Savings & Retirement
Four Personal Finance Rules That Need a Revamp
Using old money guidelines can give a distorted picture of your financial standing.
The median national asking rent hit a record $2,032 in July according to online brokerage Redfin.
Photographer: Gabby Jones/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
Some of the best-known rules of thumb in personal finance have outlived their usefulness.
While it’s helpful to have a starting point for a housing budget or savings target, or for splitting an investment portfolio between asset classes, many popular guidelines date back to a time when the growth in real estate prices and wages was more closely aligned, student debt hadn’t breached the trillion-dollar mark, and stocks and bonds didn’t fall at the same time.