Posts

Teenagers – Money and Investing – Teaching the Essentials

/in /by

As a financial planner, I primarily work with adults, many of whom are single parents.  The focus is generally on retirement planning and college planning.  Often, parents will plan to spend vast amounts of funds providing the “best” education; yet not preparing their children upon graduation with the basic understanding of cash flow, monthly budgets and living on a percentage to further invest early a set percentage of income.  Often, we miss opportunities to walk alongside our children and teach them basic money skills that are second nature to us as adults.

The link to this site, www.teenvestor.com provides vast resources and tips for children to understand the basics of money and how to begin investing, slowly and simply, to truly harvest the benefits of compounding returns.T

WHEN AND HOW TO CLAIM SOCIAL SECURITY BENEFITS?

/in /by

IF YOU ARE A WOMAN, THIS QUESTION BECOMES FAR MORE CRITICAL AS YOU PLAN AHEAD FOR RETIREMENT INCOME- WHETHER SINGLE OR MARRIED

When social security was created in the 1930’s, the primary roles of women were drastically different than today and when calculating the number of extended years in retirement and years spent in retirement as a single woman, the application of those benefits has changed dramatically.

If you are a woman who will be counting on social security to be your primary source of income during retirement, I would strongly encourage you to sit down with a financial planner, preferably someone with a CFP designation. This article posted by Lorie Konish with CNBC.com explains many things that should be considered when factoring in Social Security Benefits as a part of your plan for retirement income:

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/01/18/why-the-stakes-are-higher-for-women-when-claiming-social-security.html

TAX TIPS for THOSE WHO ITEMIZE:

/in /by

As the new year has started rolling forward at what seems like break-neck speed, those end of 2018 tax reporting forms will start to arrive in the next couple of weeks. April 15th will be here before we know it and there is one thing that will make that day seem like any other in your calendar: PREPARATION. The tax laws have changed significantly from last year and so if you do use the services of CPA, ask questions. If you happen to file taxes yourself allow yourself time to research items that maybe unfamiliar this year. This is a great article that I found explaining tips for those who will be itemizing this year:

https://www.thebalance.com/tax-quiz-what-is-deductible-when-itemizing-4140440

Next week I will continue with helpful tax tips while you begin preparing a smooth filing day April 15th.