Little did I know when I posted my last blog in February that I would be weathering a financial COVID storm.   As I began tax season, I did not know how life would turn upside down in the coming months.   So much as has changed, including a tax season that never seemed to end. 

Having prepared taxes for almost a decade, I have learned what our best clients do to get ready for tax preparation.  US Income Tax law is quite complicated and can be intimidating if not overwhelming.  Before entering the financial planning profession,  I used outside preparers for my increasingly complex personal return. 

Essential Financial Strategies is pleased to announce a new service--The Strategic College Plan.   This service helps families figure out how to pay for college while minimizing  the future burden of college student loans.   Using a sophisticated knowledge base, Rorik Larson assists families to predict their Expected Family Contribution. 

I have noticed over the years that clients that have financial peace of mind also have is to sufficient liquidity or cash on hand/emergency funds.   Having these funds available helps me and others feel a greater sense of abundance.  It helps cover the financial chaos of life and the ability to pay for life as it happens with much less financial stress.   That is financial peace of mind.

"They are so lucky!"  How often have I heard this exclaimed?  If you are like me, you’ve probably heard something like this a whole bunch of times.   In varying ways I say it to myself as well while not considering in the moment how they created the luck.

From time to time I have had clients that I believed need to do some work on budgeting. In, both, my professional and personal life I like to walk my talk or said another way practice what I preach. So, it was time for me start or rather restart my budgeting journey. I had struggled in earlier attempts as I dislike bookkeeping type work and after a “honeymoon” period usually stop the effort.

Evaluate College Costs: it is the net cost not advertised price that counts toward lowering Student Loan debt. Finding the college discounts will ultimately reduce student loans.  Colleges post their prices online.  This is just like hotels have rates on room doors and car dealers have sticker prices on car windows.

It can be scary retiring after a near lifetime of working.   Perhaps even scarier is realizing that you must live on what you have now in investments.   The markets daily ups and down with the television, radio, and social media hype only enhance this fear.  How are you to do your retirement investing?  Put them under a mattress or bank CD's earning very little interest?  Here is a method that works for my clients.

Money and More (C) has been taking a break from Tax Season through the middle of the Summer.  We will return later this month.   Rorik

Thanks to the tax law changes, many taxpayers must now take the Standard Deduction on their federal income tax returns.   Additionally, the threshold for medical expenses jumped from 7.5% of Adjusted Gross Income to 10% in 2019.  There are strategies that can help save taxes in the short term or long term.

Financial planners like myself often encounter clients wanting to know how to financially retire.   While retirement is about much more than just money, that is why folks frequently seek out financial planning.   These people just want to know "How much do I need to retire'' to avoid living under a bridge?  This can become a kind of "Catch 22" question.

Your Taxes and the Government Shutdown The current federal government partial shutdown is affecting the IRS and your taxes.  On January 7th the IRS announced that they will accept tax returns starting on January 28th.  The IRS will issue refunds on schedule.  There are other issues that might hold up returns.   The IRS has recalled …

Money and More© January 12, 2019 Read More »