We all have different ideas about which budgeting strategies work best for us, but some general guidelines are often helpful when determining a reasonable budget.  Guidelines offering ratios between income and expenditures can help you keep numbers in balance, especially if you are considering buying or renting a different home or making major changes such as retirement.

We tend to look at what we own and what we owe in a rather abstract way.  Perhaps we own a home, car(s), some investments, a retirement plan(s), a vacation home or time share, art work, personal items, life insurance, pets, and other assets we don’t really think about.  We rarely think about what all this stuff is really worth.  We may understand that we can give away, as a gift, up to $14,000 annually to as many people as we like, and if we have a spouse that would amount to $28,000.

This blog will cover one of many topics to be considered when planning for a student’s college education. Cost is certainly a major concern when a student is creating a list of possible schools, along with other factors that will determine the value of the education. 

The markets can be uplifting at times and downright disappointing at other times. As long-term investors, we don’t want to look at short-term swings in the marketplace. It drives me nuts when clients tell me that they look at their accounts on a daily or even weekly basis. If you do so, you will drive yourself nuts. A recently retired client told me he was looking at his investments on a daily basis (I thought he should get a better hobby).  One day his portfolio went up and he slept like a baby.  The very next day, the portfolio went down and he couldn’t sleep.

An expression people repeat over and over is “the one constant is change”. In our business, we are often consulted as a result of changes such as a new job, marriage, divorce, death, and relocation. In the past few months, I have seen several cases in which, amidst these changes, beneficiaries were not updated or changed on accounts, and the result was detrimental.

The first quarter of 2015 is over. The stock market went up, the stock market went down. It kept doing this all during the quarter. At the end of the quarter, the Dow Jones Industrial Average, an index of 30 blue chip stocks, had dropped 0.3%. The S&P 500, a much broader index of the market, was up 0.4%. In summary, not much change to either of the indexes.  What was more apparent was that other asset classes did better than the U.S. stock market during the first quarter. I am always emphasizing diversification and this quarter was an excellent example of why it is so important.

Anyone who earns income through employment or has a spouse with earned income may be eligible to contribute to an Individual Retirement Account (IRA).  The common question is which IRA, Traditional or Roth IRA, is best for you? 

Several weeks ago, the media was reporting that economists didn’t think that the economy did well in the 4th quarter of 2014. Despite resistance to the idea, however, the U.S. economy is growing while creating new jobs and higher wages.

One of the most popular topics clients often wish to discuss is whether to pay extra on a home mortgage or to invest those extra funds in another kind of asset. For some, the idea of having debt of any kind is stressful, and they feel compelled to pay down the debt at all costs. For others, the idea of having some liquidity built up while continuing to make regular mortgage payments contributes to their peace of mind. While there is not a right or wrong answer, you can do both: build assets while systematically reducing debt.

The price of oil has dropped by about 55% in the past year, causing a great deal of disruption. The economies of many oil producing countries are being devastated by the drop. The cost to produce the product has become greater than the selling price in many places, resulting in an economic imbalance. To mitigate this price drop, a reduction in staffing and production by oil companies might help, but in third world countries, a significant reduction in employment could result in some form of uprising.