Blog – Money Matters
Reduce Your Financial Stress
With reported COVID cases on the increase again, delays in services and obtaining retail goods, and many companies experiencing an employee shortfall, we are all seeing and, in many cases, experiencing an increase in our overall stress level. There is a lot of general advice about adding a meditation or mindfulness practice and ensuring good […]
More Comfort In Retirement?
We talk all the time about the advantage of those that have a pension from their previous employer. Maybe you were a school employee or a federal, state, or local government employee, and you worked long enough to qualify for a pension. Maybe you have been fortunate enough to work at IBM, Lockheed Martin, or […]
Musings About Your Neighbor
I have spent several posts discussing ways that you can improve your financial life. We talked about refinancing debt and making debt payments more frequently to get out of debt sooner. I have discussed using gift cards as a method to help reduce gasoline costs and control spending. I have written about automatic payments and […]
Looking Forward
Are we headed towards a repeat of 2008? We are watching a blossoming real estate market. Local real estate listings are staying on the market for an average of 17 days. We see several sellers finding themselves in bidding wars and selling their houses for more than market price. Buyers find themselves shut out of […]
Selling Your Home or other Real Estate?
It seems like a good time with booming real estate sales to talk about the potential taxation of selling a piece of property. To determine if there is any taxable gain, you must first understand your basis.
Are You Owed Money?
There was a recent announcement that in the last 12 months, there were $58 billion added to unclaimed funds. And this is not unusual – generally, over $50 billion gets added to unclaimed funds annually. NYS is currently holding over $18 billion in its state treasury alone.
Leasing vs. Buying a Car
More and more, I am being asked about leasing versus buying a car. I fall within the category of individuals who believe leasing is not a good idea.
Should you refinance?
For the 3rd time this month, I just had a conversation about refinancing mortgages. Mortgage rates are at some of the lowest we have seen in our lifetimes. I hear about rates at some local banks being 2.4% to 2.6%. I see online rates as low as 2.25%. Of course, you will need a good […]
Understanding the Impact of Inflation
How many of you remember gas prices at 25 cents a gallon or when a loaf of bread was a dime? Do you understand what caused gas or bread prices to soar to $3.00 or more? Product costs go up when the cost of the raw materials increase and demand outpaces supply. An increase in […]
Digital Estate Plan
The recent cyberattack on the pipeline facility in Texas seems to be an appropriate lead-in to remind individuals about a potential digital issue. I hope that you are diligent about protecting your computer, your phone, and other electronic devices. Are you diligent about backing up data in case you have a hard drive crash, or […]