Have you been trying to stay on track financially? Have you had trouble keeping spending in line here at the Jersey Shore? After a few months indoors you might feel like splurging just a little. Spending money is okay, but it needs to be tracked and organized. For...
When it comes to the question, "what's your investment minimum," many advisors try to get cute when responding. On one hand, advisers don't want to set too a high threshold. A high investment minimum may leave some folks left to interpret "we're too small to be a...
Fixing pensions won't come through stock market gains. Pensions are in trouble because the amount owed to retirees is compounding faster than any returns a pension plan could earn in the stock market, or any market. An article in the Wall Street Journal spells out...
No. The End. Rather than have this be the shortest blog post ever, I want to refine my answer a bit. There is no deduction for Roth IRA contributions since money goes into these accounts after-tax. But there may still be a tax benefit to making Roth IRA contributions,...
Is your tax refund smaller this year? Some folks are discovering their tax refund is smaller than last year, or smaller than expected. Or worse, they may owe money on taxes. "Where is the tax cut I was promised?" I discussed this recently in a thread on Twitter with...
Where is your "emergency savings" sitting? The answers we've heard shocked us: One gentleman told us the money sitting in utility stocks was his emergency money. Good grief. Some folks have a few measly bucks socked away in a bank account, just in case. Some have...
I just got back from Hollywood, Florida where I spent the last few days at this year's Inside ETFs conference. It was a special trip for me because this was my first chance to participate in a panel discussion. I'm incredibly grateful to the people at Inside ETFs for...
The New England Patriots won their sixth Super Bowl last Sunday. As a Jets fan, each Patriots title stings more and more. However, it’s hard to deny, and hate on, their greatness over the last few decades. The Patriots defeated the Los Angeles Rams in the Super...
I’m not one for New Year’s resolutions, but I wanted to try a couple new things in 2019. One new thing I’ve signed up for is a half marathon. I will be running a 13.1 mile race on April 6th of this year. I’ve never been one to enjoy running extremely long...
Refinancing debt is not extinguishing debt. When folks tell me they "did a wise thing" and refinanced their mortgage, I seem to ask "party-pooper" type questions. Sorry. Did you take cash out when you refinanced? What did you do with the cash you took out? Did the...
