Summer is here, 2016 is half over, and it’s a great time to organize your taxes. It seems most of my clients wait until January to look for their records, organize their charitable donations, and review investment accounts. While it may not be fun to spend a Saturday afternoon in July reviewing your tax records,[…]
So, you’ve decided to create a budget, but how do you get started? The first step is to determine your monthly income. This is fairly easy for those of us with a salary. It’s more difficult for independent contractors and the self-employed, whose income typically fluctuates from month to month. If you are self-employed, you[…]
With the new year approaching, we are all making New Year’s resolutions. Losing weight, controlling spending, improving relationships, all of these are worthy of our attention. However, with the higher costs of gasoline and food and impending tax increases, it’s more important than ever to manage our personal money. For those of us who rely[…]
As I prepare to start my Christmas shopping, I look up in the top of my extra closet at all of the gifts of Christmas’s past, sitting there…waiting to be used. It reminds me of the “Island of Misfit Toys” in Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. I have several nice items in the top of[…]
With Christmas right around the corner, I thought this would be a great time to talk about Christmas spending. We are all familiar with the typical advice: review last year’s expenses, prepare a budget, and avoid using credit cards. Great advice; however, it leaves out one crucial factor…emotions. Emotions affect our spending more than we[…]