Holiday Spending During a Recession

The holidays are upon us and many people are saying “Bah Humbug!”  There is a way to enjoy the holidays without overspending.  Here are a few tips:
-         Plan your shopping.  Don’t go out shopping without a list of what you’re looking for and the price range you have for each purchase.  No impulse purchases!
-         Make [...]

The Best Financial Advisor

There are some great checklists for choosing a financial advisor.  The good ones include asking about education, professional credentials, how long they’ve been in the business, and what services they offer.  But some of the most important information you’ll need isn’t on a checklist.  And it’s very hard to find.  You can’t ask it in [...]

Top Ten Reasons to Participate in Your Company Retirement Plan

Now that tax season is over, folks are taking a look at their bigger financial picture again.  With all deference to fabulous late night talk shows, here are ten reasons to consider putting some of your hard earned wages into an account with your employer’s retirement plan.
10. The company is required to provide a variety [...]

Employer Contributions

Everyone needs to save for the day they hope not to work any more to make ends meet.  If you are comfortable with your job security and have good savings you could get to in a pinch, investing through your company’s retirement plan is worth considering.  Staying on a consistent investment plan through a down [...]

Dancing in the Rain

About the time that clients were receiving their monthly statements on their investment accounts, my business partner and I noticed an influx of calls and e-mails.  The general question being asked was “Am I okay?”  We work to position our clients in all aspects of their financial lives to make it through difficult financial times.  [...]

Tax Refunds

You may think that income taxes are something people think about between January 1 and April 15 of every year.  Or maybe you think if people are really good planners, they think about taxes during December before “tax season” starts.  But this is one of the best times of years to think about your income [...]

Are We Done Yet?

As evidenced by the amount of time since my last posting, sometimes life gets in the way of what we want to do – or at least what we say we want to do.  I do taxes for most of my clients and every year the amount of time it takes me to recover (personally [...]

A Taxing Time

I live and work in Colorado and snow ski (not well).  Several years ago when we were in one of the ski outfitting stores getting the family fitted for skis, I turned to one of my kids and said, “Do you know what getting skis always makes me think of?”  Without waiting a nanosecond, she [...]

A Budget You Can Live With

Different people have different ways of managing their money.  Some people like working through what they spend in dollars and cents.  That’s workable and viable.  “If I spend less on dinner tonight I can have a more expensive lunch tomorrow.”  For these folks, each dime saved is rewarding. 
Other folks work better with general parameters.  [...]

Debt

There’s good debt and bad debt.  Good debt can allow you to acquire an asset with financial advantages more quickly than you could have enough cash saved up to pay for it.  Lots of the common forms of good debt give you a tax break.  Mortgages and many student loans are good examples.  Even a [...]