By: Guest
Ronald Reagan famously described inflation as being “as violent as a mugger, as frightening as an armed robber and as deadly as a hitman.” While the inflation experienced under President Reagan was all those things, inflation over the past decade would struggle to get a ticket for jaywalking. (more…)
By: Guest
Donating to a nonprofit organization is a wonderful way to make a positive impact on an issue that connects to your values. Currently, 2.7 million nonprofits in the U.S. are looking for donors and volunteers1. The opportunities to support a nonprofit can seem endless and overwhelming.
Regardless of how or where we choose to give, most of us would like to feel confident that our financial donations are being used wisely. Thanks to technology and some out-of-the-box thinkers in the social sector, we now have a bevy of new tools at our fingertips and excellent educational resources that will guide our giving in a smart and purposeful way. (more…)
As I mentioned in a recent post, Are SMART Goals Wise? certain types of goal setting may actually be limiting rather than liberating. The principle of SMART goal setting is that your goals must be Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Tangible. I believe that while these types of goals can be helpful in some situations, they can pull us back into the frame of measurement and competitiveness, shutting down creativity and vision. (more…)
I became a mom for the first time in 1999. Three kids and nearly 14 years later, I have used many ineffective parenting techniques. Time-outs turned out to be one of the least effective. Especially with my youngest, Sammy, time-outs turned into a real battle – a losing battle – and MOM was the loser! (more…)
There’s a little secret associated with your workplace-sponsored retirement plan. Most participants think their plan is free — that it doesn’t cost them anything to join, contribute, and invest. Unfortunately, that’s not entirely true. (more…)
In The Thinker’s Way, author John Chaffee describes the word “value” as “the general term we use to characterize anything that possesses intrinsic worth, that we prize, esteem, and regard highly based on clearly defined standards.” (more…)
According to USNews.com, investments in Target Date Retirement Funds have shown unprecedented growth among investments for retirement, with numbers “approaching $400 billion, [and] with projected sales of $2 trillion by 2020.” The reasons for this popularity among those investing for retirement are twofold: 1) ease of fund management for investors and, 2) the default status these funds have enjoyed since 2006 – if 401k account holders do not select an investment, employer plans are allowed to “default” the employee’s 401k into a Target-Date fund. (more…)
To avoid allowing the country to fall off the fiscal cliff, Congress and the President have agreed upon and signed into law the 2012 American Taxpayer Relief Act (ATRA). Among other things, the new law restores nearly all of the tax incentives for education which had been scheduled to expire at the end of the year. One of these education incentives was the Coverdell Education Savings Account (ESA). (more…)
As we navigate life in the 21st century, the trend that will have the most profound effect on the future of our society (and other industrialized societies) is the “Age Wave.” In other words, we are living longer and the percentage of older adults is growing at an unprecedented rate. (more…)
