With more than 4,700 institutions across the country granting two- and four-year degrees, according to the National Center for Education Statistics, the need for post-secondary education is in high demand. However, with the advent of the Internet, the need for the traditional brick-and-mortar institution to earn a degree is being questioned more and more. Whether…
Financial planning can be intimidating, but personal financial planning is more like a puzzle you have to work out. That’s because traditional finance assumes that markets are rational and that market participants always make unbiased decisions. Life doesn’t work that way, and neither does financial management. The reality is that every individual is a confluence…
If you travel internationally for business or pleasure, you may already know that magnetic strip credit cards are consider something of an anachronism in many other countries. Offering a magnetic strip card when making a purchase in Europe or Canada frequently requires the business owner to take your card and input the data manually, or…
Many donors who give substantial sums regularly or on occasion often make the same mistake – not having a plan. Donor-advised funds offer a great way to give with a plan. Donor-advised funds are charitable giving vehicles administered by a public charity. They are created to manage charitable donations on behalf of organizations, families or…
The markets continued to test investors’ mettle in September; however, the big questions remain the same. Is a bear market about to start, and will the Fed finally allow interest rates to creep out of the close-to-zero range? As September began, market pros and individual investors pondered the possibility that the bull market might be…
According to the Employee Benefits Research Institute, spouses retiring in 2014 who take prescription drugs and want a 90 percent chance of having enough money for medical expenses throughout retirement needed an extra $326,000 in savings to pay for it. Unfortunately, just as rich pension plans have fallen by the wayside, employer-sponsored retiree healthcare benefits…
Most small business owners know that staying competitive means working longer hours. If you own or have an equity stake in the business, longer work days may not be such a burden because you hope to reap the rewards of your extra effort. But how do you keep employees motivated and happy during crunch times…
One of the most popular vehicles to help supplement retirement income today is the annuity. An annuity is an insurance contract that you purchase from an insurance company; it is not an investment. Rather, the premium you pay offers a variety of guaranteed retirement income options depending on the terms of the contract. The guarantees…
According to the World Intellectual Property Organization, intellectual property rights allow the creators or owners of works that are patented, copyrighted or trademarked to benefit from their own work and/or their investment in a created work. They divide intellectual property into two categories: industrial property, which includes inventions and product and industrial designs; and copyright,…
The Congress at Work series of articles is designed to give you a glimpse of various types of legislation currently under consideration. While either the Senate or the House of Representatives may initiate a bill proposal, be aware that many bills never become law; they may never make it out of committee, be blocked by…
