FINANCIAL HOUSEKEEPING | Find out how much smoking costs you
Aside from the physical dangers of smoking, there is little doubt that the habit can be hazardous to your wealth.
That being the case, it might be worth considering the financial effects of smoking, particularly if you are looking for ways to improve your savings as you improve your health.
The savings calculator at way2quit.com will give you the financial incentive to improve your willpower, showing how ending a pack-a-day habit will save you in the neighborhood of $1,600 to $2,000 per year. You can go directly to the calculator by setting your Web browser to .
SHORT COURSE | Rebalancing
“Rebalancing” is investment jargon for putting your investment portfolio back in line with how you planned it. In general, it involves culling your winners and reinvesting some proceeds in your losers in order to stick with your investment plan.
In the wake of the stock market’s sudden, sharp downturn in late February, some investors were tempted to rebalance, but experts say fixing the portfolio after a day’s worth of news is the wrong approach.
Portfolios get out of balance when one asset class does particularly well (or poorly) compared with the others; if an investor intends a 50-50 stock/bond split and the stock portion gains 20 percent while the bonds grow 5 percent, the split would be 54-46 after a year.
Most experts suggest rebalancing when a portfolio is 5 to 10 percentage points off its plan.
