Does Your Credit Card Carry a Hidden Danger?

It seems that credit card issuers get you coming and going. They charge you:

    * When you carry a balance
    * When you do not carry a balance
    * Just for having the card (i.e., an annual fee)
    * For going over your limit
    * For paying late

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Is Your Credit Score as High as You Think?

It is common to assume that paying bills on time automatically means that you’ll have a high credit score. Unfortunately, that’s not always the case. There are many misperceptions about how scores are calculated.

Financial institutions use credit scores to determine whether they should lend money to a potential borrower and, if so, what interest rate they should charge. A higher score means an applicant is statistically less likely to default on the loan, so he or she gets charged a lower interest rate.

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Does Your Money Buy You Happiness?

Part of any financial advisor’s job is to get clients to talk about their life goals and about their values and feelings about money. It helps clients pinpoint their financial destination and how able they are to get there.

We work with many people who are, by most standards, financially successful:

    * They make decent or comfortable salaries.
    * They have lovely homes, stable marriages, and wonderful families.

But they can also feel stressed or dissatisfied:

    * Some have jobs that give them little personal satisfaction or not enough family time.
    * They’re concerned they won’t ever have enough resources for their own or their children’s futures.

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How to Donate Money Effectively

Whether it’s during the holidays or when a disaster befalls us, Americans are always willing to donate to those less fortunate. It’s the easiest thing in the world for us to open our checkbooks to a worthy cause without a second thought.

Yet your donation, regardless of size, should make the largest impact on your cherished causes and issues. When you support a charity’s best interests, you’re not selfish to support your own as well.

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Being Proactive During Challenging Financial Times

Whether you are starting to build a nest egg, or are close to retirement, your investments have likely been impacted by negative market performance. As a result, you may be feeling confused, stressed, or afraid—and that's okay. We are humans, not machines, and humans react emotionally to circumstances beyond (and even within) our control.

The tricky thing with emotional responses is that they may result in ill-advised action—or worse, inaction. It's nearly impossible to make a sound decision when you are responding out of fear or anxiety. Once you've acknowledged your own emotions, however, you can take proactive action and take back control of your financial life.

The following suggestions will get you started.

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