(Today’s guest post comes from Gayle Morris, a nurse practitioner who shares her lessons from mom. I especially like #5.) I never truly appreciated the hard work and effort my mother put into raising us until I became a mother myself. Parents have an incredible responsibility to raise the next generation and I learned many … Read more
As 2020 draws to an end, it is time to close the year and give ourselves a fresh start. When a new year begins we make New Year’s resolutions that we plan to achieve during the year, but often by the end of January we have reverted back to our old ways. Resolutions long forgotten. … Read more
During the holiday season we feel a heightened desire to spend more time with our family. Maybe it is because there are multiple family events occurring close together. Many of us end up having two Thanksgiving celebrations, one for each side of the family. Then there are multiple Christmas parties topped off with a New … Read more
Now and then, life hands us remarkable breakthroughs which offer us a quantum leap forward. Some examples include: passing medical boards, getting married, the birth of a child, or even shipping the first COVID-19 vaccine to the world. I had one such breakthrough the first week of December when I was taking my recertification class … Read more
As more people move toward becoming debt free, there comes a time when they must choose which debt to pay off next. Often the last two debts are their home mortgage and the mortgage on a rental property. The home likely has a lower interest rate and is often the larger loan. The best way … Read more
It appears that Joe Biden will become the next President of the United States in January. He has already stated many of the things he plans to do during his term. Some of those things will have direct financial impact on us. Biden has stated he wants to cut costs for the low and middle … Read more
Thanksgiving is different this year, with the pandemic keeping us separated. It is the first year since I went into practice that we have not been part of a large extended family gathering. But even so, there are still things to be thankful for. I just finished reading the book, My American Journey, by Colin … Read more
Most people who are saving for retirement are familiar with the 4% rule. According to this rule, proposed by William P. Bengen in 1994, and later confirmed by Trinity University in 1998, you can withdraw 4% of your retirement assets the first year of retirement and then increase your withdrawal for inflation each year thereafter. … Read more
I saw a recent conversation on social media where someone stated that he only had a few years left on his home mortgage, so there wasn’t much interest left to pay. Because of this he felt it was far better to pay out the mortgage as scheduled and invest his money for a higher return. … Read more
One of the first things I do with my financial makeover clients is set up a spreadsheet, tailored to them, to track their net worth on a quarterly basis. This program is set up to be used for the rest of their lives on my proprietary Excel spreadsheet. I have used this program to track … Read more
