Right now, there are a lot of amazing things going on in the teeny tiny world that is Budgets and Beer. Unless you hate sports or live under a rock; the Philadelphia Eagles have won Super Bowl LII. Hell Yeah! Their first league Championship since 1960; before there even was anything called a Super Bowl. Secondly, the stock market is cruising! The Dow Jones hit a record high on January 26 of 26,616.71. Wow!
So apart from a cool parade Mr. B&B’s life went pretty much right back to normal on Monday morning following the Super Bowl. And by normal, I mean right back to work at 7am. Then the market very nicely corrected itself by almost 10% since that peak which included one of, if not the largest (someone fact check me), one day drop of over 1,000 points! Damn! Nothing like the real world slapping us straight across the proverbial face and saying welcome back to reality.
Ok, enough with the doom and gloom. It’s really not all that bad. The Eagles do officially have a Super Bowl ring so all you haters can take your no ring jokes and GIFs and toss them in the trash. Also, we were probably due for a market correction sooner or later. So as Monday morning smacked me with a reality check I am going to gently do the same to all you.
It is the beginning of the new year and that is always a good time to take a look at your investments. I know what you are going to say; “But Mr. B&B it’s February and not January 1st”. Ok, your technically right but how about you pipe down and pay attention. Once or twice a year you should take a look at your investments and reallocate them as you or your financial advisor sees fit. If you find everything is going well then just checking in doesn’t hurt either. It really does not matter when you do it. First of the year, your birthday, or Saturday April 7th. All that matters is you take a look at them at least once a year. What? Why Saturday April 7th? It has nothing to do with a Saturday just being a good day to look at these things so your boss does not call you into his or her office for the 17th time for checking your investments instead of working; but maybe for a far more special almost sacred reason. No, I’m not telling you what it is go Google that shit.
Take a quick peak at your 401k or 403b account and check if you are having enough of your hard-earned paycheck deducted to get your company match? If not, here is where the digital hand of Mr. B&B is coming to smack you square in the forehead and give you a Monday morning reality check. You are leaving Free Money on the table. That’s like being at the Eagles parade and not enjoying at least one free Bud Light from the very generous Lane Johnson. Yes, just one. Don’t be a greedy SOB. Besides you’ll probably need to immediately chase that Bud Light with something far more delicious from Victory or Yards.
Most employers automatically start deducting a certain percentage of your paycheck for you at some point early in your employment. Some very nice companies even start giving you a certain percentage or dollar amount of your salary or hourly rate right away. Awww, how sweet of them. Wrong. Most of them start you under whatever percentage gets you the company match. Probably on purpose! Do not let them get away with that crap. Check in with your HR or investment management department at your company and be damn sure that, at minimum, you are investing enough to get the company match. They typically look like: the company will match “X” dollars or percent of what you are investing up to a certain percentage or dollar amount. A few examples include: $0.50 of each dollar up to a total of 6% or if you match the company’s 3% deposit they will give you an extra 2%. You are more than welcome to do all that math to make sure you are getting every dollar deposited into your 401k that you deserve but you can also take that formula straight to the department designated for your 401k and tell them to deduct enough to get the company match. They should know the exact percentage or dollar amount you need.
My Beer of the Blog is Love Stout by Yards Brewing Company. Dark and creamy this luxurious dry stout will cut through the gross aftertaste of all the free Bud Light you drank at the parade, but is low enough in alcohol that you can drink a few of them at still remember Jason Kelce’s legendary speech on the steps of the famous art museum in downtown Philly. This one if for all you Eagle’s fans out there; be proud, stay humble and for God’s sake stop climbing poles. Cheers!
Budgets and Beer 