Investments

So your electronic fairy godmother (or if you still prefer snail-mail, Mr. Postman) finally got around to delivering that big, fat tax refund check you’ve been waiting for. Woo-hoo! You’re not alone, there’s a lot of woo-hooing going on these days. As proof, here’s some tax time trivia for you—according to Bankrate.com, last year (tax year 2008) over 96,000,000 taxpayers saw a refund from Uncle Sam worth an average of $2,683. That was up from 2007’s $2,371. Of the 131.5 million tax returns filed, over 73% received returns. Four out of five people say they expect a return this year.

In the church of finance, personal responsibility is the high priest. It’s true that outside forces will affect your situation to a point, but only you can dictate how your financial life will proceed. With that in mind, let’s take a look at five “debtly sins” that can misdirect your financial well-being.

Get your receipts lined up. Rip open the W-2s. Sharpen those pencils and make sure you have plenty of erasers. It’s tax time, the season for crunching numbers and squeezing blood from a turnip. It’s a chore not many of us relish unless we expect a big return (and if you do, for shame, you’re giving the government an interest-free loan, but more about that at another time).

It’s not that we don’t receive breaks from Uncle Sam. Last year, nearly 46 million citizens itemized their taxes via the 1040 form and claimed nearly $1 trillion in deductions. Those using standard deductions claimed half a trillion dollars. Yet when you take us as individuals, who doesn’t want to pay as few taxes as possible, whether it involves getting a bigger return or owing less?

If you got engaged on Valentine’s Day, congratulations! Even if you got engage in recent months and are in the process of deciding all the details of your wedding, from flowers to keepsakes and everything in between, make sure you remember to cover one of the most important things before the Big Day––your and your intended’s money compatibility.

Of course, a successful marriage is one that allows enough room to accommodate each other’s individual opinions, tastes and style. Just because you like to blast Pink in the car while your fiancé prefers to relax to Michael Bublé doesn't mean your marriage will be headed for trouble. However, when it comes to how you handle money––both individually and as a couple––compatibility is critical if your marriage is to thrive.

“A penny saved is a penny earned.”
Ben Franklin

That Ben Franklin, he was as good with the financial advice as he was with all the Founding Father business. No wonder his face wound up on our $100 bill. And yes, as Ben said, every penny you save may as well be a penny earned. But you have to save it to earn it!

Yes, saving money should always be an important part of your financial life. We’ve already touched on saving in a more generic sense when we talked about choices for a healthy financial New Year. Well, let’s explore a few more specific ways to save. This time we’ll look at ways to save money on things you do or use every day. There’s nothing tricky or difficult about any of these options. The only thing you’ll need is a good dose of “stick-to-it-ness.” Let’s get started...

Can you hear it? It’s the steady footsteps of retirement, and it’s gaining ground on you. It could be quite a few paces behind, or it could be looking right over your shoulder. Either way, it’s going to catch up with you sooner or later. Are you ready?

The average American spends 18 years in retirement. That’s quite a few years and can take quite a financial nest egg to subsidize. If you don’t have retirement questions, you should. Questions like:

      How much do I need to save to retire comfortably?
      What are my best options?
      Who can help me?