A little bit of info on Jean: "Starting her career in 1986 at Working Woman, Chatzky rose from editorial assistant to assistant editor. In 1989 she left journalism and joined the equity research department of Dean Witter Reynolds, returning to journalism two years later as a reporter/researcher at Forbes. She moved to the Dow Jones/Hearst start-up SmartMoney in 1992, rising from staff writer to senior editor. After a five-year run, Chatzky joined Money Magazine in 1998.
Chatzky has appeared on Oprah, Live With Regis and Kelly, The View and other programs. She has written for Parents, Seventeen, Cosmopolitan, was a staff writer for SmartMoney and a fact checker for Forbes.
Chatzky is also the financial editor for NBC’s Today Show, a contributing editor for More Magazine, a columnist for the New York Daily News. Jean also maintains a daily blog on her website, www.jeanchatzky.com."
So all of the interns got to meet with Jean this past Thursday! She spoke about financial living and then opened it up to any questions we had. To live financially savvy in today's world, Jean advised us to 1. have a decent living, 2. spend less than we are making, 3. invest, and 4. protect ourselves. Here are just a few facts from each topic she discussed with us.
A decent living is one that is enough to pay the bills, provide for ourselves, enjoy our friends, and maybe even a vacation. She said the fastest way to this is to find what we are passionate about. Too many people find a job for money, or a career to advance. Jean urged us to find our calling--what it is that makes us feel good.
Spending less than you're making is all about saving. Her simple lesson was to save 10% of every pay check. If it is too hard to save, have the bank do it directly for you! "Saving money doesn't feel good, but having saved money does!"
"Investing" was all about learning to save and invest. The main topic we discussed was 401K and retirement plans. She challenged us to talk with our employers about their plans and really take advantage of it. Many companies are matching what their employees put away (up to about 6%) and Jean said that was phenomenal! Start investing!
Jean's last topic was on protection. She talked about all kinds of insurance and the benefits of the different kinds. If we don't have any, we need to find insurance, and she suggested visiting ehealthinsurance.com to learn about our options.
Jean's money breakdown is as follows:
35% Housing
15% Transportation
10% Savings
15% Debt
25% Life
If one takes more than the given percentage, we should be able to adjust the amounts to make them work for us. Sometimes it takes a little bit of sacrifice, but this break down should keep everyone on track when it comes to money.
A few sites to check out that Jean Chatzky suggested were:
mint.com
annualcreditreport.com
checkingfinder.com
creditkarma.com
A few tidbits of wisdom from Jean...She wanted us to be optimistic and resistant. She told us to be more present in our lives and to use our money for experiences rather than on things. She also clarified that money brings independence and freedom, not happiness.
After this workshop, we were all ready to save our money!! Jean helped us dive right into this with a few of her financial tools--she brought us gifts to help us on our way! I received a receipt/bill organizer and a checklist notepad!
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