How to Have a Great Birthday Party for Your Kids — For Less

June 11, 2012

If I could have back even half of what I’ve spent on kids’ birthday parties over the years, I could probably retire today. What brought this on is my youngest son just turned 22 and my husband and I gave him the world’s greatest present for $25 plus shipping.  Our son Rick plays guitar as a hobby and he is known as the family “greenie” as he promotes having a small carbon footprint, recycling, using less, eating locally grown foods, etc.  So we got him a guitar pick punch, which he can use to recycle credit cards, hotel room keys, or just about anything to make guitar picks to use or give as gifts to his musician friends.  He immediately called when the package came (instead of his usual texting) since he wanted to know where the heck we found it and agreed it was the world’s greatest present (for him). Continue reading “How to Have a Great Birthday Party for Your Kids — For Less”

Is Life Insurance a Good Investment?

June 04, 2012

Permanent life insurance has a whole host of benefits, especially for taxpayers in a high tax bracket, but does it make sense when you don’t have dependents? We got this question from one of our Facebook fans (yes- you can ask a question and we’ll answer it for you here.) Continue reading “Is Life Insurance a Good Investment?”

How to Throw a Great Summer Party for Eight for Less Than $100

May 28, 2012

You know it’s a good party when you stop for a minute to listen and the sound you hear is the buzz of the many conversations engaging your friends. That is my favorite time – my friends meeting and enjoying each other’s company.  It’s just not the same to meet at a restaurant since you are stuck in your seat only talking with those directly across from or next to you. A party is different – it is alive!  Its ebbs and flows are ever changing and so much more interesting. Continue reading “How to Throw a Great Summer Party for Eight for Less Than $100”

Ladies: How to Look Stylish on Your Summer Vacation for Less

May 21, 2012

I think I have spent enough money on clothes to wear on vacations over the years to fund another week long vacation!  Like many people, I am budget conscious and watch the deals like a hawk trying to get the most for my money but then forget about my wardrobe! Last minute, I run to the department store to pick up some things to wear and there are no bargains to be found. Continue reading “Ladies: How to Look Stylish on Your Summer Vacation for Less”

Three Investment Mistakes the Trained Eye Can Spot

May 14, 2012

Recently, I had the opportunity to have a series of one-on-one meetings with employees called Ask-a-Planner sessions where the employees could ask me any question on any financial topic they wanted. Fortunately, they didn’t “stump the planner!” Many people used their time as an opportunity to have me review their allocation in their 401(k).  While most of them had an asset allocation that was a fit for them, some of the statements had huge rookie mistake red flags that I’d seen before. Continue reading “Three Investment Mistakes the Trained Eye Can Spot”

Remodeling – Will You Get Your Money Out of It?

May 07, 2012

My husband pulled a “home makeover – bathroom addition” on me!  Knowing I was traveling on business, my husband thought it would be the perfect time to put new floors in our bathrooms, kitchen and entry ways.  Now, he is a smart man so he didn’t totally surprise me with new floors – we spent many hours choosing the perfect color together.  He did schedule them to be installed when I was away. Continue reading “Remodeling – Will You Get Your Money Out of It?”

A “Must Do” If You Hold Company Stock in Your 401(k)

April 30, 2012

The bottom line is employees must love the companies they work for.  It’s not that they wear the company t-shirt and logo hats and drink out of their insulated mugs. That isn’t how I can tell.  It’s in their portfolios.  When they ask me to review their portfolios, the employees who hold company stock tend to go overboard.  I’ve seen 401(k)s with 90% in company stock and many have well over 20%.  When we talk about the risks of having more than 10% of assets in one stock, they smile politely and say, “I know.”  But many don’t do anything about it.  Continue reading “A “Must Do” If You Hold Company Stock in Your 401(k)”

You Can Retire at 60!

April 23, 2012

She proved me wrong.  When my first appointment of the day for a work site personal financial planning session came in, I was skeptical because the first thing she said was that she wanted to retire in six months and she was sixty years old.  I raised an eyebrow and told her, “It’s not easy to retire at sixty – in fact it is really tough. Not many people do it these days.” Continue reading “You Can Retire at 60!”

Stay-At-Home Parents: Watch Out For These Two Things

April 16, 2012

With the twitter-sphere going crazy last week with the question as to whether a stay-at-home mom works or not, my thoughts naturally gravitated to the financial planning aspects of the situation. Stay-at-home parents may have it made when it comes to spending quality time with the children and not having to panic when the kids are sick since they are at home.  However, there are some unique challenges for the family that made the decision to have one parent choose the career of “parenthood.”  Continue reading “Stay-At-Home Parents: Watch Out For These Two Things”

Powerball: How to Cash in When You Don’t Win

April 09, 2012

My son reminded me that if you don’t buy a ticket, the odds of winning the Powerball lottery were zero.  He also said, “Someone has to win you know.”  He does have a point and that line of thinking is shared by many people who are in a frenzy buying lottery tickets even though the odds of winning a mega-jackpot are 175.7 million to one. I didn’t play the Powerball but I have to admit that I did buy into the California lottery pool with a bunch of my co-workers only because if they DID win, I wouldn’t want to be left behind. Continue reading “Powerball: How to Cash in When You Don’t Win”

Old School Money Tips That Stand the Test of Time

April 02, 2012

“Are you in entertainment?” I asked the older gentleman next to me as we got news from the pilot we were in a “holding pattern.”  The flight was from LAX to Salt Lake City with a stopover in Las Vegas. I was headed home to Utah but the gentleman sitting next to me was obviously going to get off in Vegas.  He resembled a mix of Johnny Cash with his dark black hair and leather suit jacket with a black shirt and a cast member of the Godfather with the way he carried himself.  In other words, I did not mess with him – no one did. Continue reading “Old School Money Tips That Stand the Test of Time”

Funding Your Child’s College Education is Not Impossible if You Follow These Steps

March 26, 2012

This past weekend, I had the opportunity to visit my little two-year-old granddaughter.  Since we live out of town, my favorite memory of the weekend was walking into the living room on Sunday morning and the little darling looked up at me in surprise.  My step daughter said, “Noni (that’s me) is still here!  Isn’t it wonderful?”  A big smile and hugs followed.  Those are the moments that melt your heart.  Continue reading “Funding Your Child’s College Education is Not Impossible if You Follow These Steps”

Becoming Healthy and Wealthy at the Same Time

March 19, 2012

Becoming healthy and wealthy at the same time seemed like an insurmountable goal to the caller I talked to last week on our financial helpline. Moneywise, Gail (*not her real name) was behind in her bills every single month and extremely stressed about it.  At the end of each pay period, she literally ran out of money so she wrote checks that she knew would put her account in the deficit. Continue reading “Becoming Healthy and Wealthy at the Same Time”

IRS Form 4868 – Means I Am Going Skiing

March 12, 2012

Whose bright idea was it to choose April 15th (this year April 17th) as the tax filing deadline?  Well, I know that you can certainly file earlier, which I used to do but that was before I moved to Utah, where they have “the greatest snow on earth.”  Truth be told, I’d rather be skiing. Continue reading “IRS Form 4868 – Means I Am Going Skiing”

Five Money Moves to Make When a Recurring Payment Ends

March 05, 2012

My youngest son is graduating from college this spring — I can’t tell you how excited I am. Not only as a proud mother who gets to see her son accomplish a goal that is important to him and that he has worked very hard for, but because soon I will be free! I’ll be free from paying tuition and room and board! His tuition at the University of California has nearly doubled in four years so my husband and I have been paying out of pocket for his expenses each month. We are feeling the same way many people feel when they are close to paying off a car, their house or any other recurring bill — very excited AND since he is the last one, this is a bill that won’t be coming back. Continue reading “Five Money Moves to Make When a Recurring Payment Ends”

7 Ways to Reduce the Single Biggest Expense for Retirees

February 27, 2012

Housing costs and related household expenses make up the single largest spending category for Americans over fifty, a recent study by Employee Benefit Research Institute reports.  This has many pre-retirees concerned because for most retirees’, their income declines or is fixed but certainly doesn’t grow.  At the same time, expenses just keep on coming.  While household expenses eventually decline with age as Americans reach their mid–eighties, health care costs increase substantially for that age group, wiping out any advantage of the cost savings. Continue reading “7 Ways to Reduce the Single Biggest Expense for Retirees”

5 Easy-to-Miss Tax Filing Mistakes

February 20, 2012

Whoops!  In preparing for this blog, I realized that I made one of the easy-to-miss tax filing mistakes I was going to alert you to!  I moved last year and was supposed to inform the IRS by filing form 8822.  If they sent paperwork during the year, I can’t just say, “I never got it – I moved!” That is a bit like saying, “My dog ate my homework” and will just not fly with the IRS.  I sure hope any statements were forwarded by my old post office.  Shoot. Continue reading “5 Easy-to-Miss Tax Filing Mistakes”

Don’t Simply File Your W2 – Analyze It!

February 06, 2012

When you look in your mailbox these days, there is some kind of a tax form waiting for you just about every day.  Most people simply glance at them to verify there are no mistakes but then they go into the current year’s tax file.  After filing taxes, who pulls out their W2 and goes over it with a fine toothed comb?  Not too many people I would assume.  Most of us are so glad to get our taxes filed and over with that we are done and ready to move on to other things. Continue reading “Don’t Simply File Your W2 – Analyze It!”

12 Important Financial Steps to Take in 2012

January 30, 2012

By now, everyone has broken their New Year’s resolutions.  Never fear, taking one financial action step each month is easy and you still have time to finish January’s step.  Taken together these steps can have a tremendous impact on your finances in 2012. Continue reading “12 Important Financial Steps to Take in 2012”