May 14, 2019 • Page 2 shop online at www.missourivalleyshopper.com Dave Says You Always Need An Emergency Fund Dear Dave, I’ll be retiring in the next couple of years. When I leave my job, we will have a yearly income of $65,000 through my pension. I don’t think we need an emergency fund with such a dependable, steady income stream like that, but my wife disagrees. She says she would feel safer if we had money set aside just for the unexpected. What do you think we should do? Gary Dear Gary, A good pension can feel pretty solid, but nothing’s perfect. Nothing lasts forever. There’s always the possibility of lost income or large, unexpected expenses. What if one of you has a major medical event? Life can bite you at any time, and sometimes it will take a big financial chunk out of you. You need an emergency fund! I recommend an emergency fund of three to six months of expenses. Put it in a good money market account with check writing privileges and a decent interest rate. That way, your money will work for you a little bit. With a solid pension like you’re talking about, you could probably lean toward the three-month side, if you wanted. Honestly though, I’d save up six months of expenses—just in case. Trust me, a fully funded emergency fund will make you both feel better. Plus, it can turn a disaster into nothing more than an inconvenience! —Dave Dave RAMSEY Glad to Come Home By Daris Howard Above And Beyond Dear Dave, The school system I work for puts 12 percent of my pay into a public teacher retirement fund, and they match this amount. I’ve seen where you tell people to put 15 percent of their income toward retirement. If that’s the case, should I put three percent into another retirement fund? I have no debt and very little in terms of expenses. Or, what would you think about the idea of opening another retirement account at a full 15 percent of what I make? Patti Dear Patti, I wouldn’t go as far as to pour an additional 15 percent into a different retirement plan, but I would consider putting maybe eight to 10 percent into a Roth IRA. I want you to have some money that’s separate from the school system account, just in case things go south with their retirement fund. It sounds like you’ve got a pretty good pension plan, but you never know what might happen. I’m not predicting bad things, but at the same time there’s no way I’d lean on the school system fund as my one and only source of retirement income. You should never put all your financial eggs in one basket! —Dave * Dave Ramsey is America’s trusted voice on money and business, and CEO of Ramsey Solutions. He has authored seven best-selling books, including The Total Money Makeover. The Dave Ramsey Show is heard by more than 12 million listeners each week on 575 radio stations and multiple digital platforms. Follow Dave on Twitter at @DaveRamsey and on the web at daveramsey.com. It happened in the checkout lane down at the Soup ‘R’ Market last week. We discussed it thoroughly, of course, and no one knows yet what to make of it. As sometimes happens, when we are glancing at the tabloids to see who fathered Bigfoot’s new baby, we get into discussions of trivia. Annette was sliding broccoli and corn flakes over the glass-window dinger machine, and we were just chatting about … I think it was bears this time. You know… “I read,” said Annette, “that a bear can run 45 miles an hour, faster than a race horse.” To which I added, “Did you know a polar bear’s skin is black, and a black bear’s skin is white?” “Really?” Annette said, weighing the plastic bag of apples. “And did you know,” she said, “that horses can’t vomit?” Horses just hadn’t heard me sing yet, that’s all. So it was then that the next guy in line, a young fellow dressed in camouflage, smiled and joined in. “You know the song, ‘The Duke of Earl’?” he asked. Well, of course we did. We used to slide around the dance floor to that when Elvis was still a pup. Wasn’t Meeting for the Yankton as good for snuggling as a Johnny Mathis tune, but Fire Protection District what is? Half the marriages in this town began while dancing to “The Twelfth of Never.” “Well, here’s something to think about,” our young Thursday, May 16, 2019 friend said. “If you are driving down the highway, and you tap your foot on the accelerator each time the car 7:00 pm goes by one of those broken yellow lines, and if you do at the Fire Station it in time to ‘The Duke of Earl,’ you’re doing exactly 55 miles an hour.” 201 W. 23rd Street “You’re kidding!” Yankton, SD “Nope. I’m a trucker, and I can tell you it’s a fact. Heard it on the radio and gave it a try. Fifty-five miles an hour.” Let’s see … Duke, duke, duke, duke of earl, duke, duke, duke of earl, duke… Premiums of $1.30 - $1.70 (over cash market) Might come in handy if paid for Non-GMO Soybeans the speedometer goes on Delivered to St. Lawrence, SD plant & Arlington, SD the fritz. Advertise with the... In Print and Online! Call 665-5884 My daughter was in her mid-teens—those years when young people think that their parents don’t know too much. She chafed at the requirements of home, having to do chores, having a set time for bed, and eating what everyone else in the family ate instead of getting to choose for herself. She also felt that with all of her siblings, there were just too many people with too many personalities to deal with. She often told us she couldn’t wait to get away from home. “Maybe I could find another place to live for the summer,” she said. “Like where?” I asked. “I don’t know,” she replied. “Maybe I could go stay with Grandma. Maybe I could help her with her garden. It would give me a chance to get away from home.” The grandma she was talking about was my mother, and I was wondering if my daughter really knew what she would be getting herself into. My mother is a no-nonsense woman. As I thought about it, I wondered if that might be just what my daughter needed. I decided to talk to my brother. When I told him about what my daughter wanted, he laughed. “One of my daughters got sick of everything at home and pushed us to let her go stay with her grandma, too,” he said. “We finally let her.” “How did it go?” I asked. “You know Mom,” he said. “Life is about work and getting things done. Just because someone is staying with her doesn’t mean she has time to sit around and visit. It just means she has more help to get the things done that she needs to get done.” My brother said that for a day or two, his daughter didn’t say too much about it. But it wasn’t long before she let him know that she wanted to come home. He told me his daughter said, “Grandma just keeps me working all of the time. Coming home will be like going on a vacation.” “How long did she end up staying there?” I asked. “She made it almost four days,” my brother said. “But on the day she called to come home, she said she had been assigned to pick the thorny gooseberries and that was the last straw.” I laughed. I love gooseberry pie, but picking the thorny things is one of the greatest trials of life. After visiting with my brother, my wife and I decided to let our daughter go stay with her grandmother. It was early spring, so there were not any berries to pick. But I knew my mother would find something to keep my daughter busy. After almost a week had gone by, my daughter called and said she was ready to come home. When I picked her up, I asked her how it went. “Oh, it was okay,” she said. “Just okay?” I asked. “What did you do?” “The easier question is what didn’t I do?” she replied. “I cleaned out raspberries until my arms were all scratched up. I weeded, dug grass out of the garden, mowed the lawn, and trimmed the trees. And to top it off, today I had to clean dead branches out of the gooseberries. I think their thorns are about an inch long!” I smiled. Those were some of the things I did when I was young. I appreciated my mother teaching my daughter to work. The next time I visited with my mother, I menShe just shrugged. “I don’t expect anything from your children that I don’t expect from anyone else. I don’t run a hotel, you know. If someone comes to visit, they are only guests for three days, and then they’re family and have to pitch in. But in the case of your children, they are already family and should pitch in from the beginning.” My mother has now sold her farm, so my children won’t be going there anymore, but on this Mothers’ Day, I am grateful for a mother who helped teach my children how to work just as she and my father taught me. Wow! What a Price! SOYBEANS - MAKE MORE PROFIT For information or to schedule a farm visit, call Kari or Logan at 1-888-737-7888 319 Walnut St. Yankton, SD 57078 605-665-5884 Dining & Entertainment “A Musical Treat For Dancing Feet” nce Da l Polka l tuincaa, MHya9 US d y a 1 th e Leo Lonnria Orchest BBQ By Hawks Catering g at 5pm Ser vin PM 2:00-5:30 Playing Your Favorites In Polkas, Waltzes, & Fox Trots $10 Cover Charge First Time In Utica Hall In 40 Years With A 7 Piece Band! 319 Walnut St. Yankton, SD 57078 605-665-5884 www.missourivalleyshopper.com