All Blog Posts (274)

Having read newspapers and news magazines since about the age of 11, and having been a huge fan of historical and true-crime books of all sorts for decades past, and having read of too many atrocities and murders to even mention one without neglecting countless others, and having read and heard much too much about far too many of what really are machine gun massacres in America, I'd found myself too middle-aged news-weary jaded to be truly shocked or deeply upset by these…

I’m sure you’ve all heard by now that the Supreme Court has decided to hear cases on the Defense Of Marriage Act (DOMA) and Proposition 8. Let’s assume DOMA is ruled unconstitutional and Prop. 8 is overturned. That would mean same-sex couples could legally marry in California and qualify for the 1,100 federal benefits currently received by opposite-sex married couples.

The financial benefits for same-sex married couples are far-reaching. The impact of the Supreme Court’s decision will…

Fabulous news for domestic partners

where one partner is need of placement in a nursing home!

California apparently has become the first state to take the Obama administration up on its offer to extend Medicaid…

The American public has a huge lack of knowledge about investments. The reasons for this are numerous. The education system doesn’t teach kids about personal finance. People generally aren’t interested in investing. Plus the rules of the game are purposely made complicated to act as a barrier to learning. The less the public knows about investments, the more money can be made off of…

Collection agencies contacted 30 million people for unpaid medical bills in 2010, according to a survey by The Commonwealth Fund. It’s estimated that about one-third of those collections were the result of billing errors. You’d think that someone’s credit score wouldn’t be damaged by a billing error that wasn’t their fault. Unfortunately, that’s not the case. Read more...

Gay marriage laws to generate spending

The Associated Press

PORTLAND, Maine —

A national think tank says new gay marriage laws in Maine, Maryland and Washington will generate at least $166 million in wedding spending in the next three years.

The Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law estimates that nearly 18,000 same-sex couples in the three states will exchange vows in the…

Ann marie Houghtailing has presented several workshops and created webinars for the benefit of our members. Now she has posted a blog that I think is quite insightful and helpful to business people. I always learn something new from her!  And I don't say this because she refers to me in this blog, but I am flattered by her generous comments. Take a look for  yourself:…

It’s that time of year when your employer rolls out their 15% increase to your health insurance payment. That’s a bad joke, but most likely a true statement. It’s also the time to review all of your employee benefits and sign up for the options that you need. Here are my tips and things to consider when choosing your benefits this year. Read more...

Nearly every year, someone decides that I am to blame.  When natural disasters occur, economic crisis reign, or a surprising event in the Middle East causes distress, I have found that I am a person that can identify with the group, organization, belief system, or name your own identifier that is the greatest denominator for the carrying out of the injustice that has occured.

And, today, I want to apologize for being the one who has caused the drought in the Midwest, the unrest in the…

Our Advocacy Committee worked diligently to come up with the pros and cons of various state propositions, then discussed them at length before they reached their recommendations to the Board of Directors, which has approved them. There's a Quick Reference page at the start if you just want the results. Any proposition or bond issue not listed was not considered this time round. Whatever your decision, just be sure to VOTE!

View recommendations…

In 2008 Congress passed a bill proclaiming the third week in October as National Estate Planning Awareness Week. The House of Representatives considered statistics that over 120,000,000 Americans do not have up-to-date estate plans, and 2/3 of Americans over the age 65 believe they lack the knowledge necessary to adequately plan for retirement. By passing this bill, they are encouraging estate planning and financial literacy to bring awareness to Americans.

Estate planning is a…

Retirees live on a fixed income, so it is extremely important to get the biggest bang for those bucks. One way to do that is to confirm that you have the best Medicare Part D prescription drug plan. Retirees can boost their spendable income by reducing their Medicare costs with the right drug plan that matches the medicines they take.

Now is the perfect time to check your Medicare Part D coverage. You can switch plans during the Annual Open Enrollment Period, which is from Oct. 15…

The following is a recent report by John Arensmeyer of the Small Business Majority that might make your life easier:

"Earlier this month Small Business Majority made its first annual trek to DC with our…

Americans spend more than $45 billion on their pets every year. That’s not surprising since a pet is part of the family. However, that doesn't mean you can forgo retirement savings or go into debt to care for the adorable little bugger.

Pets aren't quite as costly as children, but food, vaccinations, and toys do add up. A large dog can cost about $2,000 each year. That can total as much as $20,000 over a dog’s life. It can break anyone’s budget.…

It shouldn’t be a shock to hear that people don’t save enough for retirement. Americans are only saving 5 percent of their income, and that’s up from the typical 0 percent to 3 percent during the past decade. Yet 70 percent of us worry about retirement. See the contradiction? We are worrying about retirement, but not doing anything about it.

Most folks will say they simply don’t have enough money to put toward retirement savings. Turns out though that this is a bogus excuse as…

Our firm’s founder was recently nominated and awarded as one of SD Metro‘s …

Almost 50 percent of Americans cannot come up with $2,000 for an unexpected expense, even if they have 30 days to get the money. That’s pretty scary! Consider all the different ways someone may need to come up with cash quickly: $1,000 deductible to repair a wrecked car, 20 percent co-payment for a broken arm, or paying the rent after losing their job.

What everyone needs is an emergency fund. This is cash set aside to protect your monthly budget from being derailed by these…

Looking for a sales rep to help increase sales for our 98-year old non-profit.  Prefer previous experience selling to business owners and managers within the San Diego business community.  Please send resume to: kwoolgar@sdea.com.

We're helping small businesses do big things!

 …

The stock market had a nice increase over the first three months of the year. But then it went down for April and May, now back up again for June. Maybe it’s due to the Greek debt problem, or Spain’s bank bailout, or slow U.S. job growth. It’s enough to make you go crazy. But should it?

Heck no! None of us have control over these things. Yet we focus on them and create stress for ourselves. It’s a distraction from focusing on what we can control in our financial lives.…