On Friday we released a great podcast with Career Coach Ray Giese (click here to listen); in addition he has agreed to be our guest blogger for this week.  Thank you for your words of wisdom Ray!

When asked most people would say that their home is their greatest financial asset (note that I said financial asset – I could argue that my greatest assets are my family and health, but that’s for another post).  However, think about it.  What gave you the financial resources to buy the home in the first place?  Your career of course!  Another way to state is that your earning power gave you the financial capability to purchase that home and everything else you have in your life!  Everything in your life really starts with your earning power!

One of my goals for 2018 is to give you multiple voices with regards to financial education and this week I’m excited to share a great blog by one of my co-XY Planning Network members, Brian Thompson.  Brian is the owner of Brian Thompson Financial, and I think you’ll enjoy reading his suggestions and ideas, of course if you are working with me, we incorporate many of these tasks into the year, but a different voice on a topic can sometimes bring attention to an area that may need additional discussion.

I’m not sure if I should be saying Happy New Year or Happy BRRRRR Year!  Yikes, the January freeze has really kicked in, even down in Florida this year! 

A few weeks ago, I put out a call to my Facebook friends asking if anyone knew or could recommend someone from law enforcement for an interview on safe driving techniques.  Unfortunately, I didn’t get any takers, but a friend of mine sent me the funniest You-Tube video where a law enforcement individual demonstrated the “miracle stick.” 

To all my wise-crackers out there – yes, I realize it is not Monday as I’m sending this out – but it’s in Monday Morning Quarter-Buck style!  For those of you that are football fans, it’s common to sit around the preverbal water cooler and discuss what happened during our favorite football game the prior weekend.  Discussing where the referee’s missed the mark and made ridiculous calls, how the team played, and the actions of the coaches.  Well, that’s how I felt today.  Every time I thought I had this Special Edition ready to send out to you all, a new article comes into my email box with additional information, feedback and opinions.  So, what I had planned to have out to you this morning is just now finally “ready.”  

A bit of history – did you know that on November 6, 1917, yep one hundred years ago, women won the right to vote in New York.  Read more about this amazing milestone in this New York Times Article.

I can’t believe we are less than 2 weeks away from Thanksgiving! 

So much has happened since the last time I sat down to write this blog!  We’ve been busy recording some interesting interviews for our podcast, “Wine and Dime” with Amy Irvine, so if you have a few moments subscribe via iTunes or head on over to our website to catch up: Wine and Dime Podcasts

Last weekend, on November 4th, 2017, I had the privilege of co-hosting the 4th Annual Southern Tier Financial Conference for Women by Women.  The event this year

Autumn is here, although the weather is saying something very different (I’m perfectly happy with it!).  This year is just flying by and the events of the past few weeks have made it feel like it has been months since my last blog post! 
 
On the mind of many is the Equifax Breach.  It seems every day we are learning more and more about this breach.   Many of you may have already signed up for the 1-year monitoring from Trusted ID Premier, but I’m beginning to wonder if that is enough.  According to an article published by the Federal Trade Commission, Equifax is now offering free freezes until November 21st.  However, unlike a fraud alert, a freeze needs to be placed with each individual credit reporting agency, so to make a freeze truly effective you would need to place a freeze with TransUnion and Experian.  If you’d like to read the article for yourself, here is the link: https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/blog/2017/09/free-credit-freezes-equifax?utm_source=govdelivery
 

Several years ago, when my grandmother was clearly near the end of her life, I asked her if she could have a “do-over” was there anything in life that she would change.  She looked at me with her chin pointed out and simply said, “no.”  

It’s here, it’s finally here!  As you all enjoyed a wonderful Friday looking forward to the weekend, I quietly celebrated the fact that all advisors must now act as a fiduciary when dealing with your retirement accounts!  Notice, I mentioned retirement accounts only?  That’s right, there are now two sets of rules for some advisors.

In Part four of the College Education series, we explore loan repayment options, how does one apply for the Public Student Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) and is loan forgiveness taxable?

In Part three of College Education month, we explore what we call the pre-qualifying process, similar to pre-qualifying for a house; let’s make sure your child (or maybe even you) will not graduate with so much debt that they can’t afford to build their adult life. When that award letter arrives and you see anything with the word loan in it, understand, not all loans are equal!  

In Part two of College Education month, we will explore questions that you might want to ask when you visit a college, talk with a college recruiter, or meet with a college admissions counselor.

If you Google “college interview,” you will find tons of websites on how to prepare for your college visit, but it’s from the angle of the college, not the student “hiring” the college.  Here’s the thing, you are hiring the college, they are NOT hiring you or your child.  So I propose a different approach on selecting a college to attend.  We think we are privileged when accepted at the college of our choice, but in reality, the college is the one benefiting from attendance and payment of such!

What questions do you ask when you are interviewing a person that you want to add to staff?  Why wouldn’t the questions be the same?  I suggest that you approach it that way by asking a series of interview questions that include, but are not limited to:

“OMG, I have finally discovered what’s wrong with my Brain: on the left side, there is nothing right, and on the right side, there is nothing left…” ― Minion Quote

Speaking of food...And so the backyard barbeques will soon begin.  The celebrations of summer and both College and High School graduations will soon be in full swing.  Perhaps you have one of these events to attend, or simply attending makes you think of your own family situation with regards to college costs?  Even if your kids are grown, are they still paying down their own college debt, which prohibits them from saving for other goals? A few big questions might be, how much do I need to save, how much will college cost, what can be done to reduce those costs?  My goal this month is to educate you on these options. Throughout the month of May my theme will be focused on college planning.  

“#1-Make Money. #2-Use that money to make more money. #3-Repeat.”  ―Anonymous

I always look forward to the end of April, not for the reasons most people look forward to it, but I love this week because it's Money Smart Week.  The week where education about money takes a front row seat in the news.  Even better, towards the end of the week, on April 28th, it's “Teach Your Child to Save” Day.  Money is the leading cause of stress for Americans with nearly three out of four adults reporting that they feel stressed about money at least some of the time.  There is so much interest in this week that the Money Week Facebook page has over 38,000 followers!

To many of my New York clients, happy Spring Break!  I love Spring, for me personally, it is the start of my “new year.”   This year is an exceptional new year too!  We are excited to be approaching the first birthday of Irvine Wealth Planning Strategies on May 9th.  This past year has been transformational and we are so very thankful for your support, business and feedback!  I want to give a special shout out to the Corning Gaffer District for their continued efforts to support the growth and visualization of the business; each quarter they continue to amaze me with their amazing designs in the Corning office windows - this quarter is an amazing tribute to Ernie Davis put together by a local student.   We hope you stop by and admire the display!

As we say goodbye to the month of March and the end of the first quarter of 2017, we want to say thank you for your business!  Irvine Wealth Planning Strategies is approaching its first anniversary in May - we have some fun planned around the anniversary, so stay tuned.

Wow, I can't believe it is Spring and less than a month away from Tax Day!!!

We have some pretty exciting news rolling out of Irvine Wealth Planning Strategies!

First we are very excited to announce that Debbie Konopski has joined the team!  In her part-time capacity, Debbie will be your service ambassador.  Upon our return this Spring, she will be working Monday and Wednesday at the office, which will allow for Brent to scale back to Tuesday and Thursday.  Debbie was born and raised in the Corning / Beaver Dams area and currently lives in Painted Post with her husband Kevin, whom she's been married to for 33 years. She is the proud mother of two grown children and an adorable one-year old granddaughter that is the light of her life. She has several amazing talents in addition to her personality, such as sewing, knitting, and crafts.  In fact, she helped in large part, decorate the office on Market Street.  We are excited to add her to the team and think you will love visiting with her when you call or stop by.

O’ the fun holiday of St. Patrick’s day will fall upon us at the end of the week.  This is a holiday where all of us find some Irish roots (or make them up for a day) and join in the festivities of all things green and the good luck of the Irish.