Latest Posts

The American Institute of CPA’s (AICPA) recently published a list of personal finance trends that we should all be concerned about. These trends highlight the fact that almost 63 percent of Americans today are unable to pass a basic financial literacy test.

Here are the troubling trends, as well as some tips on how to avoid them:

Sometimes simple is best. Many of us tend to complicate our financial situation; overthinking our options while ignoring the basics.

But like anything else, the simplest rules are often the most important ones; and the ones most likely to be ignored. How many of these rules do you follow?

We all have our own unique way of handling our finances. While some of us are natural born savers, others may have a hard time making it to the next paycheck. Fortunately, most of us fall somewhere in-between, putting away money at times, while making frivolous purchases at other times.

If you are looking for a better, more effective way to bolster your savings, here are a few suggestions that are easy to follow and will have you on the path towards a more sustainable savings balance in no time:

Created as a result of the Great Depression, The Social Security Act was signed into law by President Roosevelt in 1935; mainly due to the rise in poverty of the nation’s elderly population. The act was designed to provide retired workers ages 65 and older with a continuing income after retirement. The first Social Security card was created in November of 1936, with the numbers assigned by geographic region. To date, more than 450 million Social Security numbers have been issued since the program started.

We all have certain causes that we choose to support monetarily. In fact, in 2017, Americans gave more than $410 billion to charities, breaking the $400 billion mark for the first time in history.

But anytime that we give our money to an organization, it’s important to do our due diligence, ensuring that the funds that we give will be used effectively.

Time certainly goes by fast. One day you’re interviewing for your first job and the next thing you know you’re a few short years from applying for Social Security.

If you’ve planned for your retirement, you’ll likely have a good stash of funds saved.  But the unfortunate news is that according to the Insured Retirement Institute, 42 percent of baby boomers have nothing saved for retirement, and even those that have saved don’t have nearly enough to survive on.

Personal finance, like just about everything else, is mainly common sense. Advice like “don’t spend more than you make; start investing while you’re young; don’t loan money to friends with the expectation of getting it back,” have been around for generations, and most likely will survive the next few generations as well. Even money mistakes that are corrected early enough will have little impact on your wealth going forward.  What you do want to avoid are money mistakes that can be hard to recover from. Here are just a few: