Q: My husband and I owe in excess of 31,000.00 in back taxes. We have learned all too well that our ignorance of tax witholding laws is no excuse to the IRS. I would like to know how to choose an agency that can help us to eliminate or reduce our tax debt to a level that we can pay. We are so afraid of the multitudes of options from companies claiming to be able to help us and want to choose a reputable company. What advise can you give?

• Pay attention to where your money is going. Carry a little memo pad around and keep track of everything you spend. Like magic, the simple act of writing stuff down will often keep you from spending money. It also helps you to look at where your money is going and allows you to make informed decisions about how much money you really need to live the life you want.
• Make a simple spending plan. You wouldn't think of setting off on a long trip without a map. A spending plan is simply a map to help guide you to where you're going financially. It allows you to set goals and evaluate your progress. There's no successful company that doesn't plan their cash outlays. Why don't you?
• Make sure everybody's on the bus. Changing your spending habits is hard to do if everyone else in your life isn't reading from the same page. Make sure everyone in the family is committed to the trip before you leave the curb.

Hey, let’s go for a ride! Where do you want to go? Nowhere? Ok, we’ll just drive around aimlessly and hope we accidentally end up somewhere interesting. Hop in!  That’s the way most people plan their financial life. They may have a vague idea of where they want to go, but they’re not really sure in which direction to point or how long the trip will take. Then they spend the rest of their lives zigging, zagging, asking directions, and wondering, “Are we there yet?”

If you’ve ever been through any type of financial planning, you’ve probably heard all about, and been duly frightened by, inflation. The word inflation refers to the gradual erosion of the purchasing power of money due to rising prices over time. In other words, your money is worth less because stuff costs more. While it may seem that rising prices are bad, actually the folks who guide our economy like a little inflation. That’s because the opposite of inflation, deflation, is the stuff that nightmares are made of. Deflation, or falling prices, nearly always accompanies a severe economic downturn, like our Great Depression of the 1930s or the great Japanese depression that’s still ongoing.

There was a time not so long ago that I could have skipped this article, saying something like, “Investing for college is like any other long-term investment goal. You simply invest in stocks, bonds and/or money market funds like you would for retirement or anything else.”  These days, however, there are now sufficient tax advantaged scenarios and financing alternatives to necessitate a full class on the subject. This is sad for me, since I now have to write an additional chapter. But it’s good for you, because if you’ve got kids heading off to college next month or 17 years from now, you’re going to be able to save some serious money.