financial zen

So I got a few answers in my educational quest on estate taxes. I talked to an accountant that said if the deceased had paid taxes all ready, than I have nothing to worry about unless it’s property that needs to be sold.

Of course, I used my google-fu to supplement this answer and the always informative bankrate.com has the answer:

*Ohio has no inheritance tax.

*Because federal tax law totally repealed the federal credit allowed for state death taxes for dates of death occurring on or after Jan. 1, 2005, the Ohio Additional Tax on estates is constructively repealed. This change is prospective and applies to decedents’ dates of death occurring on or after July 1, 2005.

So now, once the cash is “in hand” I need to constructively figure out how I’m going to leverage it towards investing it – and doubling it!

“A failure to plan is a plan for failure”

I don’t know about you, but I fell into the interest of personal finance from getting into reading blogs. The more I read, the more it intrigued me. It reminded me of the past experiences and money mistakes. Perhaps most people are put off by their lack of understanding terms – meaning they need to improve their financial literacy (the knowledge of facts, concepts, principles, and technological tools that are fundamental to being smart about money). This leads to most people learning about personal financial planning and developing and implementing a coordinated and integrated long-range plans to achieve financial success.

In planning, we hold ourselves responsible for our own success, happiness, and establishment of our security and standard of living (in the present and the future). It’s a huge part of our life that many people ignore until it’s too late – and then they learn from their mistakes, but it costs them (potentially) thousands of dollars, or wrecks their credit rating (which can potentially effect your employment, your mortgage, your car purchase… every financial aspect of your life). It’s my goal as I continue my education to get a better understanding and establish a better budget and mind set – I don’t mean miserly, I don’t mean “living like no other today so you can live like no other tomorrow” – I mean being able to save up for vacations without putting it all on credit, buying a car with cash, and using credit card arbitrage to its full potential. It’s a difficult premise, but then again, life isn’t easy.

The Six Steps to Personal Finance Success

1. Financial planning, focusing on establishing and achieving long-term goals through planning and budgeting,
2. Money management, centering on minimizing income taxes and efficient utilization of cash and credit,
3. Managing expenditures, especially for “big ticket” items such as vehicles and housing,
4. Income and asset protection through insurance, so that hard-earned resources and assets are not placed at undue risk,
5. Investment planning, with its focus on selecting the appropriate investment vehicles based on the objectives at hand and the relative levels of investment risk, and
6. Retirement and estate planning, with the ultimate goal of being able to live off of one’s financial nest egg and plan for transfer of assets to heirs.

It’s never just a simple process – fortunately we have trained professionals to assist. Certified Financial Planners can help you plan with these six steps, and Certified Public Accountants can help you get your finances together and straightened out. Over the next few months I’m planning on elaborating on these six points – from an educational stand point, as I am not a CFP, CPA, or any other TLA.