Articles

2020 Last-Minute Year-End Tax Strategies for Your Stock Portfolio When you take advantage of the tax code’s offset game, your stock market portfolio can represent a little gold mine of opportunities to reduce your 2020 income taxes. The tax code contains the basic rules for this game, and once you know the rules, you can […]Read More

2020 Last-Minute Year-End General Business Income Tax Deductions Your goal should be to get the IRS to owe you money. Of course, the IRS is not likely to cut you a check for this money (although in the right circumstances, that will happen), but you’ll realize the cash when you pay less in taxes. Here […]Read More

2020 Last-Minute Year-End Tax Strategies for Marriage, Kids, and Family If you are thinking of getting married or divorced, you need to consider December 31, 2020, in your tax planning. Here’s another planning question: Do you give money to family or friends (other than your children, who are subject to the kiddie tax)? If so, […]Read More

What is the first thing that comes to mind when you wake up to the biggest hangover of your life? Outside of the atrocious nausea, headache, and hope that you didn’t embarrass yourself too much the night before; you are probably wondering why you put yourself through all of this. When it comes to the […]Read More

“Money is the opposite of the weather. Nobody talks about it, but everybody does something about it.” – Rebecca Johnson. Let’s change this quote and actually start talking about money. Managing your own finances is a lot like doing the one chore on the list nobody else in the family wants to do. It can […]Read More

In light of Halloween season, we want to share some interesting SCARY facts about finances that might surprise you. The average household with debt owes $132,529 Fool.com states that only 18% of Americans have IRAs The US average savings rate is only 5.5% $3.1 trillion is spent on healthcare alone According to an article found […]Read More

What it is: SEP IRA stands for Simplified Employee Pension Individual Retirement Account. The SEP was designed for small business owners to provide a retirement benefit for themselves and their employees. Similar to a traditional IRA, contributions are tax-deferred. Moreover, required minimum disbursements are made when the account holder turns 70 ½2. Unlike a traditional […]Read More

Ready. Set. Home. How to Prepare to Buy a Home It is never easy to plan a purchase of a home. Whether you are a first-time home buyer, or onto your 3rd home, there are a number of factors to consider when starting the process of purchasing of a home. Below are a few simple […]Read More

Financing Your Accessory Dwelling Unit Accessory Dwelling Units, or ADU’s, can be a fantastic solution to providing living quarters for aging parents or adult children transitioning to the next stage of their life, as a way of generating some extra income as a rental unit, or even to simply add an extra work or play […]Read More

When it comes to purchasing or refinancing a home, there are a multitude of mortgage products to choose from. Each product has its own strengths and weaknesses, as well as its own unique eligibility requirements. It is important to evaluate one’s own financial situation to find a mortgage product that is tailored best to their […]Read More

Back to school is around the corner. For some parents, it’s a sigh of relief. For other parents, it’s a sad reminder that our children are all grown up. Nonetheless, we all can agree that the majority of our emotional efforts and work that we put forth is for the success of our children. In […]Read More

Last month, Portland had a string of semi-warm, sunny days-a rarity for Oregon in February. I was fortunate enough to bring my two youngest children out to the bottom of our hill to watch them ride their bikes. My youngest was new to the whole game. It took him some time to acclimate to the […]Read More

Inevitably, every year I am asked about buying, selling, and investing in real estate. Is real estate a good investment option now? Should I buy a new primary residence and/or rent out my current home? Is it a good time to sell some of my properties at today’s market values? The answer is: it depends! […]Read More

Over the past several months, we have seen a significant spike in oil and gas prices. We see it on the news, hear it from our friends, and certainly feel it in our wallets. From my perspective, there are two things we can do. 1. You can find alternative ways to travel. OR 2. You […]Read More

Greetings and happy New Year from Lifelong College Savings! As we move into 2012, many of us reflect on the previous year, and make resolutions for the upcoming year. To kick-off 2012, following is a recap of 2011 and financial tips to start the year with a financial bang. RECAP Although there has been a […]Read More

During the holiday season, you cannot help but sneak a peek at the old Christmas classics. One of my all time favorites is Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer. I cannot help but picture Yukon Cornelius licking his pick ax to taste for the hot commodity, silver and gold. Imagine if I bought that back in […]Read More