I’d like to learn more than just combining (or not) finances. What do I need to know about life insurance, will, adding my wife to the mortgage/car insurance/beneficiaries, etc.

Seems like there are a ton of little events that I’m not aware of or I’m forgetting.

It could fit nicely as part of a “Financial Stages of Life” as suggested by Ella.

MMA or high yield savings is good for an emergency/slush fund and index/mutual funds +401k or IRA are probably the best for retirement. What about planned expenses in 5 years? How about 10 years? What would that savings look like?

If I told a good financial planner that I wanted to buy a house in “at least 10 years”, what would s/he tell me? I could pay one to do that, but the collective advice here is more varied, less self-serving (it seems), and, well, cheaper!

I’d also like to see an article (or series of articles) tracking the life of a fictional person who starts off making, say, $20k/year in their early 20s, and works their way up to making $100k/year at the peak of their career, and then retires. So, the article would say, “When you’re making $20k, do A, B, and C. When you’re making $30k, do D, E, and F. When you’re making $50k, do G, H, and I.” This could demonstrate how to change investments and asset allocation based on your income, how much one should be saving at any given point in one’s career, etc. Everyone would fit into the timeline somewhere, so it would be applicable for all your readers.

Seriously, I know at least a couple other comments were made about financial planning for college kids, and I’d like to see something directed that way. Most people talk about planning while you’ve got a steady cash flow–what about those of us who are too loaded with course work (i.e.: Carnegie Mellon) to hold down a job after the summer? Also, is it wise to lock away my money in investments as a student, or would I be better served to simply keep it in an accessible savings account in case of emergency/whatever? Finally, I’d like something to explain, in really simple terms, some of the concepts like IRAs and mutual funds and all those terms that I (and probably most undergrads) don’t understand.

http://personal-finance-software-review.toptenreviews.com/

Index vs. Managed
General vs. Sector
Large-Cap vs. Small-Cap
Domestic vs. International
Growth vs. Value

Maybe also Financial Math 101. How does compounding work? What is an APY and an APR? Why do investment fees matter so much? (As another aside: I found this book fantastically interesting when I borrowed it from the library.)

Mutual funds, and when an index fund isn’t really an index fund. For example, ING’s misleading Index Plus funds, which invest in the index but “attempt to exclude the weakest performers”. Plenty of examples of this in the EFT marketplace too — EFTs which track constructed pseudo-indexes.

Life insurance: what is it, when you need it, how much you need, how to buy.

Wills: when you need them, how to make a will, what is and isn’t covered by a will — for example, IRAs etc with designated beneficiaries.

Also: why Kiyosaki is a dangerous idiot. The linked article is possibly the worst, most misguided, most dangerous piece of anti-investment propaganda I’ve ever read. Sorry, Rich Dad fans, but really: it’s astonishingly wrong-headed.

thanks for asking!

http://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/2006/05/23/how-compound-interest-favors-the-young/

CD

Beyond the conventional, “save 6 months salary”, where do you think GRS readers should put their money? If these items are too time-sensitive, where do you look to find up-to-date info, and what forms your choices? Rates/reliability/consistency? What takes top priority?

1. How to choose your first index fund.

When I go to different investment sites, I always get overwhelmed by how many options there are for even a limited scope like index funds. I know that diversification would be good, but to start, I can only pick one, so it’s tough to figure out which one that should be.

2. How does the selling of an index fund/stock work?

It seems that we talk about selling a stock or fund quite naturally, but whenever there’s a seller, there has to be a buyer. Who’s buying what you want to sell? When you sell, what price does the buyer go by(I’m under the impression from Michael’s video series that there are different ways of evaluating the price of a stock)?

Reviews on stock & brokerage firms. More budgeting basics and how to make your money grow. I love your ideas on how to save money, like gardens or libraries, I’d like more, more, more!

Also, links to other money blogs and sites are very usefull. Links to FREE software to help manage your money.

So, basically more investing, money management, and savings tips. Ideas on how to MAKE money without breaking the law would be good to.

Things like politics do not interest me, nor does finding an online savings account, etc., and while I am sure many folks read and enjoy those posts, I hugely appreciate that you use accurate topic titles so I can skip the ones that do not interest me.