Frugal New Girl Is Poster Child For Savers

Earlier in 2012, Zooey Deschanel, who played the mini scooter riding bad girl alongside Jim Carrey in 2008's Yes Man, filed for divorce from Ben Gibbard, the lead singer of Death Cab for Cutie. They were married two years.

Since her divorce filing is a public document the following numbers regarding Zooey's finances could be found at TMZ.com. How do you think she is doing with her budgeting and savings?

From TMZ.com:
-- Zooey -- who stars in "New Girl" -- makes an average of $95,000.00 a month
-- Her expenses average $22,550 a month
-- She has 3 credit cards ... AmEx, Visa and Mastercard, all of which have a 0 balance.
-- She has $1,578,000 in the bank
-- Zooey has an additional $1,645,000 in stocks, bonds, etc.
-- Zooey has real and personal property valued at $693,300

From the divorce filing papers TMZ also copied these monthly living expenses as listed by Zooey:
$1,000.00 for groceries
$500.00 eating out
$300.00 for various phones and internet access
$600.00 for laundry services
$2,000.00 on clothing
$1,500.00 on charitable giving

As far as her monthly budgeting goes she is doing quite well and really should be applauded for her conservative spending habits and her excellent saving and investing habits. However, what isn't listed here?

Budgeting and saving are first steps. What are some next steps?

Insurance Planning
There is no mention about Zooey's insurance protection. One insurance many people tend to forget about, particularly younger individuals like Zooey, is disability insurance. Accidents and illness can happen to anyone regardless of age. Disability insurance provides replacement income while the insured is unable to work.

Investment Planning
Zooey did state that she has $1,645,000 in various investments such as stocks and bonds. However, are these investments properly managed in order to take advantage of any tax breaks available to her? Another common oversight investors make is the amount they spend on transactional and management fees.

Retirement Planning
Zooey is only 32, but consider these incredible difference early retirement savings makes in the long run. Just look at this comparison. 

Estate Planning
Basic estate planning includes: 1) Wills, 2) Side letters of instruction 3) Powers of attorney for property 4) Durable powers of attorney for health care 5) Living wills or advance medical directives and 6) Do not resuscitate orders. Given what Zooey is currently going through she may also want to consider a prenuptial agreement should she ever remarry.

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