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The launch of a new decade is a great time to assess your financial status, and just as important, to focus on your financial future with a total makeover. This is especially true today when so many of us are still reeling from the battered economy and record unemployment. But regardless of your current financial circumstances, there is always room for improvement and step one is to create a list of goals.
To help you, take a look at the key priorities that are the backbone of any financial plan.  You have to know where you are starting from in order to know where you are going.

•    Establish your net worth: Add up the value of your assets- your home, investments, retirement accounts, savings, etc. Then add up your liabilities- mortgage, credit cards, personal loans, etc. When you  

Starting a new job is very exciting, but the transition brings with it a lot of confusion regarding benefits, particularly retirement plans such as a 401k. If you have just recently made a job switch, or are in the process of doing that, know your rights and your options.

First, 401k accounts are portable- you will take the money with you through a process called a rollover. Essentially you take the distribution of your vested balance- the total amount you accrued from your own  

Many public corporations issue stock purchase plans for their employees. Others have a match program where for each percentage that the employee contributes, the company will deposit an equal percentage of company stock into their retirement account, sometimes at a discounted rate.

In years past, we have all heard the tall stories about the average Joe getting to retire rich on company  

If you are still doing your taxes once a year, you are losing out on a valuable opportunity to reduce your burden. A smart approach is to do a test run mid-year so that you can take advantage of strategies while there is time for them to make an impact before you submit your actual return. Here are some possible tax-saving ideas that are worth knowing more about, should they apply to you.

If you are a first time homebuyer this year, you will definitely want to look into the tax break that is  

Guaranteed income for life sounds like one of those grand prize for a contest that one person wins and everyone else dreams about. But there is an investment that offers such a thing, and under the right circumstances, it can be a winning strategy. It’s called an immediate fixed annuity, or income annuity, and it works like this: buy a one-time premium from an insurance company, and in return, get a guaranteed  

Back in the early nineties, I wrote a book called, RETIREMENT READY OR NOT: How to Get Financially Prepared in a Hurry (Career Press). At the time, the news was filled with reports of corporations folding, downsizing or merging, forcing employees all over the country to accept early retirement long before they expected.

Most people understand the importance of writing a will and buying enough life insurance to protect family from serious financial hardship upon their death. But one of the most overlooked aspects of financial planning is naming the beneficiaries for ones overall assets and investments, and keeping that list current.

Recently we worked with a client who had named her husband as primary beneficiary on her IRA many years ago, but failed to update the account, even after he was admitted to a nursing home. Had we not recommended that she change the beneficiary to list her children, this would not have been on her radar  

When it comes to making deposits into a 403b or 401k, a typical investor goes on auto-pilot. They make the same decision they did the previous month or quarter, assuming that it’s safer to stick to an old game plan rather than explore new opportunities. But if we have learned anything from this market volatility, it is that to insure growth, you must be proactive, assess your risk tolerance and focus on long term goals.

The first step in accomplishing all of this is to understand your mindset. When making a deposit, are you only thinking about buying the safest investments and parking the money until you have more confidence in the market? Or, or are you an opportunist who is willing to look for the greatest values, knowing that your  

Whether Youre A Corporate Executive, Business Owner  Or A Professional, The Chances Of You Or Your Key men Or Partners Suffering A Significant Loss Of Income Due To A Disability Are Staggeringly High.

These are the key changes in 2009 for 403b and 401k contributions:

1. The maximum employee contributions go up to $16,500 (unless you are over 50 and then you are permitted to add another $5,500).  This increases the maximum contribution to $22,000.

2. For defined contribution plans, such as the traditional “Keogh” or self-employed plan, the new maximum  

This week President Bush signed a new pension relief bill designed to help retirees by eliminating the required minimum withdrawals from their retirement plans. We can foresee many tax advantages that this bill will open up for our clients and people over the age of 70. Most importantly this will buy additional time to rebuild your portfolios after the hit they have taken in the financial markets over the last few months. Lastly it will be free from immediate taxation.

Clients keep asking me if there is a silver lining beneath the market turmoil and believe it or not there is not one, but two. Just as the sky high gas prices forced us all to rethink our driving habits and our daily trips, the dramatic downturn in the market has forced us all to rethink our spending habits. Who among us isn’t holding off on expensive vacations and the latest gadgets? And it’s a good thing. By putting the brakes on our excessiveness, we will all be better off by not abusing credit cards and subsequently having more money to save and invest.

Given the daunting political and economic climate, doesn’t it sometimes feel like we are spectators watching an intense football game where everything is on the line and the score keeps changing? We go from cheering (our candidate is up 5 points in the polls) to panicking (the stock market is down 900 points). We go from relief (gas prices are under $3.00 a gallon for the first time in a year) to shock (the quarterly statements arrived and we’d rather not look).