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Book Review: Money Tales

Looking for a good way to teach your kids about financial topics or a Christmas gift that keeps on giving for your children or grandchildren? Take a peak at the Money Tales series from Sheila Bair.

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Budgeting During Inflation

Bloomberg economists have estimated that the average household in the U.S. will be spending upwards of $433 more per month in 2022 than they did last year. This is a minimum of $5,200 per year if you make no changes to your style of living. If your budget has little room for additional expenses, you will need to make some difficult decisions about your budget.

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Cryptocurrency

Cryptocurrency is a digital based currency that is used to buy and sell goods but also trade for profit. I’m sure, most of you know someone who has invested in some version of cryptocurrency. They work using technology called blockchain, a decentralized technology spread across many computers and manages & records transactions. Most of the appeal of blockchain tech is the security.

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Relationships and Money, Part IV: Divorce

Divorce is not only a strain on your emotional well-being but also your financial well-being. Many times we only focus on the emotional aspect of the split however, it is important to consider the long-term implications. Additionally, your financial rights are dictated by the state you live in. California is a community property state therefore assets will legally be split 50/50 unless a prenuptial agreement exists.

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Relationships and Money, Part III: Prenuptials

In today’s world relationships are complicated – with second marriages or children from previous relationships things can get even more complicated. In either situation, a legal agreement can assist you as a couple in clearly outlining your wishes and which assets are considered separate property.

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Teach Kids About Money: Recommended Books

Kids have a unique way of blowing any parent's budget. The endless requests of "Can I get ….?" give us a clear indication as parents that children do not understand the value of money, and teaching them important values about spending and saving can be a difficult task.

Spare your budget and your patience by teaching your children the value of money early on and help them become super saving smart adults! We recommend these books to help YOU teach your children about managing money and saving.

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Retirement Strategies

There are many ways to implement plans for your retirement. The two sides of the spectrum of possibilities are to develop a plan and stick to it no matter what, or just go with the flow and see how things play out. Outlining these two options seems almost ridiculous as they represent extreme polar opposites of one another. The reality is that the best plans are those that are well thought out but also allow for flexibility.

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Net Worth / Cash Flow

Assets, Liabilities, Income and expenses – analyzing what we have financially effectively and honestly can be a confusing task but integral in order to assess where a person is financially and their ability to accomplish their financial goals. Planning properly requires more than black and white numbers on a page – understanding how these numbers relate to and impact your Financial Plan. This is an often overlooked portion of building a sound Financial Plan by many people but is a huge part of the data gathering process done by Financial Planning Professionals and an insightful financial advisor can utilize details found in both to assist them in helping you reach your goals.

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Financial Planning Goals

Defining one's goals in the Financial Planning process is an integral part of creating a basis for analysis of current financial conditions and how they relate to future plans of action to be developed and implemented. It is critical for goals to be realistic, but more importantly specific and measurable. A Financial Planner can assist you in asking the central questions and guiding you toward how to think about and accomplish your goals. One would develop and recommend actionable steps that can allow you to both prioritize and achieve your goals. Goals can be either short-term or long-term in nature but understanding their role in the overall planning process is important so that you don't mismanage your assets along the way.

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Financial Planning is...

Financial Planning is the comprehensive analysis and evaluation of an individual's current financial state and needs used in the development of a strategy to successfully meet your financial goals in the future. Professionals, like Mike, utilize their knowledge of client's future life goals, transfer plans (in life and death) and future expense needs to develop comprehensive Financial Plans.

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