Grandma's Hankie

This is a story that demonstrates the significant value of what WE do as financial planners and how meaningful the human connection is for both the giver and receiver.

Tax Returns: Taking Care of What's YOURS

Tax season is in full swing once again. For many people it’s a stressful experience of hair-pulling proportions. It’s unavoidable, but there is an enticement: the potential refund a taxpayer receives after filing their return. 

IRS--Here To Help

We have all heard the old saying--"Hi I'm from the IRS and I'm here to help."  To me this represents a situation to which the response usually goes something like--"Yeah right."  Well this morning that exact scenario played out with the Social Security Administration for a widow filing for benefits.  

This family have been clients for many years and fortunately for the widow we had already run her Social Security projections.  This dedicated software program is designed to help decide which option to choose and is especially helpful in unusual situations.

Virtual vs. Reality

Recently I moved my dad and his stuff from Texas to Oklahoma. We needed to rent a truck and car hauler and chose to use uhaul.com. It was easy; seemed to have all the pieces to the puzzle, including helpers to load in Texas and unload in Oklahoma. We were set… in the virtual world that is.

 It continued to be good as we checked in at the U-Haul office. We left to eat lunch and came back to pick up the truck and trailer. Oops! That’s when reality started taking over. The truck didn’t work with the trailer and they did not have another truck available. There was a truck in another town about 15 miles away but they did not have a trailer.

Do You Know a Muslim?

In Nashville recently I noticed how many different religious beliefs 

20 year Muslim Reservist

were represented by the people attending what I refer to as the cosmic financial planners group.  There were Mormons, Christians, Quakers, Bahai, Buddhist, and agnostics to name a few. I wasn't aware that I was searching this information out but instead just noticed this in reflection after the recent comments about Muslims from Donald Trump.

In a previous blog from awhile back I compared Oklahoma City to Damascus, Syria.  There were many common themes regarding the regular people of each city.  My guess is the comparison would NOT be similar today.  One thing hasn't changed though and that is how the saying "If a million people die it is a statistic.  If one person dies it is a tragedy." 

Above is a picture