My husband and I have long-standing ties to our local brick-and-mortar bank, which provides us in-person service if we need it, a safety deposit box, and our paychecks are direct-deposited there. We don’t pay any fees, but the savings accounts there pay an interest rate of 0.01%. (Translation: keeping $10,000 there for a year generates…
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The inbox ignites with recognition of years of hard work – your child has been accepted into college! As college acceptance letters go out across the nation, many parents and students are struggling to decide how to pay for it all. With the cost of an undergraduate degree having risen 169% from 1980 to 2020*,…
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Many of you have seen the headlines this week about Silicon Valley Bank’s collapse and that some other banks (namely First Republic and Credit Suisse) are in trouble. I thought it would be helpful to give you a brief overview of why SVB failed and if it has an impact on your portfolio. Without further…
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On December 29, 2022, President Biden signed the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023, which is wrapped into the larger bill, Securing a Strong Retirement Act, commonly called SECURE 2.0. The majority of the SECURE 2.0 provisions will become effective in 2024. Here are a few key takeaways from SECURE 2.0 that may affect you:
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I am taking guitar lessons. It’s been a goal of mine for a while, and I realized I needed the face to face instruction and accountability to give myself the best chance of success. My instructor keeps telling me…”I’d rather you practice 15 minutes a day than ONLY 2 hours on Saturday!” This made me…
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If you have friends or family that are over 50 and low-to-moderate income, pass on a tip to them: AARP Foundation Tax-Aide has nationwide, trained and IRS-certified volunteers who will prepare their 2022 tax return FREE of charge! I have been one of those volunteers for 6 years. Most of the taxpayers we serve are…
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I’m reading a book right now that talks about Warren Buffett. Some say he is a great investor. Others say that perhaps he has just been extremely lucky. Or perhaps he is just an old investor (he’s been investing for a long time!). I think Buffett has a good bit of all three: Investment skill,…
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The chain of banks behind Zelle, which is owned by seven banks total, including Chase and and Bank of America, are planning to launch their own digital wallet. This wallet will jump into the increasingly-crowded field of digital wallets, dominated by the likes of Apple Pay and PayPal. For the tech companies that have so…
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“Automate your priorities and they will happen…automatically!” It sounds like a joke, but it’s such a powerful financial planning tool. l’ve also heard it said this way…”direction, not intention, determines your destination.” Here are some common financial priorities that can be easily automated: When you know that your most critical priorities are happening in the…
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