Last week, we discussed what it means to be a member of the Sandwich Generation, those adults who are responsible for bringing up their own children and for the care of their aging parents. We discussed how hard it can be to navigate caring for two very different generations without risking your relationships, finances, or sanity.   Today, we are going to talk about the younger generation, the bottom bread in the sandwich. While strollers and soccer clubs can be pretty spendy, for most parents their greatest financial burden comes when it’s time for their kids to go to college. This is where many parents really mess up their finances and put their own futures at risk. View post

November is National Caregiver Appreciation Month, so we are going to be discussing the Sandwich Generation and how you can prepare for it financially, mentally, and emotionally. View post

December 20, 2017 Update: A final version of the tax reform bill has been passed by Congress. Find out how it will affect you here. View post

Last week I introduced you to a little-known alternative to health insurance, medical sharing plans. Depending on your situation, they could be an affordable alternative to traditional health insurance.   There is no set standard for how these ministries work, each is unique in its rules and structure. Here are the details on the top four programs: View post

Affordable Care Act mandates, growing deductibles, and skyrocketing insurance premiums have left many independent pastors scrambling for an answer to their family's health care needs. Luckily, there is a more affordable alternative to health insurance: medical cost sharing plans. View post

  December 20, 2017 Update: A final version of the tax reform bill has been passed by Congress. Find out how it will affect you here. View post

It’s Life Insurance Awareness Month! I’ll be you weren’t aware of that. It’s ok, neither was I until this morning.   In honor of Life Insurance Awareness Month, I am going to finish off the month talking about…   Yep, you guessed it! Life Insurance!   Common Rule Of Thumb If you’re reading this blog, you probably already understand the value of life insurance. You want your family taken care of if anything happens to you. You already know the why. Your big question is probably more along the lines of how much. How much life insurance do I need? View post

I mean fiduciary. Why, what were you thinking?   Fiduciary, pronounced fi-DOO-she-air-ee. In the financial services industry, this is a very important word. It describes a kind of relationship. The kind of relationship you want to have with someone giving you financial advice. View post

On September 7, Equifax, one of the three major credit reporting companies, announced that they had been hacked. Sometime between mid-May and July hackers exploited a vulnerability in their website in order to gain the personal information of about 143 million people.   The hackers got people’s names, social security numbers, birth dates, home addresses, and some drivers license information. They also got credit card information for about 209,000 consumers and dispute documents containing personal information for 182,000 people. View post

It seems that in the media, Millennials are constantly getting a bad rap. They are lazy, entitled whiners living in their parents’ basements and sipping expensive coffee.   But we all know Millennials who are nothing like that. Like my son’s kindergarten teacher who spends all day shaping the hearts and minds of 20 little high-energy, snotty-nosed humans, then goes home to take care of her baby and husband (all while pregnant).   Sometimes the only way to reconcile our own experiences with what we hear in the media is with cold, hard facts. This is a money blog, so today we’re going to talk about money. Are Millennials really worse with money than everyone else? Or is that just something that old people say to feel better about themselves?   View post