Live A Life By Design Blog

Work, work, work! This is the metronome of our lives for more than 40 years of our existence.  My father was an excellent instructor on life as he dispensed exorbitant amounts of wisdom to me while growing up.  Some of his sage advice, not original to him, was “you don’t have time to do it […]

“It’s the end of the world as we know it,” as the pop singer bellows out the first line of the chorus of a top song for their band.  What a profound statement when we think of the chaos of the past few years and the impact economic factors have made on your net worth.  […]

The taxman cometh! Every year at this time, individuals in our great country are asked to file their income tax returns to contribute a portion of their earnings to the common good.  Some of us are immune to this exercise in honest reporting due to income levels.  Others are subject at the highest rate of […]

Prior to starting the new year, many of us sat down with a pen and paper to develop our desired goals for 2023. Well, some of us did. Gallup, a national polling organization, studied goal setting by U.S. citizens and the results are encouraging.  The findings were that 79% of adults age 18 – 34 […]

One of the best attributes about my profession is the constant change in the rules for which we give advice to our clients. One of the worst attributes of our profession is the constant change in the rules for which we give advice to our clients.  This double-edge sword keeps our team of professionals motivated […]

There is a TV show that I witnessed a couple of times that is titled, How Winning the Lottery Ruined my Life, or something to that effect.  While watching the “lucky” family discuss their travails and trials of winning such a large sum of money when they previously were considered poor or bankrupt was interesting […]

Home ownership avails tax deductions such mortgage interest and ad valorem taxes for those individuals that itemize on their personal income tax return. Deductions are good since they reduce your taxable income; however, tax credits are much better since they reduce the tax itself dollar-for-dollar. One of my mantras when helping our clients with tax […]

Retirement planning of itself has many challenges for individuals.  It is an area of life that has many concerns and questions because of the unknowns in the future.  It is as the Boy Scouts would say, you must be prepared for anything.  To help you accomplish your goal of retiring with a worry-free lifestyle, we […]

A new year always suggests the opportunities to create the world we truly wish to live in and the strategies we must implement to achieve success. Too many of us write down meaningless resolutions on January 1 that have no measurable qualities to denote actual commitment from the writer. This year will be different for […]

Happy New Year!  It is so awesome to open a new calendar and smell the fresh ink and clean pages of opportunity.  The blank calendar pages are awaiting your input of a remarkable life in the new year.  2023 looks very promising.  Not from the world’s perspective but from the perspective of each of you […]