Keller Social Security Workshop Schedule Change
May 16, 2012 by Jean Keener, CFP, CRPC, CFDS
The social security workshop scheduled for this Saturday at the Conservatory in Keller has been postponed. The new date is to be determined.
The June social security workshop at the Keller Public Library is still on. It’s scheduled for the third Tuesday, June 19 at 6:30 pm.
The social security workshop is designed for baby boomers to help you maximize your retirement income. If you are 55 or older and have not yet filed for social security, you should strongly consider attending this financial information session. Attendees will learn:
- 5 factors to consider when deciding when to apply for benefits
- Why you should always check your earnings record for accuracy
- How to coordinate benefits with your spouse
- How to minimize taxes on Social Security benefits
- How to coordinate Social Security with your other sources of retirement income
You are welcome to attend and bring your questions! Please RSVP to library@cityofkeller.com for planning purposes.
April 2012 Personal Finance Newsletter
April 26, 2012 by Jean Keener, CFP, CRPC, CFDS
The April personal finance newsletter is now available. It includes the investment market update from January – March 2012, how to decide whether to pay down debt or save and invest, and planning for a career change. In addition, there’s information on upcoming retirement income and social security workshops at the Conservatory in Keller and the Keller Public Library. Please click here to read the newsletter.
What’s Your Money Story?
April 26, 2012 by Jean Keener, CFP, CRPC, CFDS
Following is a very special guest post from Dr. Tim Kincaid. Tim generously shares part of his journey with money and offers a process to further develop each of our money stories. Financial planning is about so much more than the money, and Tim highlights some key insights on how we can each more fully align our financial decisions with our true values, goals, and beliefs.
What’s Your Money Story?
By Dr. Tim Kincaid, EdD – Certified Professional Coach
Dr. Tim Kincaid, EdD -- Certified Professional Coach
Money is a powerful concept. Think of all the ways in which most of us give our attention to money – how we earn it, manage it, account for it, save it, spend it, worry about it, and even give it away. Not surprisingly, many of us have unquestioned limiting beliefs about money. We may even hold judgments about the relationships others have with their money – rich or poor, lavish spenders or overly frugal.
In The Energy of Money, author Dr. Maria Nemeth challenges readers to create a personal “money autobiography” by writing a description of our lifelong experience of money, from earliest memories to now. She suggests that what we observed and learned about money from our earliest memories informs our money beliefs as adults. What a sobering exercise! My money autobiography showed me how my own Money Story – my current beliefs about money – was very much shaped by my parents’ beliefs about money.
My folks were members of “The Greatest Generation.” They were kids during the depths of the Great Depression and were young adults during WWII. (Keywords: Lack, Scarcity, Limitation, Rationing, Distrust, Secrecy, Hardship, Doing-without.) Understandably, they saw the world as generally an unfriendly place; money was hard to come by and to be protected at all costs. For them, the glass often looked half full. I acknowledge that I didn’t experience the hugely challenging times they endured growing up. Different life experience means different worldview, so I see and experience the world differently – as a generally friendly place of abundance that is full of choices and opportunities. For me, the glass is more than half full.
Interestingly, I had to work through feeling uncomfortable, even a little disloyal, in questioning differences in our belief systems. Working with my own Coach, I concluded that embracing my own true personal beliefs is not disrespectful of elders nor does it invalidate their experiences. Rather, this simply means making a personal choice to mindfully notice the beliefs I hold, discern if they are true for me now, and then change them by creating a more personally authentic Money Story of my own. Nobody gets to be wrong!
Coaching is a great way to explore unquestioned limiting beliefs. Not surprisingly, money is a common focus of calls with my coaching clients. I invite them to examine their own Money Story – its origins, benefits and limitations. Often they decide a substantial re-write of their own Money Story is in order to craft a more modern, accurate and congruent set of personal beliefs around money.
It’s not easy to uproot lifelong beliefs. Friends and family members may not feel comfortable or supportive of such changes at first, or ever. But I suggest that there are few things that are more satisfying than feeling more authentic, aware, and aligned with one’s own values and beliefs. So, what’s your Money Story?
10 questions to help create your new Money Story:
- What was the financial circumstance of your childhood?
- What messages about money can you recall when you were young?
- In what ways do you think your current financial situation relates to that of your family of origin?
- What is one assumption or belief about money that no longer serves you well?
- What might be a desired outcome of embracing a new personal Money Story?
- By changing your Money Story, what are you saying “yes” to?
- By changing your Money Story, what are you saying “no” to?
- If you want to ask for some help with this, who would be supportive and non-judgmental of you as you explore?
- When will you begin?
- How will you know your new money story is accurate and truly your own?
Dr. Tim Kincaid, EdD, MBA, is a certified professional coach, change management consultant and university instructor who works and lives in Northeast Tarrant County. A special coaching interest of his is facilitating with mid-life exploration, transition and reinvention. Coaching sessions are primarily conducted by telephone. He can be reached at drtim@kincaidcoaching.com His website is www.kincaidcoaching.com
Dallas News Personal Finance Blog Credit Question
March 14, 2012 by Jean Keener, CFP, CRPC, CFDS
As a contributor to the Dallas Morning News’ personal finance blog, I answer questions on a variety of personal finance, college, and retirement issues. Today’s question regarding credit scoring is fairly common, so I wanted to share my response with a link to the Dallas Morning News blog. The blog is staffed by volunteers like myself from the Dallas-Fort Worth Financial Planning Association, so lots of helpful personal finance advice there!
March 2012 Personal Finance Newsletter
March 12, 2012 by Jean Keener, CFP, CRPC, CFDS
The March 2012 personal finance newsletter is now available and covers several personal finance topics. For retirement planning, we look at your options when you inherit an IRA. For debt management, we cover how to pay down credit cards without hurting your credit. For investing, we look at different ways of measuring stock market valuations and whether the market is fairly valued, under-valued, or over-valued today by different methods. For tax planning, the newsletter includes background and description on some of the most commonly discussed tax plans during this presidential election cycle. Click here to read the newsletter.