One Life Stand

It’s that time of year again.  Kiplinger’s personal finance magazine has set up a hotline that you can call for free financial advice.

From 9 A.M. to 6 P.M. eastern time on Tuesday, January 15, and Friday, January 25, NAPFA members across the U.S. will be standing by to answer your questions.

Normally, these fee-only planners, who are well versed in investments, taxes, insurance, estate planning, and saving for college and retirement, charge clients $100 to $250 an hour.  But on Jump-Start Days, you don’t pay a cent - not even for the phone call.  Just dial 888-919-2345 and a NAPFA adviser will respond to your question.  Or, if you prefer, you can participate in an online discussion with a NAPFA adviser anytime from 9 A.M. to 6 P.M. eastern time on January 15 or January 25.

To make the most of your financial checkup, gather together any relevant records, such as mutual fund statements or your 401(k) menu of investment choices.  If your questions are too complex to be answered on the spot, you may be directed to NAPFA’s Web site, www.napfa.org, where you can look for a planner in your area.

Be sure to call.  Now you have NO excuse for not getting your money right this year!

Hey Bloggers. Jez Chill here. I know, I haven’t blogged since OJ wore Isotoners. But I’m back to say a few words. 

My co-workers have been working on their websites for years, and they are not bringing in big bucks. Hmmm, making money while you sleep sounds good to me! So I’m going to jump in and try to do the same.  

Do you have an Apple iPhone?  Know anyone that does?   If the answer is yes to either, then the link below must be shared and bookmarked.  It’s a complete list of every FREE game that is designed for the iPhone. I even took a picture of my own thumb to give it a thumbs up or thumbs down rating.  I’m about a week or two away from rating all of the sites, but all the games are still listed.

 http://home.comcast.net/~iphonegames

Jez Chill 

I check my credit reports every six months or so.  When I pulled two of my credit reports over the weekend, I saw an error - a big error.  Our mortgage got sold earlier this year and the credit report shows that we have mortgages with both the old company and the new company.  Therefore, it shows we owe twice as much as we really do.  It’s not a big deal in the big scheme of things because we’re not trying to get any credit but it’s better to nip things in the bud.  The longer you wait, the harder it generally is to resolve these things.

So check your credit reports (www.annualcreditreport.com) and happy Thanksgiving!

I pretty much have my investments on auto-pilot.  I try not to do too much trading and generally re-evaluate overall allocations about once a quarter.  The other week I was getting quotes and reading news on all my current holdings.  I noticed that the cash aspect of my investment account had more money than it should have.  Also for some strange reason, I couldn’t find a price or any news on my Hilton (HLT) stock.  After some more digging, I found out that Hilton had been acquired by another company.  The stock symbol had been delisted (why I couldn’t find a price or any info) and all the stock had been bought out (why I had more cash than I expected).  I remembered hearing something about the possibility a while back but never followed up on it.  Thankfully it was to my advantage (I made ~30%) but it just goes to show that you need to stay abreast on what’s going on even if you’re a “buy and hold” investor.

While I am definitely NOT one of those women who suggests you have a secret stash and hide money from your spouse, I also am not one of those women who suggests you merge every last thing and only have joint accounts.  It is imperative that you maintain your own credit, even after marriage.  If you become widowed, you may find that all that joint credit history disappears along with your husband.

http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2007/10/11/business/bahr/20_16_0010_10_07.txt

Kiplinger personal finance magazine is offering free retirement advice on August 17th and August 30th.  They are "joining with the National Association of Personal Financial Advisors (NAPFA) in sponsoring Kiplinger’s Jump-Start Your Retirement Plan Days. From 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. eastern time on Friday, August 17, and Thursday, August 30, NAPFA members across the U.S. will be standing by to answer your questions."

"Normally, these fee-only planners, who are well versed in investments, taxes, insurance, estate planning and saving for college and retirement, charge clients $100 to $250 an hour. But on Jump-Start Days, you don’t pay a cent — not even for the phone call. Just dial 888-919-2345 and a NAPFA adviser will respond to your question. Or, if you prefer, you can e-mail your question in advance starting August 1 to jumpstart@kiplinger.com and a NAPFA adviser will reply on one of the Jump-Start dates."

Check out this link for more info.