by Judith Ackland | Oct 30, 2015 | Consumer, Gifts
Last year I had a blog post about saving for holiday celebrations and gifts. I’ve had some people ask about suggestions for saving on Christmas/Hanukkah gifts, so I’m revisiting this topic. Some of the ideas here are repeats of last year’s suggestions, but I have...
by Judith Ackland | Oct 23, 2015 | Retirement
Two weeks ago, my blog talked about different retirement accounts. This week, I want to talk about the importance of participating in your employer’s 401(k) or 403(b) plan. For simplicity, I will just use the term 401(k) but most of the concepts apply to 403(b) plans,...
by Judith Ackland | Oct 19, 2015 | Consumer, Taxes
Most of us don’t think about our income taxes until sometime in January or even February. Yet, now is the time to take action to reduce your 2015 tax burden. Here are some suggestions: Contribute to your retirement account. In most cases, contributions to your...
by Judith Ackland | Oct 9, 2015 | Consumer
We’ve been talking lately about college costs and how to plan to those. This week, we’re going to jump to the other end of the spectrum — retirement savings. Almost everyone realizes the importance of saving for their retirement, yet many get confused or overwhelmed...
by Judith Ackland | Oct 2, 2015 | Consumer, Crystal Financial Solutions
Those of you who have been reading my blog for some time know that one of the ways we save money on groceries is to garden. Earlier in the season, I shared with you what we had saved through our spring harvest. Now that we are into fall, here’s my update on our...