• Making Your Employer a Partner In Your Financial Planning
    05/01/2007 - 08:00

    People who look to their employers for nothing more than a weekly paycheck and basic health care insurance are missing the boat.

  • Market Volatility Shouldn’t Rattle a Good Financial Plan
    04/30/2007 - 23:00

    On Feb. 27 this year, the Dow Jones Industrial Average slid 416 points, the biggest drop since the market reopened after the 9/11 attacks. By early May, the market had more than made up those losses and stood at record highs.

  • What Are Exchange-traded Funds and How Do They Work?
    04/01/2007 - 08:00

    An exchange-traded fund (ETF) is a basket of securities created to track as closely as possible a particular market index, such as the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index or the Dow Jones Industrial Average. They’re similar to mutual funds in that they represent investments in the same types of securities, but they generally have lower fees and can be bought and sold with more pricing immediacy than mutual funds. They also have some clear tax advantages.

  • Getting the Kids Involved in Saving for College
    04/01/2007 - 08:00

    The World War II generation got a taste of higher education through the G.I. Bill and made it a point to supplement or pay their kids’ tuition. It was a struggle, but a far more manageable one than it is in this day and age. Figures from the University of Texas in 2005 showed that since the 1960s, the price of a public higher education has risen from about five percent of median family income to more than 17 percent today.

  • Losing Your Inheritance to Uncle Sam – or Others
    04/01/2007 - 08:00

    Successful estate planning takes not one generation, but two. The first generation needs to make a clear, sensible plan and the second needs to be involved in that plan.

  • Tis the Season - Things to Know Before Filing Your Taxes
    02/01/2007 - 09:00

    Everyone loves a good tax tip. And now that tax season is in full swing, the IRS and other experts have started to issue tip after tip after tip. Here's a recap:

    Getting a jump on your taxes long before the April deadline is the best tip of all. To do so, the IRS recommends gathering your records in advance, including W-2s and 1099s. In addition, the IRS recommends getting the right forms, all of which are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week at the IRS' Web site, www.IRS.gov. That site also has some helpful calculators to get you started.

  • Creating an Ethical Will
    02/01/2007 - 09:00

    You may or may not have heard the term "ethical will". But, for those who care about making their values and ethics part of their legacy, it is a tool to consider when planning your estate.

    Unlike a "last will and testament", which provides for the distribution of a person's material assets, or a "living will", which contains instructions for how you want to be treated medically at the end of your days, an "ethical will" is designed to let someone preserve and share their values, principles and beliefs for heirs and future generations, though it's not legally binding.

  • Using Universal Life Insurance with Secondary Guarantees for Estate Taxes
    02/01/2007 - 09:00

    As things stand in early 2007, estate and generation skipping (GST) taxes will be repealed in 2010 and reinstated in 2011. And given that Democrats now have control of the House and the Senate, experts are predicting that the permanent repeal of the estate tax is unlikely in the next two years.

  • More Tax Changes: The Tax Relief and Health Care Act of 2006
    01/01/2007 - 09:00

    President Bush signed the Tax Relief and Health Care Act into law in late 2006. The new law, which offers $45.1 billion in tax breaks and adds more than 200 changes to the Tax Code, extended several tax provisions that were scheduled to expire, resurrected several tax provisions that had already expired and added a few surprises.

  • Medicare Provides Preventive Services
    01/01/2007 - 09:00

    There are many myths about Medicare: many of which focus on what it covers and what it doesn't. Not surprisingly, older Americans are seemingly unaware that Medicare covers a broad range of services to prevent disease, detect disease early when it is most treatable and curable and manage disease so that complications can be avoided.

Market Snapshot

SymbolLastChange
^DJI
10,340.70
-107.24
^GSPC
1,098.87
0.00
^IXIC
2,228.87
0.00
TYX-X.W
0.00
0.00