Year: 2011

It’s official. The State of Alabama officially reneged on its promise to college-bound students this week when the judge approved a class-action lawsuit settlement that allowed the state to forever ‘freeze’ future tuition payments based on 2010 tuition fees.  One Birmingham News reader, Susan, wrote me in disgust saying that she purchased the five-year payment contract for […]

  Our elected representatives have been playing a dangerous game with our economy, our standing in the world and the financial well-being of every American. Our country’s debt stands at $14.3 trillion which is the equivalent of $129,000 for every taxpayer in America. Our debt has reached its maximum legal limit unless Congress votes to raise the […]

  At the forefront of political news today is the congressional debate over raising our $14.3 trillion debt ceiling…the amount of money we owe other creditors such as China and our Social Security System. Republicans want spending cuts with no tax increases while the Democrats, lead by President Obama, insist tax increases on ‘millionaires and billionaires’ […]

  I was counseling a couple in their thirties regarding the management of their money. Specifically, they had a running conflict over how the money was spent. Their case facts were pretty typical of young (and older) couples. In this case they have two children and the husband is the primary earner because they decided that it was […]

  I recently had a conversation with an old friend who has been out of work for over a year and is desperate to get a job. My first question was, “What are you doing today?” His response was, “Basically nothing.”  Imbedded in his response was a basic flaw in his job hunt strategy. If you don’t have […]

“Become a Banker, Save the World” – Feburary 20, 2011 Stewart H. Welch III, CFP, AEP Founder, The Welch Group, LLC Feburary 20, 2011 How would you like to become a banker and help save the world?  It used to be that we thought of bank CEO’s as pretty smart people.  But after the financial […]

  One of my associates recently told me of two instances where her family had been a victim of fraud. This surprised me because she and her husband are very astute and seemed to me unlikely to fall for any scam. Here’s her story: In her first instance, her husband sold some high-end electronic to a buyer […]

  June marks the mid-point in the year and is a good time to pause and do some income tax planning for 2011. Step one is to decide what to do with your income tax refund if you are one of the more than fifty-seven million taxpayers receiving a refund. The average tax refund this year is […]

  Twenty-five years ago a young lady came into my office in tears and on the verge of a nervous breakdown. Her very successful salesman husband had recently passed away of a heart attack and while he left behind a $1 million life insurance policy, he also left her in financial peril because he made the […]

  Over the past thirty years I’ve had an opportunity to work with hundreds of couples regarding their personal finances. While most of these couples were not financial experts they were wise enough to know they needed professional advice. Research suggests that only a small percentage of people seek professional help regarding mapping out an effective retirement […]