As you plan your charitable year-end giving, decide how to select the right charity and determine how much of your hard-earned money to give to the charity of your choice. Here are 5 tips to help you pick the best charity for your year-end giving and donating so that you can make the most of [...]
You can do nearly everything online these days, including booking the vacation of your dreams. Whether it’s a long journey around the world or a short trip to a tropical beach, finding a hotel, car and plane ticket can be done with a simple click of your mouse. The Internet has also made it easy [...]
Graduation season is upon us, and those of us who are parents are suddenly struck by the fact that, before we know it, we will be sending our children off to college. Use the time before they leave for school to have focused conversations that will empower and prepare them for the challenges ahead. In [...]
Is the foreclosure crisis over? Home prices are rising, but there are still too many foreclosures to be a normal housing market. It depends on where you stand. Is this your reality? The housing market is on an upswing. Mortgage interest rates are still low, home prices are rising dramatically, and the stock prices of companies [...]
My teenage daughter, like her friends, pretty much lives on her Twitter and Facebook accounts. Me, not quite so much. I’m not a huge fan of sharing little bits of my daily life in short sentences. The way I do use social media, however, allows me to save money. Every few days, I check our [...]
Paid off your mortgage? To get documents showing your mortgage is paid off, check with your lender for a paid-in-full letter. Q: In your recent Real Estate Matters column you said that when you pay off your mortgage you should receive -- among other things -- the original note marked "paid" or shown with a [...]
As parents, we want our children to be successful and happy in life, but teaching them financial independence often gets put on the back burner. Many parents wait until their children are graduating from high school or leaving for college to begin talking about money management. Here are three tips to help your children forge [...]
Setting up payroll for your small business is at once a simple and increasingly complex process. To gain a basic understanding, let’s start with the simple part. If you’re starting up a business, you have to pay your employees, and obviously they will expect their paychecks to be accurate and on time. You will have [...]
Taking financial advice from someone takes a lot of trust—trust you shouldn’t give someone just because he or she has a business degree. There are plenty of financial planners that don’t make the grade. These red flags will help you decide whether you can trust your planner or whether it’s time to move on to someone else [...]
If you haven’t been to a thrift store or garage sale lately, now’s a great time to explore one. Why? Many families de-clutter after Christmas, so they donate or consign items to local second-hand shops in the spring. As the weather improves, garage sales also start popping up like spring crocuses. If you’re a little [...]
