Finance
Plan Now for Happier Holiday Spending in 2012
Every year I set a budget for holiday spending that includes gifts, food, stocking stuffers, Christmas cards and postage. Every year I go over and I can’t always blame the U.S. Postal Service. . . . This is one tradition I’d like to break. [...] Read More
Finance Beyond Budgeting
NAME: Lily
STATUS: Embracing the joys of moderation
GOAL: Get organized
PEEVE: Wilting container gardens
GLEE: The perfect shade of red
As one of the legions of under-employed, I’m very interested in hearing about life journeys these days: tales of reinvention, new passions discovered, avocations that turn a profit. So my little ears always perk up whenever I hear anyone talk about starting a business.
I don’t come from entrepreneurial stock. My relatives prefer the illusion of security that lies within the confines of a government job or a well-paid position at a large corporation. Since the latter didn’t exactly work out well for me, however, [...] Read More
Beyond Budgeting Q&A with Melissa Hammel
Melissa Hammel, a Certified Financial Planner (CFP®), and a temporarily Licensed Professional Counselor/Mental Health Specialist, serves as managing Partner and Principal Financial Planner at Hammel Financial Advisory Group, LLC, a financial planning and Registered Investment Advisory firm located in Brentwood, Tennessee. The firm specializes in providing holistic Fee-Only® financial planning and asset management for individuals and families. As Principal Financial Planner, Melissa leads the financial planning process by offering clients broad based financial planning, counseling, coaching, and wealth management services. She emphasizes the importance of reviewing retirement plans, asset and liability protection, and cash flow management. Through her studies and [...] Read More
Beyond College Education
NAME: Z
STATUS: Thirsting for knowledge
GOAL: Learn new stuff
PEEVE: College kids who complain
GLEE: Conquering a fear
Don’t hate on me but I liked school. I liked college. Even now, learning new things makes me happy.
I was never very good at other languages, but I still have what some consider an insane desire to learn Latin. My goal of speaking and reading functional Spanish is more understandable and probably more realistic.
Mythology and the ancient worlds fascinate me. Although I’ve seen “Cleopatra,” the tortured epic movie with Liz Taylor and Richard Burton at least 20 times, I want to know the [...] Read More
Education for Employment Q&A with Expert Judy Parks
Judy Parks, Staffmark Staffing Services since 1997. Managed both Gallatin and Lebanon Branches most of her career helping both employees and companies by matching the right person to the job through coaching and skills assessment. Currently she is an Account Executive in the Nashville and Brentwood markets, finding companies who are looking for great employees. Originally from Massachusetts, Parks moved to Tennessee in 1991 and currently lives in Mt Juliet.
Q: What are important factor when building a resume?
A: The most important piece of information on your resume is the contact information. Be sure that you can be contacted at any [...] Read More
Budgeting and the Art of Stretching your Dollar
NAME: Z
STATUS: Counting quarters
GOAL: A financial cushion
PEEVE: Pennies
GLEE: Paid-off credit cards
Our son Troy usually wants to stay in the car when I stop to buy a few groceries because if it is “that time of the month” I will pull out a plastic baggie filled with quarters (mostly) and count out $1 stacks of them.
He finds this embarrassing.
We try to stick to a spending plan. I like that phrase better than “budget,” just as I prefer “nutrition plan” to “diet.” By the end of the month, our cash flow is a bit weak. If I can pay [...] Read More
Ask an Expert: Budgeting with Sami Cone
Have a question for our experts? This line is open until Friday, May 13th. Our expert will then answer the top questions and we’ll post their answers right here and on our Facebook page.
Q: I used to watch the grocery store ads and drive around to get the best deals. Now with the price of gas so high, not to mention the pollution to our environment, it doesn’t seem to make sense to drive 5 miles to save $.50. Even combining trips doesn’t always work if I am not going to be near the store. Am [...] Read More
Credit Score and Taxes
NAME: Z
STATUS: Taxed.
GOAL: Refinancing our home.
PEEVE: Paperwork.
GLEE: Shrinking piles of paperwork.
Did I mention I once liked numbers and math?
I must be on a roll, because numbers are so not liking me. Our application to refinance the house was denied, even though we don’t have too much debt. Neglecting to file our federal tax return for 2009 probably didn’t help.
Turns out we had too many open credit card accounts, dating mostly to a few years ago when Sheri, my daughter, was graduating from college. We cosigned several accounts so she’d have leeway paying her bills and, for a [...] Read More
Ask an Expert: Lisa Barber on Credit Score and Taxes
Have a question for our experts? This line is open until Friday, January 21st. Lisa will then answer the top questions and we’ll post the answers right here.
Q: What is a credit report?
A: A credit report is an accumulation of information about how you pay your bills and repay loans, how much credit you have available, what your monthly debts are, and other types of information that can help a potential lender decide whether you are a good credit risk or a bad credit risk. This information is compiled by 3 nationwide consumer credit reporting companies: [...] Read More
Income Resources
NAME: Lily
STATUS: Wishing, and waiting, and hoping
GLEE: Serious sweater weather
PEEVE: Christmas décor EVERYwhere
I used to be so zen. “Don’t worry,” I’d tell friends. “It’ll all work out.”
“Everything happens for a reason.”
“If it’s meant to happen, it’ll happen.”
I just couldn’t quite make a connection with the worrywarts and hand-wringers. I mean, I just didn’t GET them. So I wrote them off.
Boy, have THOSE chickens come home to roost.
All of those pithy little sayings seem like so many empty words now that all I DO is worry. It’s pretty easy to be a judgmental zen master when you don’t have any [...] Read More
