Fall means a lot of things, including going back to school, raking leaves, decorating pumpkins and eating turkey, but in my house, it usually also means home maintenance. It seems like every fall there’s something wrong with my house. A few years ago we had to have the fridge and kitchen sink replaced. This year [...]
Having a baby is sometimes called the miracle of life. And it is, unless you learn that it will be difficult for you or your loved one to get pregnant. Then, the breakdown of science and emotion can consume you. This can become one of those cases where health insurance coverage isn’t another monthly bill. [...]
Sometimes I feel like there’s a tax credit for everything—but the tricky part is finding out for which tax credits you qualify and how to receive them. One interesting and important tax credit that may be available to you is the adoption credit. Why do we care so much about the adoption tax credit? The [...]
A client just asked me about reviewing her payroll, which fluctuates a great deal throughout the year. Her request is perfectly timed—there’s still plenty of time to adjust her withholding before year-end and filing taxes. When you pay your taxes via withholding, the IRS will treat the payments as if they had been made throughout [...]
This may sound obvious, but if you are fortunate enough to enjoy personal wealth, the easiest way to hang onto it is to be smart about how you manage expenses, investments, taxes, and other pillars of personal finance and money management tips. However, in many cases, especially when it comes to celebrity culture, this is [...]
Everyone has at least one vice, whether we are willing to admit it or not. Looking at Dante’s list of seven deadly vices, I am certain that I have fallen prey to nearly all of them at one time or another—and enjoyed them heartily. Shhhh…. But those aren’t the vices we’ll focus on today. We’ll [...]
Why are you scrimping and saving, clipping coupons and skipping meals, forgoing vacations, and being extra nice to wealthy relatives in hopes that they might “loan” you a few thousand or remember you in their wills so you can make the down payment on your first experience buying a home? Are you nuts? Don’t you [...]
Foreclosures and short sales aren’t the only story in the housing market. Historically low interest rates should be a sign for existing homeowners that it might be time to refinance. Freddie Mac released the results of its Primary Mortgage Market Survey today and the results are good news for anyone looking to refinance: fixed rate [...]
The U.S. real estate market took a big hit when the housing bubble burst in 2008, but August housing numbers indicate a slight upswing in home sales from a year ago. It’s been hard to stay optimistic for housing market predictions with tight credit markets and a summer full of natural disasters. However, we’re seeing [...]
It’s always worthwhile to plan for saving money, even when the stock market is tanking. The fact is that you don’t need to put your money into anything risky—there are always savings accounts and certificates of deposit, for example. You may not earn much with these options, but you won’t lose anything either. Folks who [...]
