Take charge.

When it comes to your money and family finances, you have to accept responsibility and be in charge of decisions. There are a lot of sales people out there more than willing to sell you on a concept or product. We are all bombarded with advertising that is designed to be misleading though still legal. But the most frequent problem you encounter is making an impulse decision without sufficient knowledge of risk. Making a decision is easy. Making good decisions takes work and forethought.
Read more

Avoiding Surprises

Avoiding surprises. First, let me make it clear surprises cannot be totally avoided. Otherwise there would not be any surprises.

But every so often we have terrible situations occur that are absolutely avoidable.
Read more

Dumbest things to do with your money.

The internet is a wonderful source of information and the following is a compilation of thoughts from a variety of sources. I say a compilation because I do not concur with some of the thoughts from a base article I encountered and have supplemented based on experience.

Falling in love—with your investments. You must continually assess if your invested dollars are still solid and meeting your goals. This includes all types of assets, not just stocks, bonds, mutual funds, etc. I counsel too many folks who are emotionally tied to their assets and unwilling to part with them when the value can be better used elsewhere.
Read more

What is fun and how much does it cost?

Everyone is interested in having a fun life. We find all sorts of ways to entertain ourselves in our free time. And if studies on work habits are accurate, we will take opportunities to have fun while working and clocked in.

You must also consider life is a series of tradeoffs. Tradeoffs are made based on our personal goals. Goals related to fun commonly involve money.
Read more

Dollars & Sense! – March 2010

Watch out, scams are increasing.

Since September 08 it has been amazing the number of scams that have been identified.
Read more

Love is an interesting concept.

Several love related concepts have emerged as I have done financial counseling for over 20 years. Some express their love for their children and will do anything for their happiness. Other love their possessions and acquiring them. And some love the goal of long term happiness while on earth.
Read more

Dollars & Sense! January 2010

Ready, set, go. The starting line is here and another New Year is upon us. So how did you do financially for 2009? And what are your goals for 2010?

Asset building for the future is the name of the game we are all part of. You choose how much you want to participate. Twenty-plus years of financial counseling have taught me one thing. The most successful people I know have always had goals they wish to achieve. Incentive, focus and discipline yield results.
Read more

Dollars & Sense! – December 2009

Line up here for free government money and free tax filing help.

How many of the headlines these days are about the recession, recovery and all the government stimulus programs?? Yes, we are in the most difficult financial times as a country since the 1930s. And our leaders are throwing a lot of money into the economy to get things back to “normal”.
Read more

Setting a good example.

As a parent, grandparent, mentor or whatever you are, you have an obligation to teach those around you about managing finances. The school systems do not see this as their obligation. However I applaud those teachers who try to include it within their curriculum restrictions.

So what should our children be taught? And when? Read more

Power at your fingertips.

The power of wealth building is available to anyone. It has been written about numerous times and even been advertised on the covers of magazines. But like many good ideas, it is commonly ignored be the masses.
Read more

Next Page »