personal financial goals

Beware of Percentage Budgets

You have seen those percentage budget plans which deftly tell you what percentage of your budget you should spend on which categories.  Yes, they are a good guide, but you need to beware: giving too much credence to those percentages could get you in trouble.

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Premarital Financial Quiz: Are You Ready to Tie the Knot?

You are probably not surprised to read that the divorce rate in the United States has been 50% for the past  25 years.  However, you might not realize that premarital counseling reduces that number by 30%.  And since money issues are one of the top reasons for divorce, every couple considering marriage should get some [...]

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Social Security Strategies For Married Couples

Married couples: Social Security is complicated and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. Is either of you (or both of you) close to retirement age? Are you wondering if you should start earlier or later? Before you decide, make sure you understand these two aspects of Social Security: “spousal benefit” and “surviving spouse benefit”. Let’s [...]

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Why Following Christ = Better Money Management

Jesus never sugar coated his message – rather than inviting any and all to follow him, he consistently spurned those who weren’t willing to lay their very lives on the line. Because following Jesus meant embarking on a life of sacrifice and suffering, there was no place for half – hearted commitments. It had to [...]

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Case Study on Achieving Personal Financial Goals: Alline Davenport

photo credit: timtom.ch As a financial counselor, I help real people with real issues. This series on case studies will walk our readers through the process of discovering the short term and long term goals of my clients, formulating a plan to achieve those ends and then holding the client accountable to actually carry out [...]

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