also need to estimate what a house can later be sold for. Miscalculate, and their profit might quickly evaporate, or worse, turn into an outright loss. Or a home might not sell quickly, and then the house-flipper is stuck paying any interest on a loan until a buyer can be found.

House-flippers may turn to non-traditional sources of funding, since they often prefer to hold houses for months, rather than years. Plus, the closing costs of a traditional mortgage are high.

House-flipping actually makes being a landlord feel like a passive activity. You’ll have to manage a crew of people doing many if not all of the repairs, and you’ll need to be the driving force in every transaction ensuring that it gets done and comes in at the budget or below. And you’ll always be searching for another deal, since you get paid only when you turn around a property.

House-flippers can also take advantage of 1031 tax-free exchanges if they roll the proceeds from one investment into another within a certain period and according to certain rules.

How you make money: Buying undervalued property and rehabbing, selling for more and repeating, 1031 tax-free exchanges

4. Buy a REIT

Unlike prior options, the next two ways to invest in real estate really are passive. Buying a REIT, or real estate investment trust, is a great option for those who want the returns of real estate with the liquidity and relative simplicity of owning a stock. And you get to collect a dividend, too.

REITs have numerous advantages over traditional real estate investing, and may make the process much easier:

• Less money needed to start, potentially only $20 or $30, depending on the stock
• No hassles managing a property (e.g., no 3 a.m. phone calls)
• Very liquid, and REIT stocks can be sold on any day the market is open
• Transaction costs are $0, as brokers have slashed commissions
• Attractive long-term returns, averaging about 12 percent from 1998 to 2018
• Regular quarterly dividends, with the best REITs growing their payout over time
• Diversification, across many properties or even across real estate sectors

However, investing in REITs is not without its own downsides. Like any stock, the price on a REIT can fluctuate as the market gyrates. So if the market declines, REIT prices may go with it. That’s less a problem for long-term investors who can ride out a dip, but if you need to sell your stock, you may not get what it’s worth at any single point in time.

If you’re buying individual REIT stocks, you’ll need to analyze them carefully, using the tools of a professional analyst. One way to avoid this downside, however, is to buy a REIT fund, which owns many REITs and thus diversifies your exposure to any one company or sector.

Investing in a REIT is a great way to start for a beginner with a little cash, but you’ll need to work at it, too, since there are still some ways to mess up a REIT investment.

How you make money: Capital appreciation, growing stream of dividends

5. Use an online real estate platform

An online real estate platform such as Fundrise or Crowdstreet can help you get into real estate on bigger commercial deals without having to plunk down hundreds of thousands or even millions on a deal. These platforms help connect developers with investors looking to fund real estate and take advantage of what can be quite attractive potential returns.

The big advantage for investors here is the potential to get a cut of a lucrative deal that they may not have been otherwise able to access. Investors may be able to take part in debt investments or equity investments, depending on the specific deal terms. These investments may pay cash distributions, and may offer the potential for returns that are uncorrelated to the economy, giving investors a way to diversify their portfolio’s exposure to market-based assets.

These platforms do have some disadvantages, though. Some may accept only accredited investors (such as individuals with a net worth of $1 million or more), so it may not be possible to even use them if you don’t already have money. Still, while some platforms may require a $25,000 minimum investment, others may let you in the door with $500.

The platforms also charge a management fee annually, often 1 percent, and they may add other fees on top of that. That may appear pricey in a world where ETFs and mutual funds may charge as little as zero percent for constructing a diversified portfolio of stocks or bonds.

While platforms may vet their investments, you’ll have to do the same, and that means you’ll need the skills to analyze the opportunity. The investments are often relatively illiquid, with only limited chances for redemption until a given project is completed. And unlike investments in a REIT or even your own rent property, once a deal is completed and your investment is returned, you may have to find another deal to keep your portfolio growing.

How you make money: Capital appreciation, dividend or interest payments

How to decide if you should invest in real estate

Does investing in real estate make sense for you? You’ll need to ask yourself what kind of investor you’re willing to be. You can make a lot of money in each kind of real estate investment, so it’s more a question of your financial position and your willingness to do what’s necessary. The type of investment should match your temperament and skills, if at all possible.

In particular, potential investors should ask themselves questions across three broad areas:

• Financial resources: Do you have the resources to invest in a given real estate investment? There are opportunities at every investment level. Do you have the resources to pay a mortgage if a tenant can’t? How much do you depend on your day job to keep the investment going?
• Willingness: Do you have the desire to act as a landlord? Are you willing to work with tenants and understand the rental laws in your area? Or would you prefer to analyze deals or investments such as REITs or those on an online platform? Do you want to meet the demands of running a house-flipping business?
• Knowledge and skills: While many investors can learn on the job, do you have special skills that make you better-suited to one type of investment than another? Can you analyze stocks and construct an attractive portfolio? Can you repair your rental property and save a bundle on paying professionals?

“If your retirement is on the line, it’s best to leave the ‘speculation’ to the experts and focus on industries that you have a deeper understanding of, so that you can easily follow the progress of your investments,” says James Richman, CEO at JJ Richman, an asset manager.

You’ll want to understand your own skills, abilities and willingness in order to assess what kind of investment fits best. And you don’t need to add real estate to your asset portfolio to do well. Many investors stick exclusively to stocks, with the goal of equaling the market’s long-term return of about 10 percent annually, and enjoy the benefits of passive investing.

Taxes on real estate investing

The taxes on real estate vary widely, depending on how you invest, but investing in real estate can offer some sizable tax advantages. Let’s run through them based on the investment type:

• Your own residence: You’ll owe annual property taxes on any owned real estate, but you may be able to deduct any interest expenses from your mortgage, depending on your specific financial situation. When you sell your residence, you can also receive $250,000 in capital gains (or $500,000 for married filing jointly) tax-free, if you’ve lived in the house for two years and two of the last five years.
• Your rental property: You’ll also owe annual property taxes here, but it’s also a cost of business as a landlord, so you can deduct that from any rental revenue, reducing any taxable gains. You can also deduct your interest expense and depreciation, reducing your taxable income still further, even as you still collect the cash flow. When you sell the investment property later, the taxes are assessed on its lower depreciated value. However, if you move the proceeds of a sale into a new house and follow the 1031 rules, you can defer the taxes on the gain.
• House-flipping: The 1031 tax-free exchange can be an important factor here in keeping taxes low, because house-flippers don’t really benefit from depreciation typically. By rolling their proceeds into their next deal and following the rules, they can keep deferring any taxes on gains — as long as they can keep finding good property deals. Otherwise they’ll owe taxes on their gains, less any costs of doing business.
• REITs: REITs offer an attractive tax profile — you won’t incur any capital gains taxes until you sell shares, and you can hold shares literally for decades and avoid the tax man. In fact, you can pass the shares on to your heirs and they won’t owe any taxes on your gains. However, any dividends that you receive are taxable that year, and much of the return from REITs over time is due to their sizable dividends, which typically do not enjoy the lower qualified dividend rates but instead are taxed at ordinary rates.
• Online real estate deals: The taxes incurred by these investments can vary depending on exactly the kind of investment you make. Some investments are technically REITs and so will be treated according to that tax setup, while others may be debt or equity investments. In general, any income such as a cash distribution from these will be taxable in the year it’s received, while any tax on capital gains will be deferred until it’s realized.

By knowing how each of these types of real estate is taxed, you can make smarter choices about how to manage any given investment and minimize the cut that goes to Uncle Sam.

Bottom line

Investors looking to get into the real estate game have a variety of options for many kinds of budget. Real estate can be an attractive investment, but investors want to be sure to match their type of investment with their willingness and ability to manage it, including time commitments.

Featured image by Busa Photography of Getty Images.

Learn more:

• How to acquire and establish a rental property
• Bankrate’s current survey of refinance rates
• How much house can you afford?

Before Wilson Muscadin and his wife got married, they shared discussions about their finances.

Muscadin knew that talking with your partner about how you each manage money is an important step in a relationship, and financial experts would generally agree with him.

But when Muscadin brought up the subject of money, it turned out that he was more comfortable talking about finances than his better half was.

“She came from a family that didn’t really discuss money, which was different from the experience that I had in my family growing up,” Muscadin, financial coach, founder at The Money Speakeasy and a certified financial education instructor, tells CNBC Select.

Below, we hear from Muscadin on his upbringing and how learning about credit cards early helped him and his wife become a stronger team.

These tips would go a long way to help you make certain critical financial decisions so that you emerge out of this crisis unscathed.

The Covid-19 pandemic has not just endangered millions of lives across the globe, but it has also started to disrupt the global economy. Countless people have lost their jobs or sources of income, while many others have been asked to take a pay cut. Economies have been pushed into a recession and markets have seen years’ worth of profits booked by the investors getting wiped off in a few days. In such a difficult situation, you need to take extreme precautions to protect both your health and your wealth from getting adversely impacted by the outbreak.

Here are a few important money management tips to help fortify your finances, so that you’re able to come out of this crisis with minimal financial damage.

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  From Chatbots to Blockchain, how technology is changing the face of personal finance

1. Maintain an adequate emergency fund

Having in place an adequate emergency fund is perhaps the most important thing to ensure during such a crisis. Your emergency fund will come to your rescue if your income gets restricted or you encounter an unanticipated crisis like a medical or a family emergency. And while “adequate” may mean different things to different people, you’ll be well-advised to ensure your emergency fund is worth at least 6 months of your expenses. You can choose to park your emergency fund in a high-interest savings account or a fixed deposit for some capital appreciation.

2. Exercise strict budgeting measures

To be able to free up more money for your essential financial commitments like building an emergency fund, paying rent, EMIs, utilities, insurance premiums, etc. during this phase, you also need to exercise strict cost-cutting measures. Now, the lockdown might have helped in cutting down certain expenses like daily commutes, and this should help in boosting your savings. So, prioritise your expenses and cut down heavily on non-essential spends.

3. Life and health insurance should also be your priority

Try your best not to compromise on adequate insurance protection at this time. If you have a term plan, ensure you pay its premiums timely to prevent any policy lapse. Your life insurance plan will come to the rescue of your dependent family members in the event of your untimely demise. Similarly, ensure you have a medical insurance plan for yourself and your dependent family members with a coverage amount of at least Rs 5 lakh to protect your money from getting drained in footing steep hospitalization bills. If you’re dependent upon your office-provided group medical plan, you might want to go for an individual plan too as the office-provided one would stop working if you lose your job.

4. Try not to discontinue your essential investments

Investments are critical to ensure you meet your life goals and safeguard your financial future. However, a few life goals are more important than others. So, if you’re going through a cash crunch, see if you could manage without discontinuing your investments that are crucial for your most important targets. The lesser important ones or those that are not aligned to any relevant financial goal can be pruned to raise cash after factoring in the cost of liquidation like exit loads are penalties. You may also pause, for example, your mutual fund SIPs if you’re going through a severe cash crunch, and restart your investments once your finances stabilize.

5. Borrow with caution

Now many of you would be tempted to take a loan during this time, but I would suggest taking a loan only if you absolutely must. Try raising cash from other sources like emergency fund and liquidation of non-essential investments first. Also, do not over-borrow and ensure you have a clear plan in place to be able to repay your loan in full on time before signing up for it. Your financial woes will only worsen if you’re unable to clear your dues.

6. Have a ‘bounce-back’ plan ready before taking a loan moratorium

If you’re unable to meet your debt commitments during this crisis, you may benefit from the RBI’s directive to lenders to give a 6-month moratorium on loan EMIs and credit card dues. However, you must understand that interest will continue to get accrued during the moratorium which could considerably increase your loan burden, especially if you’ve just begun repaying, say, a home loan. So, if you opt for this facility, ensure you have a “bounce-back” plan to repay this accumulated interest soon after the moratorium ends. Also, try not to avail the moratorium on your credit card dues as those involve interest charges in the range of 36-42% per annum.

In conclusion, crises like the one we currently find ourselves in require calm nerves and not panic-stricken decisions. I hope these tips would go a long way to help you make certain critical financial decisions so that you emerge out of this crisis unscathed.

(The author is CEO, BankBazaar.com)

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Money is a universal necessity, but how each person feels
about it, chooses to spend it (or not spend it) can be drastically different.

Those differences, known as “money mindsets” or “money
scripts,” are informed by personal histories, experiences, and family
circumstances. They play into every aspect of a person’s life—relationships,
goals, fears, careers, successes, struggles, and ultimately, higher order needs
related to meaning, purpose and legacy. That’s why they are important to
understand.       

Take for example those who lived through the Great
Depression in 1929. So many members of this generation grew up to earn a reputation for being thrifty. Even those who went on to have successful careers
and gain substantial wealth, continued to live frugally. Why? Because their
experience growing up during a period of widespread hardship and deprivation
shaped them.

COVID-19 will have a similarly profound impact on the money
mindset of the generations who experienced it, particularly on the youngest of
them. That certainly was the case with other large-scale economic disruptions such
as the tech bubble, 9/11 and the great recession of 2008-2009.

In fact, given the recent frequency of such events, there are some generations who will have the dubious distinction of having lived through all of these – and their money mindsets will likely show it. 

Read: Coronavirus put seniors in the crosshairs, how can we help them?

What is a money
script?

Research suggests that understanding our money mindset and
the history that contributes to our belief system helps facilitate financial
health and leads to better outcomes.  

Large macroeconomic events, like depressions or the current
global pandemic, are a significant factor in shaping money scripts but there
are many other smaller factors that contribute as well – and they begin at a
very young age.

“Money scripts are typically unconscious beliefs each of
have developed concerning money and life. 
Most commonly, money scripts are formed in childhood, shaped from  both
direct and indirect messages we receive about money from our parents, other
significant people in our lives, our circumstances and society as a whole,” says Brad Klontz, Psy.D., CFP® 

In other words, it is the emotional relationship you have with money.  This is important because as most of us know all too well, our emotions often override our rational behavior when it comes to money matters. That’s why we often get that uncomfortable gut reaction to a money topic.  And it’s especially the case for women as their emotional quotient tends to be higher than that of men.     

Read: Watch out: This is the age when you should stop trading stocks

But because money tends to be a topic that is private and discussing
it is often considered taboo, exploring money mindsets and unique money scripts
can be uncomfortable. There are ways to make this
a much more natural and common conversation through wealth planning and money script storytelling.  This
begins with a deeper understanding of the client’s belief system around money
and an awareness how unconscious scripts can get in the way of healthy
financial habits.

Taking financial wellbeing beyond the numbers allows advisers to
connect a client’s financial plan with their life plan and then help them stay
on track in achieving their most important goals. 

COVID-19 impact on money scripts

The global COVID-19 pandemic of 2019-2020 will undoubtedly
go down as a pivotal time in history, but it will also likely be an influential
event in many a money script.

Business owners and their employees have been devastated
financially by the economic lockdown.  Millions
of jobs evaporated in a matter of weeks, particularly in the female-dominated
service and hospitality sectors. And daily life as we had previously known it radically changed.  

For the impressionable younger generations, the COVID-19
crisis is sure to leave a lasting impression, given the significant disruption
to college life, graduations, internships, and job prospects. Many college
grads, unable to enter the job market and launch their own lives, will also be influenced
by living back at home and witnessing constant family financial stress.  A new “scarcity of goods” mindset,
symbolized by empty grocery shelves and toilet paper hoarding, will also likely
influence how and what they buy in the future. 
    

For parents, in times of financial crisis such as this, our
reaction to financial stress and the narrative we share with our impressionable
kids can have a lasting impact.  For all
these reasons, now more than ever, we encourage clients to have healthy money
discussions with their children. Share your family history and money scripts
with them and how that plays into how you handle financial stress and make
decisions. Help them see that what they are experiencing today will certainly
shape how they view and manage money in the future. 

Angie O’Leary is head of Wealth Planning at RBC Wealth Management-U.S.           

RBC
Wealth Management, a division of RBC Capital Markets, LLC, Member
NYSE/FINRA/SIPC.

Dennis the Menace and the Bash Street Kids could soon be teaching primary children how to manage their pocket money, thanks to an educational tie-up involving the Bank of England and Beano comics.

A 12-lesson course on financial literacy, called Money and Me, will be introduced to English, Scottish and Welsh school curriculums from July, teaching children between the ages of five and 11 the basics of money and how the economy works.

The lessons, a collaboration between the Beano, the Bank and Tes – formerly known as the Times Educational Supplement – will be included in the PSHE (personal, social, health and economic) curriculums.

“Financial literacy is essential for everyone,” said Andrew Bailey, governor of the Bank of England. “The Bank’s education programme is central to our role in equipping the public with sufficient financial and economic knowledge for their daily lives.

He said the Money and Me programme “will support teachers in giving young people a strong sense of the importance of economic and financial decisions from an early age”.

The Bank of England did not say how Beano characters such as Minnie the Minx and Roger the Dodger might be used to teach children about interest rates and inflation, but the Beano for Schools website offers a glimpse into how the course will look.

Its PHSE curriculum resources already include instruction from Bananaman on being brave and resilient and a course called “Understanding our emotions” fronted by Dennis the Menace.

The site has begun advertising “financial literacy lessons with the Beano gang” to schoolteachers on a page that also features a cartoon mock-up of the Bank of England’s headquarters on London’s Threadneedle Street, where it has stood since 1734.

“Beano has been engaging children for more than 80 years, and we love bringing that experience to the classroom,” said Beano Studios’ chief executive, Emma Scott.

“Our Beano for Schools programme translates complex topics into entertaining and engaging content for both kids and teachers and we’ve had fun producing these unique financial literacy lessons so kids can enjoy learning about money and gain necessary life skills.”

The programme’s introduction to the curriculum comes after years of concern about a lack of personal finance teaching in schools.

A 2017 study, The Ticking Time Bomb of Generational Debt, found young people were under pressure to rack up debt to buy gadgets and appear rich. The same study found that efforts to teach children about managing money had stalled, with many schools side-stepping changes to the national curriculum, made in 2014, to include financial education.

In 2018, the Bank launched a resource for secondary school children called econoME, which it said has been downloaded by nearly 2000 schools.

Image source

Money can make your head spin, literally. In the hustle and bustle of life, managing your money is no less than a task. Planning for your future is a must-do task that every individual should think. Pretty much any financial activity or decision that you take will affect the overall financial health. That is why it becomes imperative to be both smart and mindful in how you manage personal finances. Try to do the math and understand where your expenses and income lie on the radar. Once you have established these specific facts, making a budget, and working through it will be a breeze. 

As long as you spend wisely, you will be in good hands and make things work out correctly. That is not very tough and can work through. Here are five tips that can help you in managing your money in a better way. 

1. Cut Expenses 

The secret to managing personal finances in the best way possible is too cut down your expenses. Do you need that new smart TV or your old one to work fine for a couple of months? Think wisely and see that which costs amongst your finances are merely a want rather than a need. After you have identified them, you can then eliminate them or put them on hold for a more extended period. This way, you can give attention to the more crucial things at hand. Try to go for a less expensive and cheaper variation for a household item, as this can help you in cutting all kinds of costs down.

2. Plan Ahead

Making a plan is not only a smart move but also a beneficial one. Think about the future always. Many things like a college education, health plans, and many other things must also design when you have a family. The one thing you certainly must do is with the help of US Health Insurance Plans; you can secure any kind of medical difficulties. With the state of the world, health insurance should be a priority in your plans. That really can make your finances much more flexible and adaptable for the future. Having some concrete financial plans for the future is a great way to build a soft landing for any crises. 

3. Border Credit Card Purchases

Swipe it and buy it. This era of credit cards has made things so much more comfortable. However, they have increased the financial strain by massive amounts. When you are buying through a credit card, you often do not have control of your purchases. Your purchases are stacked against credit and can blur the lines. You may go a bit overboard without even realizing it. The main problem comes when you get the bill of credit card purchases at the end. Sometimes when you buy impulsively, you might not realize the extent of the expenditure that you are doing. That can put a significant strain on your finances, and managing them can be hard. Make sure that you are mindful of your credit card use. 

4. Track Your Expenditure 

Small purchases can quickly add up and turn into something big. Before you know it, you might go way beyond your budget. The best way to curb that is by keeping track of whatever you spend. From utilities to groceries, all expenditures that you do must record and track. So that you are aware of how much money is getting paid. Tracking your daily expenses can be very beneficial as it can help you manage the finances of each week, which can balance out the whole month with ease. This way, you can check and see the exact area where you might be going a little overboard with your spending. You can then rectify it without any issue. 

5. Set Aside Savings 

Savings are the most excellent way to make sure that your finances have managed through and through. The reason for this is that in an emergency, your savings are the only things that can help you overcome any situation that may occur. Anything can happen, so the best way is to make sure that you end up saving some amount from your expenditure each month. This amount can put in a separate account, and over time, it will accumulate. That is a great tip that can go a long way if used wisely and appropriately.

Conclusion 

To sum it up, managing finances is not an easy job. A lot of planning and careful streamlining must complete making sure that you are doing it correctly. That is like an art, and it takes time and patience to master it fully. Just follow the five tips mentioned above, and surely you will see a massive change in the way your finances are shaping out.

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CHICAGO, June 09, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — M1 Finance, the automated money management platform that offers investing, borrowing, and banking products, today announced their $33 million Series B funding round.

The round was led by Left Lane Capital, a New York-based growth equity firm focused on high-growth consumer internet and technology businesses. Jump Capital and Clocktower Technology Ventures also participated in the round alongside existing M1 investors.

This funding is another milestone in an already strong year for M1. In February, M1 became one of the few fintech startups to reach $1 billion in customer assets and has added more than $650M in customer deposits in 2020. With $21.5M in funding prior to this round, M1 reached the $1 billion AUM threshold faster and with far less funding than many of its fintech peers.

“Our clients are intelligent, self-directed investors building long-term, sustainable wealth. We want that to be as easy and automated as possible, while still letting our clients maintain the control they desire,” said M1 Finance founder and CEO Brian Barnes. “With M1, you can build an entire wealth strategy in only a few clicks, down to individual stocks and ETFs. We take it from there, handling all the day-to-day optimization, rebalancing, and re-investing according to your instructions so you can spend more time building strategies and less time executing them.”

“We’ve built the premier personal finance platform that combines the best of digital investing, borrowing, and banking, and have done so on relatively little funding,” Barnes added. “That is a testament to the team and culture we have here. We’re just getting started and look forward to accelerating our growth with this new funding and strong new partners.”

Before M1, self-directed investors had to use a mix of brokers, money management apps, and banks to manage different aspects of their personal finances, which increased costs and complexity.

M1 tackles that challenge by providing investors three integrated tools to build long-term wealth, meet medium-term financial needs, and manage short-term spending, all in one platform.

• M1 Invest is a free investing product that enables users to create fully customizable stock and ETF portfolios using fractional shares and advanced automation.
• M1 Borrow provides investors with an easy and flexible portfolio line of credit, with rates between 2.00% for M1 Plus subscribers and a 3.50% base rate.
• M1 Spend provides users an FDIC-insured digital checking account and a debit card, with an available 1.00% APY* and 1% cash-back on qualified purchases (with M1 Plus subscription).

“The product and team at M1 are true standouts in the fintech ecosystem,” said Dan Ahrens, Partner at Left Lane Capital. “Consumers are highly selective when choosing an investing platform. The fact that M1 has reached this scale organically, relying mostly on word-of-mouth to grow rather than paid marketing, shows the strength of M1’s product and client relationships. We are grateful to be involved with such an exceptional team and support them in their journey.”

To learn more about M1 Finance, please visit www.m1finance.com.

About Left Lane Capital

Left Lane Capital is a New York-based growth equity firm. We invest in high-growth consumer internet and technology companies that build lasting relationships with customers. Our mission is to partner with extraordinary entrepreneurs creating category-defining business that are fundamental to the human condition and spirit.

For more information, please visit www.leftlanecap.com

About M1 Finance

Award-winning M1 helps people manage and grow their money in easy, smart, automated ways – for free – on one integrated, secure platform. By combining investing, cash management, and portfolio lines of credit, M1 provides hundreds of thousands of people with choice and control over their money.

M1 was named Best Robo-Advisor for Sophisticated Investors and Best for Socially Responsible Investing by Investopedia.

For more information or to create an account, please visit www.m1finance.com.

Disclosures

M1 refers to M1 Holdings Inc., and its affiliates. M1 Holdings is a technology company offering a range of financial products and services through its wholly-owned, separate but affiliated operating subsidiaries, M1 Finance LLC and M1 Spend LLC. M1 Plus is an annual membership that confers benefits for products and services offered by M1 Finance LLC and M1 Spend LLC.

Brokerage products and services offered by M1 Finance LLC, an SEC registered broker-dealer and Member FINRA/SIPC.

Brokerage products are: Not FDIC Insured • No Bank Guarantee • May Lose Value

All investing involves risk, including the risk of losing the money you invest, and past performance does not guarantee future performance. Borrowing on margin can add to these risks, and you should learn more before borrowing. M1 does not provide investment advice, and this is not an offer or solicitation of an offer, or advice to buy or sell any security, and you are encouraged to consult your personal investment, legal, and tax advisors.

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M1 Spend checking accounts furnished by Lincoln Savings Bank, Member FDIC. M1 Visa™ Debit Card is issued by Lincoln Savings Bank, Member FDIC. 

*No minimum balance to open account. No minimum balance to obtain APY (annual percentage yield). APY valid from account opening. Fees may reduce earnings. Rates may vary.

Media Contact:
Jillian Smith
jillian@propllr.com