Financial planning

The following segment first aired on KEDM 90.3 on February 25, 2015

The following segment first aired on KEDM 90.3 on February 18, 2015

By Byron Moore, posted June 18, 2015

Question: I've got several maxed out credits cards I want to get rid. I'm thinking of using some of my retirement money to just go ahead and pay them off. Then I can save the money I was paying to my credit cards. I figure this is better since I am paying very high interest rates on those credit cards. I really hate debt and I want to get out from under it. Is this a good strategy?

Answer: No.

Your words are saying one thing, but your actions deliver a very different message.

The following segment first aired on KEDM 90.3 on February 11, 2015

The following segment first aired on KEDM 90.3 on January 21, 2015

Originally published in The News Star and The Shreveport Times on Sunday, May 17, 2015.

Question: I’ve got about three month’s living expenses in a bank account. It kills me to have all that money in a place that pays me exactly zero interest. Is there a problem with putting this money in a mutual fund? 

Answer: Yes, that would be a problem in my view. 

The following segment first aired on KEDM 90.3 on January 14, 2015

Originally published in The News Star and The Shreveport Times on Sunday, April 26, 2015.

Question: My CPA shocked me this year with the news that I owed the IRS more than half the income I earned. He said it had to do with my investments. I switched brokers last year, but I don’t understand why that mattered. They tax you for that?

Answer: You may a victim of your own success.

Originally published in The News Star and The Shreveport Times on Sunday, April 19, 2015.

Question: I have worked in the corporate world all my career. I’ve paid the maximum possible into Social Security most of that time. My wife, on the other hand, has been a teacher in a private school for her career. We both got our Social Security estimates online the other day and I could not believe how close they were. My income was multiples of hers, but she’s getting nearly half of what I’m getting. How does that work?

Answer: The deck is not exactly stacked in your favor.

Originally published in The News Star and The Shreveport Times on Sunday, March 29, 2015.

Question: I just graduated from college and I’m going to work for a ministry for at least two years, maybe more. Eventually I think I’ll be in the secular work force. What advice do you have for someone my age and situation?

Answer: Your life, financially or professionally, will not start in two years, or whenever your ministry commitment ends. It starts now.