Looking for an Estate Planning Attorney?

"Only put off until tomorrow what you are willing to die having left undone."
-- Pablo Picasso

There is no reason why you should die without having planned your estate. Not only will it make life easier for those you'd leave behind, you will also save money by avaoiding costly litigation or estate tax. Covering the basics (i.e., Will, Trust and Health Care Proxy) shouldn't cost you more than $2,000.

The best way to find an attorney is to ask friends and colleagues for referrals. Otherwise click here.

For tips on didiving emotion-laden personal belongings check out the following website: Who Gets Grandma's Yellow Pie Plate.

America's Search Engine for Best Rates

Looking where to park your cash, and make real money?  Visit Bankingmyway.com in order to find the country's best rates on CDs, Money Market accounts, Mortgages, and Auto Loans.  In addition to following bank and credit yields, Bankingmyway.com also will help you manage your money and find a bank/ credit union in your state.

If you are looking for a credit union, also try ncua.gov or creditunion.coop.

New to Blu-ray

Blu-ray is the term for the next generation DVDs.  Blu-ray is a high-density optical disc format for the storage of digital information, including high-definition video.  A single layer blu-ray disc can hold over 25 GB of data, which is six (6) times the storage capacity of current DVDs.  For those of you who already have a high definition television, and are willing to invest in an HDMI cable, the picture could never look better!

For more information click here or to order Blu-ray movies go to Amazon.com

FAQs about Blu-ray:  click here.

Day Care Council of New York, Inc.

The Day Care Council for New York (DDC) is a non-profit organization offering child care information and professional development to the general public in the five boroughs of New York since 1952.  The DDC can offer free child care referral information on:

- The location of a licensed Child Care Center;

- Infant/ Toddler Programs;

- Nanny Services and Nursery Schools;

- After School Programs; 

- Summer Camps; and

- Head Start Programs 

For more information contact The Day Care Council of NY at the following address:

12 West 21st Sreet, 3rd Floor

New York, NY 10010

(212) 206-7818

www.dccnyinc.org

2008 HSA Contributions

According to information listed on the Treasury Departments website, 2008 Maximum HSA Contribution limits are as follows:

-  $2900 for individual, $5,800 for families;

The Minimum HDHP Deductible is $1,100 for individuals and $5,800 for families.  There is also a Post age 55 "Catch-Up" limit of $900.  Individuals with a $1,100 HDHP can contribute up to $2,900 to their HSA in 2008.

For more information about Health savings Accounts, please click here.  

What Would Babe Ruth's Salary Be Worth Today?

According to the website www.measuringworth.com, "Determining the relative value of an amount of money in one year compared to another is more complicated than it seems at first." In fact, there is no single "correct" measure, and economic historians use one or more different indicators depending on the context of the question.

Click here for a calculator that will provide six indicators for making such comparisons in US dollars between any two years from 1790 to 2005. They are the CPI, the GDP Deflator, the Consumer Bundle, the unskilled wage rate, the GDP per capita, and the GDP.

Should I Prepay My Mortgage or Invest?

Paying off your mortgage early is always tempting, especially when the stock market is volatile.  Paying off your mortgage (like any other loan) is an investment, and your return is essentially the interest rate on the loan.  If you have 25 years left on a 30 year mortgage with a fixed rate of 6.2% and you deduct the interest payments on your taxes, you'll earn 4.5% by prepaying the loan assuming you're in the 28% tax bracket.  If you invest your spare cash in stocks instead, you'll have to pay a 15% tax rate on your long-term capital gains and dividends.  So to beat the 4.5% return you'd get from prepaying your mortgage, you'd have to earn just 5.3% a year on your stocks before taxes.  The odds of you doing that over the 25 years remaining term of your mortgage are excellent:  Historically a portfolio of 80% stocks and 20% bonds has returned 7.5% a year after taxes. 

Tools:  To see how much interest you'd save by prepaying your mortgage, use the payoff calculator at Dinkytown.net.  To run the numbers on how much money you could end up with by investing, use the savings calculator at CNNMoney.com

The Bottom Line:  Investing Wins!