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Most financial-planning advice, like most New Year's resolutions, is too complex or too banal.
大多數(shù)財(cái)務(wù)規(guī)劃建議就像大多數(shù)新年許愿一樣，不是太復(fù)雜就是太平庸。
Half of it is designed for Type-A drill sergeants who already alphabetize their refrigerators. The other half you've heard before.
一半的建議是專為具有A型人格的軍事操練教官設(shè)計(jì)的，這些人已經(jīng)按字母順序給冰箱里的食物排好了序。另一半你已經(jīng)聽說過了。
Let's assume you are already paying off your credit cards, contributing to your 401(k) at work and flossing after every meal.
讓我們假設(shè)你已經(jīng)還清了信用卡債務(wù)，繳納了養(yǎng)老保險(xiǎn)，每次用餐后都用牙線清潔了牙縫。
Here are six unusual, and doable, smart money moves for the new year.
以下是為來年準(zhǔn)備的六條雖不尋常但卻可行的聰明理財(cái)建議。
1. Work out your biggest savings goal.
1. 弄清你的最大儲蓄目標(biāo)
Many people working today are likely to live for three decades after they become eligible for Social Security, but few of them have a clue what that means financially.
目前還在工作的人在他們有資格領(lǐng)取社會保障金之后還有可能再活30年，但他們中很少有人明白這在經(jīng)濟(jì)上意味著什么。
Just 42% of working-age Americans have even tried to calculate what they will need in retirement, according to the Employee Benefit Research Institute, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank.
華盛頓智庫員工福利研究所(Employee Benefit Research Institute)說，處于工作年齡的美國人僅有42%曾經(jīng)嘗試過計(jì)算退休后需要多少錢。
The grim reality: 60% of them have less than $25,000 saved up, excluding the value of their home, and 30% have less than $1,000. Good luck with that.
嚴(yán)峻的現(xiàn)實(shí)是：其中60%的人儲蓄不到2.5萬美元（不含房屋價(jià)值），30%的人儲蓄不到1,000美元。祝你好運(yùn)。
How much will you need? To replace your current income for 30 years, you would need -- assuming an investment return of three percentage points above inflation -- about 20 times one year's income. Social Security aims to replace about 40% of your annual income: By that yardstick you would need to save about 12 times your annual income before you retire.
你需要多少錢養(yǎng)老？按照你目前的收入水平，退休后再活30年，你需要的資金大概是一年收入的20倍（假設(shè)投資收益率比通脹率高三個(gè)百分點(diǎn)）。社會保障金大致相當(dāng)于你年收入的40%。按照這一標(biāo)準(zhǔn)衡量，你在退休前的儲蓄量應(yīng)該約為你年收入的12倍。
For a more precise number, use the Social Security Administration's retirement estimator. Subtract your expected annual benefit from your current yearly pay, and multiply by 20. 想要知道一個(gè)更精確的數(shù)字，可以使用社會安全局(Social Security Administration)提供的退休評估器。從你目前的年薪中減去你預(yù)期能領(lǐng)取的年度福利金，將差值乘以20就是退休后需要的資金。
2. Ramp up your investments.
2. 增加投資
Open a Roth individual retirement account, if you don't have one already. You can invest up to $5,000 for 2012 and $5,500 for 2013 and a nonworking spouse can invest the same. If you are older than 50, add $1,000.
開設(shè)一個(gè)羅斯(Roth)個(gè)人退休帳戶（如果你還沒有的話）。2012年你最多可投資5,000美元，2013年最多可投5,500美元。沒有工作的配偶也能投資相同數(shù)額。如果你年齡大于50歲，再增加1,000美元投資。
Then invest some money in a fund, such as the WisdomTree Emerging Markets Small Cap Dividend exchange-traded fund (DGS), specializing in smaller-company stocks in emerging markets. It shouldn't be the whole of your portfolio, but it should be in there. This is likely to be a volatile growth investment.
然后將部分資金投資一只基金，如專注投資新興市場小型股的交易所買賣基金WisdomTree Emerging Markets Small Cap Dividend ETF。這雖然不該是你投資組合的全部，但應(yīng)該成為其中的一個(gè)部分。這可能是一項(xiàng)波動(dòng)性較大的增長投資。
Emerging markets offer the best overall returns of any investment at the moment, according to two groups of experts who successfully predicted the last two financial crises: Research Affiliates, the investment advisory firm founded by Robert Arnott, and GMO, the fund company co-founded by Jeremy Grantham. GMO estimates that emerging markets offer an investment return over seven years of 50% plus inflation, handsomely beating any rival asset class.
據(jù)兩組成功預(yù)測過去兩次金融危機(jī)的專家介紹，眼下新興市場所能提供的整體回報(bào)是所有投資中最高的。這兩組專家所供職的機(jī)構(gòu)分別是Research Affiliates和GMO。前者是羅伯特•阿諾特(Robert Arnott)成立的一家投資咨詢公司。后者是杰瑞米•格雷森(Jeremy Grantham)與他人共同創(chuàng)立的基金公司。GMO估計(jì)，如果算上通脹率，新興市場在七年內(nèi)提供的投資回報(bào)率可以達(dá)到50%，輕松擊敗任何與之競爭的資產(chǎn)類別。
3. Try homemade month.
3. 試著在家做飯一個(gè)月
Say goodbye to the soy chai lattes, burritos, pastas primavera and Overflowing Bucket O' Fries (a genuine bar food item spotted in Boston). Pick a month -- any month -- and try not eating out at all, for breakfast, lunch or dinner.
向豆奶印度拿鐵、卷餅、蔬菜意大利面和Overflowing Bucket O的炸薯?xiàng)l（波士頓常見的一種酒吧食品）說再見吧。試著挑一個(gè)月（隨便哪個(gè)月）完全在家用餐，早午晚三餐均是如此。
It's not easy. But these meals add up.
要做到這點(diǎn)并不容易，但省下的餐費(fèi)可不少。
It costs you $10 to get a sandwich at work for lunch. It would cost you $2 in ingredients, and five minutes of time, to make that sandwich at home. Do you earn $96 an hour, after tax? If so, you can ignore the rest of this article. If not, try making the sandwich.
工作日買一個(gè)三明治當(dāng)午餐要花10美元。然而在家做一個(gè)三明治的話，購買食材只需要兩美元，制作三明治僅需五分鐘。你的工資能達(dá)到每小時(shí)96美元嗎，而且還是稅后？如果能，這部分你就不用看了。如果不能，嘗試自己做三明治吧。
Financial planners say that when new clients audit their household spending for the first time, the biggest shock is usually how much they spend in restaurants -- 70% of which goes to paying the restaurant's rent and labor costs.
理財(cái)顧問們常說，新客戶在第一次審計(jì)自己的家庭支出時(shí)，最讓他們感到震驚的通常是在餐館的花費(fèi)。這些花費(fèi)中有70%都替餐館支付了店面租金和員工工資。
Why do we go out to restaurants that promise 'homemade' food?
我們?yōu)槭裁匆讲宛^吃家常菜？
4. Stop the bleeding.
4. 止血
If you're like a lot of families, you spend $200 or even $300 a month on cellphones, cable or satellite TV and Internet.
如果你和許多家庭一樣，那么你每個(gè)月得花200美元甚至300美元支付手機(jī)、有線電視或衛(wèi)星電視以及互聯(lián)網(wǎng)費(fèi)用。
Take a scalpel -- or an axe -- to that budget and see what you can cut. Call your cellular provider and your TV company -- cable or satellite -- and haggle. Chances are, they will cut you a deal.
分析一下這部分預(yù)算，看看哪些可以避免。打電話給你的手機(jī)服務(wù)商和你的有線電視和衛(wèi)星電視服務(wù)商，和他們砍價(jià)。你很有可能因此減少很大一部分支出。
Try dumping pay TV altogether and watching movies and TV instead using an online service like Netflix, Amazon or Hulu Plus (partly owned by News Corp., owner of The Wall Street Journal), for less than $10 a month.
嘗試放棄付費(fèi)電視，用Netflix、亞馬遜(Amazon)或是Hulu Plus等在線服務(wù)看電影或電視節(jié)目，這些服務(wù)每個(gè)月的花費(fèi)還不到10美元。Hulu Plus部分屬于新聞集團(tuán)(News Corp.)所有。
If your family spends $200 a month on cellphones and pay TV, that's $2,400 a year. Over the course of 20 years, if you invested that money instead at 4%, you'd have an extra $70,000.
如果你家每月為手機(jī)和付費(fèi)電視支付200美元，一年就要花掉2,400美元。如果你把這筆錢以4%的利息投資20年，可以凈賺70,000美元。
Haggle. Cut.
砍價(jià)，消減不必要支出。
5. Hold a two-week auction.
5. 進(jìn)行一場為期兩周的拍賣
Turn your house into Sotheby's for two weeks. Go on eBay.com and Craigslist.com and auction off everything you don't need.
把自己的房子變成蘇富比拍賣公司(Sotheby's)，為期兩周。上eBay.com和Craigslist.com網(wǎng)站，拍賣掉一切你不需要的東西。
The spare cellphone(s) in the kitchen drawer. The second, unused lawn mower. The designer vase you never use.
廚房抽屜里多余的手機(jī)。沒有用過的備用割草機(jī)。你從來不用的設(shè)計(jì)師花瓶。
Everything.
一切東西。
Set yourself a target. Double it. Then see how close you get. Get the entire family involved.
給自己設(shè)定一個(gè)目標(biāo)。然后將目標(biāo)翻一倍。然后看看你最終能實(shí)現(xiàn)多少。動(dòng)員全家人參與進(jìn)來。
Removing clutter is a great stress-buster, as psychologists since Ralph Waldo Emerson have noticed.
正如愛默生(Ralph Waldo Emerson)以來的心理學(xué)家所指出的那樣，去繁存簡是一個(gè)很棒的減壓方法。
This project will raise some free money. A process like this also has a remarkable way of focusing everyone in the family on the true value of a dollar.
這個(gè)計(jì)劃會籌到一些錢。像這樣一個(gè)過程是使所有家庭成員關(guān)注錢的真正價(jià)值的絕妙方法。
6. Imagine you're dead.
6. 想像自己已經(jīng)死了
Cheerful, isn't it?
你是高興呢，還是不高興？
This is why so few people think about dying. Yet from a financial perspective, they need to. Chances are you haven't prepared in case it happens.
正因?yàn)槿绱耍苌儆腥讼胂笞约厚R上就要死了。然而從理財(cái)角度說，人們需要設(shè)想一下這種可能。有很大的可能是死亡來臨時(shí)，你還沒有準(zhǔn)備好。
This is not just about the elderly. About one in eight people currently aged 40 will die before they reach 65, according to government statistics.
并不是只有老年人應(yīng)該這樣做。據(jù)政府的統(tǒng)計(jì)數(shù)據(jù)顯示，目前年齡在40歲的人中有八分之一都將在65歲前去世。
This means two things.
這意味著兩件事。
First: Get life insurance, and disability insurance, if you have dependents.
首先，這意味著如果有人需要你供養(yǎng)的話，你要去投保人壽保險(xiǎn)和傷殘保險(xiǎn)。
Most people have some kind of coverage through work. It is usually desperately inadequate. Both one- and two-income households probably need more. It costs about $250,000 to raise a child for 18 years, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Four years of private college is another $160,000, according to the College Board. Could your surviving spouse cope on his or her own?
大部分人都通過工作多多少少地有些保險(xiǎn)。但通常極度不夠。單職工和雙職工家庭都可能需要更多的保險(xiǎn)。據(jù)美國農(nóng)業(yè)部的數(shù)據(jù)顯示，將一個(gè)孩子養(yǎng)到18歲需要約25萬美元。美國大學(xué)理事會(College Board)的數(shù)據(jù)顯示，四年私立大學(xué)又需要16萬美元。如果你去世了，你的配偶一個(gè)人能應(yīng)付得來嗎？
Second: It means make a will. If you already have one, make sure it is up to date.
其次，這意味著你要立份遺囑。如果你已經(jīng)立過遺囑，要確保遺囑是最新的。
Dying intestate -- without a will -- can be catastrophic for the family left behind. And few disasters can be so easily and cheaply prevented.
對于一個(gè)家庭來說，未留遺囑就去世可能帶來災(zāi)難性的后果。幾乎沒有哪種災(zāi)難能夠立一份遺囑就可以輕松便宜地防止。
