Your Annual Financial To-Do List Things you can do before & for 2017. What financial, business, or life priorities do you need to address for 2017? Now is a good time to think about the investing, saving, or budgeting methods you could employ toward specific objectives. Some year-end financial moves may help you pursue those goals as well. What can you do to lower your 2017 taxes? Before the year fades away, you have plenty of options. Here are a [...]
How Much Home Can You Afford? That depends on a number of factors. Check on them to see if you are ready to buy. Does buying a home make sense for you financially? It may or may not, depending on some financial, career, and lifestyle factors. Your savings, your credit, your salary, your level of disposable income, and your housing preferences all count. If you are serious about becoming a homeowner, you should have three priorities: keeping your credit score [...]
Impact Investing Planning to grow your money with causes in mind. Can investing change the world? Some millennials, Gen Xers, baby boomers and elders hope the answer is “yes.” Billionaires, like Bill Gates and Richard Branson, are pouring money into green business ventures and projects intended to improve education and the quality of life, and millions of other households are directing portions of their portfolios into socially responsible investments. Impact investing, which was once largely ignored by Wall Street, [...]
Getting Your Financial Paperwork in Good Order Help make things easier for your loved ones when you leave this world. Who wants to leave this world with their financial affairs in good order? We all do, right? None of us wants to leave a collection of financial mysteries for our spouse or our children to solve. What we want and what we do can differ, however. Many heirs spend days, weeks, or months searching for a decedent’s financial and legal [...]
Advancing Toward Your Career Goals Should you change jobs in pursuit of them? Or position yourself in a new way at work? Is your career unfolding as it should? If not, maybe it is time for a change; either a change of jobs, or a change in your role at your workplace. Pay attention to the signals of a stalled career. If the status quo at your office bothers you, or if you feel apathetic or nonchalant about your work, [...]