Does Social Media Play an Important Part in Retirement Planning ...

3 years ago I would have told you that social media doesn?t have a role in how we manage our finances. ?But then again, I didn?t really understand the purpose and value of blogs. ?Today, as a personal finance blogger, I believe blogs, Twitter, Facebook and other avenues of social media play an important part in helping us learn about personal finance and make better decisions with our money.

Using Social Media to Gain Knowledge

Social Media Today provided a recent piece on this topic and shared how peers greatly influence retirement planning decisions. ?Here?s how:

While chatting with their peers, friends, relatives and acquaintances, people gain tremendous knowledge about what other?s are doing in their lives. For instance, social media helps you to know where people in your network are working, where they are traveling, what are they buying and where they are investing and even how they are planning for their retirement

One Size Fits All Does Not Work

But don?t get carried away and jump on Twitter to start planning your retirement, following your peer?s investing strategy and so on. What works for them, doesn?t necessary mean it?s going to work for your situation.

Experts caution people against being led by peer group mentality. This is because when it comes to investing, one-size-fits-all approach does not work. It is therefore advisable that you?set your own retirement goals?when planning how much percentage of your salary you must save and where you must invest.

Ideas to Use Social Media for Your Finances

And that?s the key: ?set your own goals when planning. ?Use social media to gather information, learn from others? experiences, but plan your way based on your situation and what you believe is going work for you.

So, what are some practical ways to use social media to help? ?Here area few ways I use social media that might help:

• Follow personal finance bloggers and see what they?re writing about. ?Some write about there own experiences which can help you learn from mistakes or gather good ideas to apply to your situation.
• Pay attention to people with influence on Twitter. ?You might start by following well-known people like Dave Ramsey who often shares tips and links to articles. ?Also follow bloggers (such as me @onemoneydesign). ?Bloggers often share articles they read and find interesting and helpful
• Save articles you like to websites such as Instapaper to build an archive you can revisit and use to answer your questions as they come up
• Pay attention to media sites such as Kiplinger, YahooFinance, and others to see what is trending and get the latest information on finance. ?You can follow their RSS feeds using Google Reader and stay up to date on what they?re publishing

These are just a few ideas I use regularly. ?I love to read personal finance blogs to learn from others. ?The best blogs, in my opinion, are the ones sharing practical tips, links to helpful articles and their personal experience (good and bad).

Do you think social media plays an important role in retirement planning and other areas of personal finance?

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About Jason

Hi, I?m Jason Price. I'm a husband, dad, soccer fan and blogger on the journey to true financial freedom. Join me for tips and ideas about money, career and more. Connect with me on Twitter, Facebook and Google Plus. Also - +Jason Price

Source: http://www.onemoneydesign.com/does-social-media-play-an-important-part-in-retirement-planning-and-personal-finance/

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