Posted on October 15, 2010 by Rich Browne

Along with daily life, sometimes investing for your family’s future can feel like a juggling act. It can easily feel like your focus is divided in many directions-covering your family’s living expenses, wanting to save for retirement, wanting to save for a house or pay off the one you have, and saving for children to go to college. If you don’t have a plan, the whole process can seem overwhelming. There are a lot of things you can do to get organized however:

1) Give your family a solid foundation for investing, not a house of cards.

The first step to this is to create a budget for your regular expenses. This does not have to be a complicated or overly strict process, but you at least need to see what is coming in and going out. You want to make sure everything seems balanced. In this process, you may spot areas where you’re overspending and just didn’t realize it. This will also show you how much extra money you have to work with on a monthly basis. Do this for awhile until you have a general pattern on your finances.

If you have consumer debt (non-mortgage debt such as credit cards and car payments), you need to realize that it can cancel out the good that investing does for your family. Not only does paying your debt off cause less money to leave your household in interest payments, but you can also use the extra cash flow (that was all going to payments) to fund your investing as well.

2) Protect your investments by creating a financial buffer.

You don’t want to put yourself in a situation where you have to draw out of your investments to pay on a debt or even a major unexpected expense. This is why you should also have an emergency fund that you can easily access. The amount you need is going to vary by family, but at least a couple of months expenses is a good amount. This would cover most job layoffs, medical bills, or vehicle repairs, which are three common financial situations for families. It may take you a year or more to develop this kind of foundation, but long-term it will make investing an easier process.

3) Begin investing, but do a little research first.

Never enter into anything you don’t understand.
Ideally, you want 10-15% of your family income going toward you and your spouse’s retirement, which can be in a combination of 401Ks (matching and non-matching by your employer), Roth IRAs (if you qualify), and traditional IRAs. Take the time to research the investments within them to make sure you’re getting the best possible return for the least amount of risk.

College investing such as ESAs (Educational Savings Accounts) and 529 plans can be done as soon as possible, since you want compound interest working your favor while your children are young. You’ll need to calculate how much you need, based on college tuition rising roughly 7-8% each year.

Also based on your budget, you can ramp up extra money for your mortgage as you go along. When you pay your house off, roll the money you were paying into your retirement or additional investing.

4) This will take some time as you find a good balance for your family’s needs, and you may have to adjust your plan at times as you go along. When your children are old enough, you need to get them involved in the process as well. A solid financial education for them can be one of the greatest investments you can make.