Comments on: Our Financial Health = C+

By: Danielle

Danielle — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 21:20:16 +0000

I got a B.
If I was grading it, I’d have given myself an A, but I guess I have different opinions.

By: Kevin

Kevin — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 13:20:04 +0000

I have a C according to them. But, like several people mentioned, I was penalized for things which I should not have been.

I currently have a small life insurance policy. But I am single and have no children. So I don’t need a large policy. I just need enough to cover the costs associated with burying me and handling the related expenses.

I also don’t have enough in savings. But I am focused on hitting my debt pretty hard so I am pleased to have as much as I do (1.5 months).

My place of employment doesn’t have stock and I don’t have much to invest in stocks right now. I put away only about 10% of my takehome for retirement… again, debt it priority #1 now.

I carry too much debt according to the test. I know that. But it’s almost all student loans. I don’t carry credit card debt. I have a small car loan and my mortgage. Nothing else. It’s not good but it’s certainly not horrible.

It was interesting but not really accurate for me.

By: Grace

Grace — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 22:22:55 +0000

Actually, this is my least favorite calculator because I don’t trust its results. I got a C so maybe I’m just being cranky. But why on earth would this 60 year old single woman with no minor children need ANY life insurance?

By: Beth

Beth — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 21:47:42 +0000

I got a B as well. Marks taken off for not having enough for retirement, not enough life insurance (five years? seriously?) and I’m not diversified — though the calculator seems to think that 90 percent of my portfolio should be in stocks. (Why, I wonder?) The calculator also couldn’t account for my savings account (future down payment on house).

I’m in Canada, so I don’t know how accurate this is in my case.

By: Rini

Rini — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 21:38:17 +0000

B. Ironically, it thinks $1500 in debt payments every month is right on target. *stare*

By: Debt-free Dan

Debt-free Dan — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 21:24:45 +0000

I took this a few days ago. I’m debt free including the house. I have an emergency fund. Am saving 15% for retirement. I got a B.

It said I don’t have enough insurance and I have too much company stock. I fiddled with the calculator and found that if you have 99% of the insurance it recommends, it still tells you that you have “insufficient” insurance.

So I concur with the “too inflexible” comments above.

By: Corporate Barbarian

Corporate Barbarian — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 17:28:35 +0000

I got a B. I have only 2 year’s worth of life insurance, and my retirement savings is too low. Well, it would have been doubled if I’d taken the test last year!

By: Marie

Marie — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 17:28:06 +0000

Hmm … A – We’ve only been out of college 1 year so of course we have insufficient retirement 12 months later. I’m suprised that it thinks 3 months is a sufficient emergency fund. I wouldn’t think you should get an A unless your debt free except the mortgage and we have a lot of student loans. I think its shortsighted to only look at the payment and not include the entire amount owed,

By: Matt

Matt — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 16:54:46 +0000

Thats a neat little tool though I would say that it only gives a very high level indication of your financial situation. I am still loaded down with debt and it said I had a C+ rating. What about something like equity in your home? That wasn’t brought into the picture and I’m sure if it was it would have raised my score.

Either way a fun little calculator

By: PK

PK — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 14:03:56 +0000

I too think the calculator is quite lame. It says I got an A+ but I’m not sure why. I don’t ever feel like I’m doing enough to ensure my family’s future.

By: Jen

Jen — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 13:34:17 +0000

I got a B+. According to the calculator I don’t have enough life insurance and I’m not saving enough for retirement. I disagree on the life insurance since I don’t have any children or dependents. I have coverage for one year’s salary so my family can bury me and maintain my condo before they sell it. If the calculator wanted to be more accurate it should have asked if you’re married, have children, etc. so it could take into account these things. Seriously – 5 years’ worth of salary as life insurance for me? That’d make me worth more dead than alive!

I know I’m not saving enough for retirement, but I cutback my 401(k) contributions to beef up my emergency fund. Once I’ve got 6 months’ worth I’ll max out my 401(k).

Another failure of the calculator, and I think this would apply to all these types of calculators, is everyone’s retirement savings are probably down because of the market. I lost around 40%, so any financial planning calculator I use is going to say I don’t have enough.

By: Susan

Susan — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 12:47:38 +0000

I got a B+ which is good I guess. It’s certainly not a perfect calculator, but if it makes people think about their investments, savings, and life insurance, well, that’s a good thing.

Does anyone else think that having 10x your salary in term life insurance is all a ploy by the insurance companies to make more money? My spouse and I each have enough to pay off the mortgage in full and put a nice chunk away for college. It’s not enough for the other person to run off to Fiji – but they won’t have to worry about losing the house, or college.

By: Jaime

Jaime — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 11:09:43 +0000

Don’t feel bad Tricia! I am debt free, have $20,000 in emergency savings, and still got a C+! I’m underfunded for life insurance (by choice!) and am not investing in retirement right now since I mostly am a stay at home mom. (oh and my house payment is a bit high)

By: traineeinvestor

traineeinvestor — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 01:06:23 +0000

A rather simplistic calculator. As an example, it assumes that stocks, bonds and emergency savings are the only investment options. Other itmes such as life insurance simply didn’t have the flexibility to address individual circumstances and there was no flexibility to input a projected retirement date, expected returns, expected changes in expenses post-retirement etc etc etc.

All in all, pretty useless.

By: Jay Gatsby

Jay Gatsby — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 00:46:07 +0000

Interesting calculator, but it doesn’t take into account that many people have more than 50% of their net worth in cash right now due to the brutal bear market. Likewise, it assumes you need a substantial amount of life insurance, even if you don’t have any kids yet. Finally, it doesn’t take into account that your spouse works and has retirement savings of his/her own.

By: jennifer youngblood

jennifer youngblood — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 00:42:57 +0000

That calculator is STRICT! It is also rather inflexible. I’m a student so clearly I don’t have any money invested in my “company’s” stock. My portfolio is not diverse: I have no money in the stock market since my student income is variable. Right now all my investments (basically CDs) are no-risk. I don’t have any life insurance because I don’t have any dependents but it still gave me bad marks for that. :/ I got a B.

By: Ashley

Ashley — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 00:28:30 +0000

I just tried to play with that site and it wouldn’t let me. I entered my age and income, and when I hit “go” a little balloon came out and said “please enter a positive number between 25 and 60.” LAME! hahahaha