John Eric Home - July | Aug | Sept 2016

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Summer

Money & Finance

FINANCIAL PLANNING STRATEGIES by Marc Schliefer

Most people spend more time planning their vacation each year than they spend on their finances annually. During the summer, it is a good time to review your finances, especially because your work schedule may be a little bit lighter than normal. Here are some things you should consider reviewing in this summer to help you and your family with their financial planning strategies and make sure that you are on track for whatever financial goals that you may have. As the heat increases, it’s a good time to review your spending patterns from the past year. Categorize your spending and see if your spending patterns are higher in certain categories and where you can make strategic reductions to put more money away for savings, college planning, retirement, or whatever goals that you may want to accelerate. It is also a good time to reflect and see if you can eliminate or reduce some of your expenses. Some people have discovered that they don’t need the premium cable channels, that they can save money on their insurance and that they can add technology to their home to make their heating and air conditioning bills go down. If you have credit card balances, it is a good time to call the credit card companies to see if your interest rates can be lowered. A lot of times a phone call is all that it takes to have them lower your interest rate by several percent. Many times if you are current on your payments and have not been late, the credit cards will offer you a permanent rate reduction or a rate reduction for a specific time frame. If they reduce your interest rate, I would try to either keep the payment the same or add to your current payment in order to have more money going to the reduction of principal, helping you get rid of the credit card balance sooner. This strategy also can work with other types of loans. If your mortgage interest rate is high you may also want to look at refinancing if you have enough equity in your home and your credit is good. Other summer projects that can save you money include going through your house to find things that you no longer want or need and are still in good shape. Clothes, furniture, housewares, old cars and other items can be donated to charitable organizations. This helps you declutter your house and keeps things fairly organized. In addition, if you itemize your

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taxes you may be able to get a tax deduction as long as you follow the IRS guidelines on donating. You should look at IRS Publication 526 and Publication 561, which are online, for exact details. If you are like some people that receive an extension for their taxes from April 15th to October 17th, it’s a good time to gather your tax records and get ready to file your return. This may require contacting companies that have not sent you tax forms yet or work on finding cost basis on investments that you have sold. It is a good time to prepare before the deadline. I hope these tips are helpful for you and your family, save you money and make your summer more productive by helping you get closer to your financial goals. Here’s to a great summer. ** Many financial planners including myself have questionnaires that help you put this information together. I am happy to send you a questionnaire, please email me at marcs@equityplanning.com. Many people find this very helpful in putting their present situation together. It is good to have this first step together before you meet with a financial planner that will make your sessions more clear and productive. Securities offered through LPL Financial, Member FINRA/SIPC. Investment advice offered through CWM, LLC, a Registered Investment Advisor. LPL Financial is under separate ownership from any other named entity.


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John Eric Home - July | Aug | Sept 2016 by John Eric Home & Lifestyle - Issuu