The media loves milestones. Last month, there was a proliferation of “One Year Later” articles to mark the anniversary of the Wall Street meltdown. I almost wrote one myself. Last week, CNBC ran a special called “Dow 10,000” to commemorate the stock average breaking the milestone. It was a feel-good story, but not nearly as exciting as their first “Dow 10,000” special 10-1/2 years ago when the stock market hit the landmark level the first time. They didn’t have a…

I hope you are enjoying Financial Planning Week! If not, perhaps you haven’t heard the news. The week of October 5-11, 2009 is officially Financial Planning Week. Each year around this time the Financial Planning Association (FPA) designates a week to help individuals discover the value of financial planning and make smart decisions to achieve life goals and dreams. I’m not really sure how official this is, but some states have issued proclamations to su…

I just realized that I qualify for a special 2009 sales-tax deduction for purchasing a new car. In fact, my household will get two deductions because my wife also purchased a new vehicle this year. It’s about time that some of the stimulus dollars stimulated my pocketbook. I’d heard about this, of course, but I figured it would not apply to me. These types of tax give-a-ways never seem to come my way, usually due to income restrictions. But sure enough, I checked…

I never thought that I’d be a blogger - but here I am – blogging my first blog. It seemed a little pretentious to think I’d have enough to say to warrant a blog. Of course, that hasn’t stopped many others from putting pen to paper - or should I say - keyboard to html? Political commentators, sports writers and financial columnists who have a hard time writing one good article now treat us to daily doses of their wisdom. But I suppose blogging is not so different…