Shutterstock

As a millennial generation heads into their 20s and 30s, many have had either a great or not-so great example of what it means to manage their money. Although the age of careers, job searches, marriages and first homes are approaching, many millennials still have no clue what it truly means to manage money for their long-term success and comfort. Even parents are sometimes shaky resources for personal finance information.

A 2012 U.S. News Money article finds that Generation Xers (who are now in their 30s and 40s) are the generation with the most financial frustration. Retirees are increasingly responsible for their own savings, income, and financial futures. Let’s face it, we all can use an old-fashioned money management lesson every now and again.

Let’s all learn a little bit from past generations, and keep your money flowing with these old school money management tips.

According to Bloomberg News, the overall divorce rate in the U.S. has declined over the past 20 years, but there seems to be an increase of divorcees who are aged 50 and over. And you won’t believe who’s to blame – Facebook.

Aside from the normal variety of causes, such as empty nests and midlife crises, baby boomers are now dealing with an altered technological landscape that allows them to reconnect with a long-lost love, leading to “accidental affairs”. More than 80 percent of divorce attorneys recently surveyed by the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers said that in the past few years they have witnessed “an increase in the number of divorce cases using social networking evidence.”

Read the full story here

Do you think social networking sites are bad for spouses?

(USA Today) — Robert Johnson became one of the most important members of the Baby Boom generation by being in the right place at the right time — and having a plan. As a lobbyist for the cable television industry in 1979, he saw an opportunity to create the first cable channel that targeted African-American viewers: Black Entertainment Television. Critics, including director Spike Lee, attacked BET’s broadcasts of music videos that seemed to glamorize violence and degrade women. But with the cable industry booming, BET in 1991 became the first black-controlled company to go public on the New York Stock Exchange. When Viacom bought BET for $3 billion in 2003, Johnson became the first African-American billionaire.

Johnson went on to build The RLJ Companies, a financial services empire. He also invested in enterprises such as the Charlotte Bobcats basketball team, and became a supporter of Hillary Rodham Clinton in her 2008 presidential campaign. It’s been an unusual ride for the Hickory, Miss., native who began his career in public relations after earning a master’s from Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. Here are his thoughts on his generation and career, edited for space and clarity:

Read More…

(LATimes.com) — The saddest lesson of recent years for the American middle class is that those who “do the right thing” are first in line to get hammered.

You devote a lifetime to a single employer, only to get laid off with a cheese-paring severance package. You finance your own retirement by religiously funding your 401(k), and Wall Street lays an egg on your head.

Here’s a lesson baby boomers are just beginning to learn: You pay for long-term-care insurance for years, even decades, and then your insurance company changes the rules.

Consider the experience of Marvin and Joan Klotz of Los Angeles, retired employees of the state university system, who purchased a long-term-care policy for Joan from CalPERS in 1997, when she was 61.

Read More…