Jill Russo Foster

Teens: Welcome To The Real World – Teens and Money

Got teenagers?

I will be doing a workshop at Norwalk Community College this Saturday, March 10 at 10 am for teens.

Do you want to learn about money and finances? We will discuss real world examples – buying a car and paying for col

lege scenarios – to understand what’s involved and the choices you make and how they affect your financial future. Learn lifelong skills now for a lifetime of

money management.

For more information and/or to register contact NCC Extended Studies at 203-857-7080.

Reducing The Chemicals In Our Life

I don’t know about you, but there seems to be more and more chemicals in my life. They are in the food we eat, the products we buy, in our home and everywhere else. It’s scary to me.

When I do something, I ten to jump in with both feet.

For our food, I cook most meals and purchase whole unprocessed foods for the meals I make. I tend to stick to the outer aisles of the grocery store buying more fruits, vegetables, meat and fish (more so than the processed ready to eat food in the aisles. We still have our garden in the warmer months for fresh just picked vegetables. I am experimenting more with new recipes / ideas to make. Are we perfect, no! But we are substantially better than a few years ago.

In our home, we have eliminated most toxic products in favor of healthier alternatives. Using vinegar, baking soda, Castile soap with essential oils does the trick in our house. Clean bathrooms, floors, counter tops and more with no more toxic fumes and they work great!

If you want to try or start, here are some great resources to learn more and to make your own products:

For more resources, please visit my resource page on my website JillRussoFoster.com

What do you do in your household? Let me know

**If a link is an affiliate it will be clearly noted with ** so that you are aware that Jill Russo Foster may receive a percentage of the purchase price if you chose to buy the linked product. There is no difference in price to you.

Eliminating Expenses

As I get older, I don’t need as many things and we continue to reduce and eliminate things and save the money.

This year, I have eliminated things in my business that I don’t really need – such as my efax and 800# (most of my correspondence is by email, so why pay for these services). As you know, I have changed the format of the newsletter and eliminated another monthly service bill. All this adds up to a savings.

For our personal life, we would rather have experiences versus stuff. I spent a good part of 2017 going through family photos, slides and movies ( a bug project that I should have done a long time ago). We sorted and tossed. We sorted and gave to other family members. We sorted and scanned photos. We sorted and had the slides digitized. We sorted and had the movies turned into DVDs. We took numerous boxes, a file cabinet and slide carousels into a few photo albums and DVD’s. All the photo are a back up hard drive and in a cloud (the ones we saved I don’t want to lose).

What can your reduce or eliminate to save you money?

Lowering Your Taxes

It’s this time of year when we are all getting our income taxes done – from gathering our documents to meeting with your accountant.

Don’t forget it’s not too late to make your IRA contribution for last year. You actually have until April 15 to

make your contribution for last year, if you haven’t maxed out your contribution for the previous year. This is turn could lower your income and may turn owing on your taxes to a refund. As your accountant to do this to see if you can benefit from this. It never hurts to ask.

Investing In Your Future

It’s never too late to invest in your future. Whether you are starting out now or picking up where you left off, make a plan.

Real Simple Magazine has information on investing from $5.00 to $50,000. A new year and it’s time to invest in your future.

What can you do today as a random act of kindness?

Today is Random Acts of Kindness Day.

A few years back, I read a book by Cami Walker called 29 Gifts. What a life changer that book was for me. What can you do today to brighten someone life?

Need ideas, this is a great book of inspiration and an easy read to get you started.

Love and Money

Valentine’s Day is a day when we exchange gifts, have a special meal and more with the person we love. Usually all is well and life goes on. love and money

In honor of Valentine’s Day, I want to talk to you about love and money. I have known many couples who were in love until they found out about the other person’s money habits.

Your money incompatibility doesn’t have to end the relationship. If this is the one, you can make it work. You just have to ask the right questions.

This is what you need to know about each other:

Financial Issues: Income, assets, expenses, debt and credit. Understand what is going on with each other’s finances. Are there debts and back taxes? Are the savings accounts available to use jointly? Should some of the assets be merged or sold off, and if so which ones?

Money Type: Are you a Spender or a Saver? If you know, you can use your joint goals to meet in the middle on common ground. If you’re habits are extreme, you might want to keep separate bank accounts. That way, one of you won’t feel pinched while the other is in a constant state of sticker shock.

Long Term Goals: What do you want from life? Do you want to be married or single? Do you want to be a homeowner or rent for the rest of your lives? Do you want to have children? These questions need to be answered so you can save towards the same goals.

CFO (Chief Financial Officer): Who is in charge of the money? Is it one of you or both? Will you split the responsibilities by category or do everything jointly? Knowing will keep “that’s mine” arguments to a limit.

With this information, you can decide if you want to keep your finances together or separate. Joining your bank accounts together with someone who has ignored debt or back taxes may mean your money is at risk (even if it’s not your obligation), and in the end, puts you both in the same deep hole with no way out.

Finances can be the doom of relationships. Being informed and making proactive choices is the best way to make the relationship work.

Make 2018 Your Best Year Possible!

Yes, I know it’s a busy time of year to add anything to your do to list. As the year begins, it’s important to make time to complete this check list of items to make 2018 the best year possible.

Investment Accounts
Think about maxing out your 2018 contributions, especially if you have an employer match. You don’t want to miss out on the free matched funds. If you can’t max out, then add as much as you can. Now is the time to look at your investments, it may be time to re-balance and/or make changes to your accounts.

Health Insurance
Understand what your health insurance covers and what it doesn’t. If you have a deductible to meet,if possible schedule your appointments so that you can afford the bills. Remember you may be able to use your FSA (Flexible Spending Accounts) or HSA (Health Savings Account) to plan for some or all of these expenses. Your plan has a list of eligible items you can use the money towards.

Charitable Giving / Donations
If you itemize your taxes, make sure to discuss your charitable giving with your tax preparer as the new tax rules are in effect.

Starting the new year off right will help you throughout the year.

Paying For College – FAFSA

It ‘s that time of year. Your teens are making their college choices for the fall and all the excitement that goes with it. What school should they go to? Will they stay near or go far? What will I need to do next?

First let ‘s start with the paying for college. If you have the money saved for the cost of college for all four years (or more), then you can stop reading. If not, you need to start or continue to figure out the finances. FAFSA – Free Application for Federal Student Aid – is the first step. Apply now, even if you don’t think you qualify – you may be surprised.

Here is a great article by Consumer Reports for financial aid that will tell you what you need to know.

Ask Questions

January has been a month of me asking questions. You may be thinking what is she talking about. Lots of items came to light throughout the month that required more information. Here is a sampling of what came up:

I was listed as a “non-owner” on our auto insurance. I had no idea what that mean and had to do the research to find out more.
I received two bills one from the lab for bloodwork and one from doctor’s office for a physical. It was my understanding that this was covered through my medical insurance as a preventative visit at no cost to me. Again, multiple calls and asking for my medical claims to be adjusted.
Receiving less than expected in a paycheck. More calls to get to get to the bottom line
And the list goes on.

Never be afraid or think your questions aren’t worthy of an answer. In my case, it’s my money. Call and ask questions until you are satisfied with the answers.

For me, I was able to save money on our auto insurance after a lengthy phone call, the medical insurance company paid the bloodwork bill in full after appeal, the doctors bill was adjusted and I owed less than 50% of the bill and I am still working to understand resolve the paycheck issue. So far, I with these questions we have saved close to $300. That’s worth my time and efforts.