How Not To Get Legal Advice
Becky Cholewka: I wanted to do a quick video on how not to get legal advice because, unfortunately, this is one of the biggest areas that I see a lot of people trip up on. A lot of people are getting legal advice from their tax person, their financial planner, their brother who lives in […]
Setting Up POD or TOD On Your Bank Accounts
Becky Cholewka says: I wanted to take a moment and give you a couple tips about your checking savings and brokerage accounts. One way to make sure these accounts avoid the probate process is to make sure you have a beneficiary listed on each of your accounts. That does not mean one beneficiary form per […]
6 Ways a Lawyer Can Help with Finance
Working with your attorney to create a Durable Financial Power of Attorney (POA) ensures that, in the event you become incapacitated due to illness or injury, your financial affairs continue to be handled properly. With this document, you assign an individual whom you trust to act as your financial agent. These decisions may include […]
Is your Estate Plan a Trojan Horse?
On January 31st of 2014, the Chinese celebrated the Year of the Horse. Which got me thinking about famous horses: Black Beauty, Secretariat, Trigger, Sea Biscuit, Silver, the Budweiser Clydesdales, Man O’ War, Pokey, and even the Trojan Horse. That famous tale, expertly depicted in the Brad Pitt film Troy, recounts how the Greeks hid […]
Should You Tell Your Kids How Much You Are Worth?
Should your children know how much money you make or how much you are worth? View image | gettyimages.com An article in the New York Times says, yes, sort of. It says you can begin to initiate them into your financial world as early as age 5 or 6. Build it slowly, and give them […]
Can’t Stay Retired?
Some people can’t wait for the day they can retire. Others, though, have no plans to quit working. Or they do retire, then decide they can’t stand it. An article in the New York Times details the stories of several folks of retirement age who “failed” at retirement. One woman started a fitness club after […]
Women Have Different Money Needs
Women are different from men in lots of ways. One is in their financial planning needs. http://gty.im/175179565 An article in Forbes outlines the reasons: women live longer than men, earn less, save less and have different insurance needs. They also are less likely to be prepared for retirement, the story says. To be specific, women […]
Getting Ready For Life As A Single Woman
Widowhood is probable for most women in the United States. Women are four times more likely to outlive their husbands. And they live on average another 10 years. But many are unprepared for the changes in store. http://gty.im/483966547 New widows are confronted with a host of financial decisions, says a story in Forbes. And since […]
An Estate Planning Bucket List
Have a bucket list? Want to jump out of a plane? See the Pyramids? http://gty.im/185550597 An article on investopedia.com has a list of things to do before you die, but they all have to do with estate planning. The story lists 16 things. We will list 5. Make an inventory of your possessions. Anything worth […]
Is Writing A Will Like Backing Up Your Computer?
A little planning prevents a lot of trouble later. Its the same in life as it is in computing. A story in Time compared the two. The writer was distraught as her computer was, in essence, given its last rites. But since she had backed up everything important on the hard drive, her anxiety was […]
