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(Hint: maximizing your tax refund may be the best investment advice you get this year)

As a financial planner, I have always urged my clients to do their taxes twice a year. And though I’ve grown accustomed to hearing the grumbling about  

There are many forms which your charitable gift may take and, at the same time, address your own personal financial needs. This might include the need to reduce income or estate tax, the need for income, the need to eliminate an appreciated asset, etc. The gifting technique chosen should help you accomplish your goal through a very personalized strategy and provide the benefits you are looking for. Of course with all gifts, they start with your good feelings about the work done by your favorite charity and usually a Planned Gift is extra special as you become a member of a giving society.

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We’ve all heard the joke that the stock market has dropped so much in value, 403Bs are now called 203Bs. Unfortunately, it’s no laughing matter and the question on everyone’s mind is, what to do?

I’m happy to tell you that in spite of the economic gloom and doom, there is some great news to report. Effective January 1, 2009, and for the first time in forty years, there are new mandated regulations and reforms that will both greatly expand your investment choices and allow you the flexibility to customize your portfolio with an enticing range of asset allocations.
 

Watch CBS Videos Online

What exactly cause the bubble to burst on Wall Street is still unclear but, we will certainly overcome it. Watch this excellent synopsis from CBS news to give you a clear and concise insight into our current financial crisis both pre and post election.

With everyone agonizing over the economic crisis and their personal finances, it could be a good time to attend a seminar that focuses on the newest laws and strategies that affect your investments. The problem is, there are so many different types of seminars, and not all will be worth your time.

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).
 

Have you ever wondered if you are paying too much for your phone bill? How about your credit cards? Of course you have because you know you probably are. Every month I open my phone bill to find that my $80 bill is coming in closer to $150! Those are real American dollars. How can this be?
 

When you ask the man on the street about the most memorable time in history he lived through, you would expect an answer like the tragedy on 9/11/2001. Perhaps their second most memorable will be the economic collapse we are witnessing.

For Wall Street, the unprecedented events in the financial world this week have put in perspective by a hardened world. The news over these last few weeks has reshaped the financial services industry forever. Major firms like Lehman Brothers went bankrupt while others like Fannie Mae,Freddie Mac and AIG wound up in government hands. While huge banks like WAMU were merged into stronger banks like JP MORGAN CHASE. Whose left?

This week congress is expected to again revise a bill to help bail out and re-capitalize our financial system. Newspapers throughout the world report of similar collapses of foreign banks.

While these events could sink our economic system I am hopeful it will instill in all of us the great survival we all witness during the 9/11 tragedy. The best and the brightest will emerge with new ideas and solutions will come.

This is the beginning of a long process of recovery but, each day many of these revelations have been swiftly handled with the result stronger bonds that will be harder to break the next time.
We will follow these events closely and comment further over the next few months. Keep in touch and let us know whats on your mind.