Six simple steps to financial success

1. If your employer offers a 401(k) plan, use it. For a variety of reasons, it is often going to be your most attractive investment opportunity. Most employers will match a portion of your contributions, making your effective returns higher. If you contribute $1,000 to your plan, for example, and your employer matches that at 50 cents on the dollar, your contribution is actually worth $1,500. A 401(k) also offers tax advantages on contributions and investment gains. Finally, it puts your contributions on autopilot via systematic payroll deductions. That makes it less likely you'll skip contributions, and also lets you take advantage of the powerful benefits of dollar-cost averaging. (Dollar cost averaging does not ensure a profit, nor does it protect against losses in a declining market. Because dollar cost averaging involves continuous investing, investors should consider their long-term ability to continue to make purchases through periods of low price levels.)



Simply put, your regular, fixed-dollar contributions buy more shares when prices are low, and fewer when they're high.



2. Understand your investment horizon. Many people underestimate how long their retirement savings will need to last, which can lead to a host of mistakes. Some invest too conservatively, making it hard for their portfolios to keep pace with inflation. Others draw down their assets too quickly in retirement, boosting the odds that they'll run out of money in old age. The average 65-year-old in good health can expect to live about 20 more years. Your investment strategy should reflect the possibility that you will not only meet, but perhaps exceed, the life expectancy averages.



3. Don't underestimate the corrosive effects of inflation - even at low levels. At a rate of just 2 percent, inflation cuts the buying power of a dollar by a third in about 20 years. At 3 percent, it does the job in 14 years. Make sure your portfolio includes some assets, like stocks, that historically have outperformed inflation over long periods of time.



4. Diversify your investment portfolio, but understand that you will need to do more to mitigate longevity risk. Diversification is the simplest and most effective approach to managing investment risk, but is ineffective at managing many other threats to your financial security. Longevity risk, for example - the risk of outliving your savings - is best managed by pooling your risk with other investors. One way to do that is with an annuity contract issued by an insurance company. Certain annuity contracts work like old-fashioned pension plans, paying a fixed income for life. (Guarantees are backed by the financial strength and claims-paying ability of the issuing insurance company.) Some include escalation clauses that increase your payout over time to keep pace with inflation. Knowing that you have provided for your basic living expenses with an annuity can provide the reassurance you need to take a long-term perspective on stocks and other growth-oriented investments - the ones your portfolio needs to keep pace with inflation.



5. When investing in stocks, don't confuse where a company is headquartered with where it earns its money. Many people are looking to capitalize on investments in the fast-growing emerging economies of Asia, Latin America and Eastern Europe. Often, though, emerging-market companies are not fueled by growth in their own economies. Many are mining or other natural resources firms whose results are driven by global commodity prices. Rather than investing directly in emerging markets, a better alternative for many people is to invest in U.S. companies that do business globally. Many of these companies have brands that are household names in emerging markets, and some even earn more overseas than they do in the U.S. In fact, a large share of the profits of the companies in the Standard & Poor's 500 Stock Index is generated outside the U.S. Bottom line, you already enjoy substantial global diversification with U.S. stocks.



6. Don't be afraid to ask for help. The ever-expanding array of alternative investments can seem overwhelmingly complex, and may require frequent and ongoing attention. Rather than trying to do it yourself, consider working with a financial professional. Getting their advice on matters critical to your financial well-being will usually make good fiscal sense.



Editor's Note:

Insurance products issued or offered by Thrivent Financial for Lutherans, Appleton, WI. Not all products are available in all states. Securities and investment advisory services are offered through Thrivent Investment Management Inc., 625 Fourth Ave. S., Minneapolis, MN 55415, 800-847-4836, a FINRA and SIPC member and a wholly owned subsidiary of Thrivent Financial for Lutherans. Thrivent Financial representatives are registered representatives of Thrivent Investment Management Inc. They are also licensed insurance agents/producers of Thrivent Financial for Lutherans.



Deposit and lending services are offered by Thrivent Federal Credit Union, a member-owned not-for-profit financial cooperative that is federally insured by the National Credit Union Administration and doing business in accordance with the Federal Fair Lending Laws. Insurance, securities, investment advisory and trust and investment management accounts and services offered by Thrivent Financial for Lutherans or its affiliates are not deposits or obligations of Thrivent Federal Credit Union, are not guaranteed by Thrivent Federal Credit Union or any bank, are not insured by the NCUA, FDIC or any other federal government agency, and involve investment risk, including possible loss of the principal amount invested.

For additional important disclosure information, please visit Thrivent.com/disclosures.

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Six tips to liven up your laundry room

Check out these tips from Jenny, The Home Depot, Tide and Maytag for the Brilliant HE Clean campaign on how to create more efficient and enjoyable laundry rooms:



*Dealing with a dark, cave-like laundry room is a chore in and of itself. By taking off the doors on a few of your upper cabinets, you'll open up the space and create a place to store baskets. Assign baskets for every member of the house, which makes sorting a breeze.



*Why not decoupage or paint the insides of your cabinets for a fun pop of color? It's a guaranteed smile each and every time you reach for your detergent. Also don't ignore the door. Adhere some cork panels on the inside of the cabinet doors and create a space to pin all those stain removal tips.



*Don't like the cabinets, floors and countertops in your laundry room? Every surface can be painted or resurfaced. Update your laundry room with paint and a concrete overlay for less than $30 in materials. Say goodbye to the outdated linoleum, brick pavers and old, dark cabinets.



*A rolling laundry butler can be your best friend, doing triple duty with a hanging bar, a rolling basket and a drying rack. It's the perfect choice for smaller laundry rooms that haven't been updated in a few decades.



*Don't neglect your laundry room walls. Hanging interesting art and mirrors will elevate your room and make it feel less utilitarian and a little homier. Suddenly those 400 loads of laundry most of us will do this year might actually be enjoyable.



*A folding station makes all the difference. Use a slab of stone or a simple piece of painted medium-density fiberboard (MDF) on top of washer/dryer units to create a folding station that also prevent socks from slipping in between the appliances.



Learn more about the campaign and enter to win a $5,000 laundry room redesign from Jenny and a Maytag Washer and Dryer by visiting www.tideandmaytag.com.

It's high time to upgrade your faucets and toilets

When considering your home's plumbing, you might be thinking of that old adage "why fix something if it ain't broke?" But did you know that old and inefficient plumbing might actually mean that you are literally pouring your money down the drain every month? A call to your plumber might really save you money in the end if you upgrade the plumbing in your home.



When were your current plumbing fixtures installed? Did they come with the house when you bought it? Old toilets use up a lot of water with each flush, which is bad for both the environment and for your wallet. Are you putting off having that leaky faucet repaired because you just don't want to spend the money right now? The average faucet leak can waste hundreds of gallons of water per year. If it's a hot water faucet that's leaking, you are losing money both with the wasted water and with the wasted electricity or gas that is heating that water.



Or what if your problem is slow drains? You might decide to take the easy step of pouring liquid corrosives down the drain to clear out the blockage. This is actually a bad idea. The corrosive chemicals in drain cleaner will harm your sewer pipes, perhaps necessitating an extremely expensive repair in the future. In addition, the environmental impact of pouring such chemicals down the drain and into the water supply can have serious ramifications for the future of our planet.



If you've been putting off plumbing repairs or upgrades, you really might want to consider having a professional technician visit your home. Plumbers can let you know if repairs are needed or if there are upgrades available to your current plumbing that can actually save you money. There are many options, such as low flow or dual flush toilets that can help you stop wasting water and upgrade your home.



Having your new toilet installed by a plumber will ensure that your system is up to code and works efficiently and properly. A plumber can also help you to repair your leaky faucets, or assist you by installing water saving devices such as low flow faucets or aerators on your sinks. They can also help by providing professional sewer cleaning that will fix your slow drains without causing serious corrosion to the pipes in your home and damage to the environment.



These days, everyone is looking to save money where they can. By having a professional plumber inspect your pipes and see what upgrades and repairs can be done in your home, you can save yourself money on wasted water and utility bills. In addition you'll be adding to the value of one of your most important investments, your home.

Long term real estate investment success doesn't come from a recipe

When you read something here or there that you've not known of before, how do you process it? Do you review how the new info might have helped you years ago? Or maybe it would've easily helped you avoid a mistake you made years ago - one that put you on a financial treadmill to nowhere 'til you caught up. Thing is, the information age is a lethal double-edged sword. View it as a good news/bad news joke.



The good news is that you have all that info and those tons of data points at your fingertips. The bad news? See the good news..



As the title to this post suggests, success doesn't come from set recipes. We're not baking cookies from a prepackaged batch of cookie dough, when all that's required is slapping the dough down onto the baking pan, and turningthe oven on, per printed instructions. Investing requires different ingredients for different investors, even though their most important goal - retirement - may be the same as millions of others. What passes for real analysis, not to mention strategy(s) is often nothingmore than over simplified formulas applied to broadly described circumstances, which are then recognized by thousands of people who think the various strategies/recipes/formulas apply to them. Again, we're not baking cookies here. We're investing to create the most important thing there is as we grow older - after health and family - retirement income.



What happens is that a particular strategy is put forth as superior. Any strategy, when assessed in a vacuum, can deliver damaging results when applied in the rough 'n tumble of real life. Even if any particular strategy delivers positive results, so what? Could they have been better if using a competing approach? Are there distasteful long term consequences of which you're currently unaware? How would you know?



And there's the rub.



The decisions you as an investor made yesterday, make today, and will make five years from now - on what strategy(s) to employ - will literally make the difference in the quality and quantity of your income at retirement. But again, the real fly in the ointment is the reality that what worked in San Diego in 2000, would be a wish for a financial coma today. What proves wildly effective for Fred, would be foolish for Abby, even though on the surface they appear to be two peas in a financial pod. In fact, what made sense five years ago, might be the last thing to do now. There are too many crucially important factors involved in the decision making process as it relates to investment strategy to approach it as merely the catalyst to a simple recipe.



It's almost never about the 'best' strategy.



Earlier this month my 'CEO' and his wife were in town for my benefit. The Boss and I took them out to dinner to say thanks. The chef at this place is well known not only for how fantastic her meals taste, but also for the many awards she's won for excellence. From the appetizer to the main course, who knows how many cooking 'strategies' she brought into play, many in a wonderfully synergistic fashion. I won't bore you with all the details - OK maybe a quick summary. Duck nachos isn't on the menu as it once was, but if you ask for them, they'll make it. Awesome. Then there was the porterhouse pork steak with a sinfully good reduction sauce. How many different strategies must it have taken to produce those nachos alone? Was the steak prepared using the same strategies utilized in making the sauce?



The Take-Away



Regardless of what you've read and heard, a single strategy is not going to produce the retirement you want. Even those making use of more than one strategy will generally fall short. What produces magnificently abundant retirements is Strategic Synergism - the blending of multiple strategies, often completely unrelated to each other, in ways that ultimately enhance your final results. When an investor realizes the hugely superior results obtained when combining multiple strategies synergistically, a whole new menu of possibilities opens up. Everyone agrees that cash flow at retirement is the goal. It's how you get there, and how much after tax cash flow your specific Plan generates.



Sadly, the vast majority of Americans are creating what I've come to call a 'FastFood' retirement. Fast food is fun every now and then, but we all know what happens long term if you live on it. Strategic Synergism works in the kitchen, and it works when investing for retirement.



Author: Jeff Brown



Jeff's Website: http://www.bawldguy.com

Buying a fixer-upper? How to make the most of your remodel

With current home prices and interest rates, it's a great time to be in the market for a fixer-upper. By buying a house that needs some work, you can achieve your dream home for less than you would probably pay for a move-in-ready abode.



To ensure you're making the most of your investment, however, it pays to take a look at your credit before you buy and begin your remodel. You'll not only need credit to cover the purchase price of the house, but you'll need it for renovation expenses as well.



The first step you should take in your bid to buy a fixer-upper is to check your credit report and score. Websites like www.creditreport.com can help you understand your credit. Understanding your credit will help you know whether or not you can afford to buy a house that needs work and if you'll be able to pay for the needed renovations.



You should also carefully research what your options are for financing your remodel. Learn what your options are, from traditional fixed mortgages to home equity lines of credit, and decide before you buy which type of financing will be best for you. Getting a handle on your financing before you buy can help ensure you stay on budget when you're in the middle of renovations.



When you've got a clear picture of your credit status and financing options, you can start looking at fixer-uppers. When you find a good prospect, have your remodeling contractor walk through the house with you so he can give you a rough estimate of what needs to be done and how much the work will cost.



If you're buying a house that's in basically good condition but just looks dated, you'll have to make some decisions about where to invest your money. Focus on improvements that will not only look good, but will also enhance the value of your home. Resources like Remodeling Magazine's Cost vs. Value report can give you a good idea of how much of your original investment you'll recoup on different remodeling projects at the time of resale.



Once you've signed all the paperwork and the house is yours, it's time to get to work. If you're handy, you may be able to save money by doing some of the renovation work yourself. Projects like painting, adding crown molding and even putting down new flooring are well within the skills of most do-it-yourselfers. More complex projects like drywall, plumbing or electrical work may be best left to professionals.



Whether you do the work yourself, or hire contractors, you'll need to carefully manage all aspects of the renovation to ensure your remodel stays on budget. The excitement of remodeling a house into your dream home can make it easy to get carried away on spending. Keep in mind that remodeling estimates are just that - an estimate. The final tab is rarely exactly what your contractor predicted it would be. Build in at least 10 percent extra to cover emergency overruns, and avoid making any unnecessary changes to the plans while the project is underway.

Is a surveillance camera right for you?

Many people turn to surveillance cameras as a way to make their home and office more secure. There are so many different types of security measures on offer, however, that it can be hard to know which is the right type of equipment for your needs. This article explores the different security measures and tools available and what the advantages and disadvantages of each of them are.



CCTV cameras can be attached to the outside of the building, can be placed over the door step, can be placed inside or can be entirely hidden from view. There are even dummy cameras available that provide a good deterrent aspect but don't actually incur any additional cost of filming. All cameras that can be seen work well as a deterrent. A burglar is far less likely to break into a home when there is the chance they will shown doing so on video surveillance footage. CCTV cameras don't necessarily sound an alarm however if security is breached in some way. In this respect they may be able to film a crime being committed but they won't necessarily be able to put a stop to it. Having the footage available however does mean there is more chance of getting your things back if they have been stolen.



Burglar alarms are another way that people add security to their homes. These have a large number of problems however. First of all burglaries are usually very quick and the perpetrator can be long gone by the time the police or a security firm have arrived on the scene. Secondly the alarm can in some cases be stopped by simply locating the control panel and breaking it. Cats and other animals can also sometimes trip the alarm when they jump through an open window, which can cause problems for everyone.



The ideal solution is to have both surveillance monitoring of some kind as well as a motion sensor, this way you get the best of all worlds. If this stretches the budget too far however then it is better to simply go with some kind of camera equipment. This provides the best value for money in terms of security. In the past it was just the wealthiest members of society who were able to afford security equipment such as cameras, but these days the prices have come right down and now everyone can benefit. Nanny cameras and hidden indoor cameras are another very popular type of security surveillance. Camouflaged cameras can allow you to see things that you would otherwise not be privy to. Parents like to be able to check their nannies are caring for their children well, employers like to be able to check everything is just as it should be in the workplace.



Another scenario in which hidden cameras are ideal is for the use of gathering evidence. If you are being targeted or victimized, having hard evidence to show the police can mean something can be done. Without the proof however the police may be hesitant to take any real action. There is no doubt that cameras are a valuable and versatile security tool. Surveillance can assist in a number of different ways to keep everyone safe and free from harm. If you are unsure of what type you need the first step is to define what exactly you want the security camera for and then decide how much you are willing to spend.



When you search online you will find a host of companies offering surveillance camera equipment and monitoring devices. Make sure you buy from a reputable company with a good website. There is more choice online than in high street shops so it is best to buy your equipment here. From a wildlife camera to tracking devices, go online to find out what is available and get the best prices.



by: Kathryn Dawson

http://www.articlecity.com/articles/home_improvement/article_6339.shtml

Family-friendly tips to save energy at home.

Saving money and reducing your home's energy usage are a priority for many homeowners these days. Some energy-saving actions such as switching off lights when leaving a room and turning off the water while brushing your teeth or washing your hands are simple and cost effective.

This summer, try a few of the following energy saving tips to save your family some money while keeping the environment in mind:

* Only run dishwashers, washing machines and clothing dryers when they are full. Running two half-loads uses double the amount of water, and only half the clothes get cleaned.

* Wash your clothes with cold water. Washing laundry with hot water means the heater has to run, accounting for up to 80 percent of the energy used per wash load, according to the Alliance to Save Energy. If a household switched to cold-water washing for a year, enough energy would be saved to watch TV for 1,363 hours or charge an iPhone 4S 30,861 times. So by switching to cold water washing, you can cut down on household energy use and save money while doing something good for the environment. On a larger scale, if everyone in the United States switched to cold-water washing, the energy saved could power the streetlights of New York City for 71 years. Tide Coldwater detergent is specially formulated to provide a deep clean in cold water conditions while helping families save up to 50 percent of energy per wash cycle.

* Keep cool this summer by closing curtains to block out the hot sun during the day. Blocking the sun will help protect your flooring and furniture from fading due to UV rays. Also try setting your thermostat a few degrees warmer. Run ceiling and standing fans to keep the air circulating to help family members stay comfortable. If nobody is home during the day, turn your air conditioner off, and have it timed to restart when family members return.

* When shopping for new appliances like a refrigerator, stove and oven, dishwasher, washer or dryer, look for models with an ENERGY STAR label. Adding just one of these energy-efficient appliances to your home can help you live a more energy-conscious life.

* Evaluate your light bulbs. Technology has improved light bulbs so more energy is used toward making light, not heat. Finding the appropriate bulb for each socket in your home can save your family between $50 and $100 a year, according to the Alliance to Save Energy.

With just a few simple lifestyle changes, your family can make your home more energy and save you money. Get your family started today with these quick energy savings tips and watch the savings add up.