The Donor Advised Fund (DAF) has increased charitable giving over recent years. DAFs are not new; apparently, they have been around since the 1930s, and grew more popular in the 1990s. DAFs allow you to make charitable contributions to a fund you set-up with a public charity, then recommend grants from that fund over time. …
Life Changes
What Exactly is Open Enrollment?
If you work for someone else, there’s a good chance that you are, or soon will be, in the midst of Open Enrollment season for your benefit choices. This is the period when your employer allows you to adjust or newly enroll in your employee benefits, like health insurance. It’s important to pay attention during …
Gifting Limits
All this month, I’ve been talking about debt. So why is this blog talking about gifting? Well, here’s my thought train: let’s say you have some debt and your parents or your grandma or your favorite aunt gives you some money to pay it off. Just, out of the goodness of their heart and because …
Winning the Lottery!
July 17th was National Lottery Day. So, did you play? Let’s imagine that you did, and you won. Congratulations! What’s the first thing you should do? If your answer was, post it on Facebook, you would be wrong. The best thing to do is to remain anonymous, if possible. Currently only five states allow winners …
Credit Card Travel Hacking
Gen Y & Z are seemingly obsessed with “hacks”. I know my 12-year-old son is always talking to me about various “life hacks” that he sees on TikTok. But one of the original life hacks is using credit cards for travel hacking—basically, using credit cards to the fullest to try to get things like free …
LGBTQ+ Pride Month
Welcome to Pride Month! June was chosen for LGBTQ+ Pride Month to memorialize the Stonewall Riots which took place in June 1969. If you don’t know about the riots, Drunk History put together a great clip to tell you all about it here. As a result, you may hear about many pride events/festivals/parades happening this …
Can You Afford A Pet?
We adopted some cats a couple of years ago. As of this month, they are three years old, which apparently in cat years is 28 in human years. Little did we know the expenses coming for one cat, who is named Shadow, because he is all black like a shadow, even his little black nose. …
Female Financial Pioneers
March is National Women’s History Month. So, in honor of that, I’d love to tell you about some female financial pioneers… In addition to mentioning that we have several female financial advisors on our team! The wife of President John Adams, Abigail Adams, is credited with being the first female investor. Abigail managed her household’s …
Jill’s Journal: Credit Scores
In honor of Financial Literacy month, I’m sharing important information related to credit scores. Do you know what your credit score is? And what it means? First, shout out to my dad who is turning 69 today. Happy birthday, dad! Here is the range for Credit Scores: *Source: https://www.experian.com/blogs/ask-experian/credit-education/score-basics/what-is-a-goodcredit-score/ You can check your score for free …