Making Cents: Professional Skepticism
When I was trained as a rookie CPA candidate in the late 70’s, the term professional skepticism was first introduced to me. What it means is that we should not accept all stories at face value. In the accounting world, it goes even further to mean that one should corroborate or validate through examination and…
Making Cents: The Four Financial Potholes That Can Deflate Your Dreams
Not all financial issues stand out and ask you to fix them. In fact, your financial problems are a lot like potholes in the night. Unlike the potholes visible in bright daylight, financial potholes are like night time road potholes – you don’t really see them until you hit one, and then it may be…
Making Cents: How Much Life Insurance Is Enough?
I’ve never heard anyone say that the death benefit check that they cashed from the passing of a loved one was too big. On the contrary, there are way too many situations where there are foundations and community fund raising efforts to help those who clearly had too little. So the big question is, how…
Making Cents: Home Renovations and the Risk That You May Be Assuming
If you hire a home builder to fix up your house, and your home is not properly insured, any problems such as fire, theft or injury to workers could bounce back into your lap if you hire someone who is uninsured or underinsured. Home builders and renovation professionals have not been this busy in quite…
Making Cents: Transitions Shine A Spotlight On Your Preparedness
By: John P. Napolitano, CFP®, CPA, PFS, MST Now that I have decades of experience working with families and recognizing what causes many folks to spring into action, I can easily say that transitions cause the most angst. Transitions can be expected and simple like having a baby, getting married or retiring. But transitions are…
Making Cents: Fake News About Your Finances
The term ‘fake news’ has been spouted, jousted and used quite a bit in the past couple of years. At its root, we all want to believe news and other statements made allegedly on fact. But when it comes to financial issues, there’s plenty of fake news being delivered every day by unknowing or unscrupulous…
Making Cents: Term Life Insurance Reviews
Many people buy their life insurance and then don’t think about it until the next premium notice arrives. Even if you’re in the early stages of a 20 year term policy that was to replace income for the premature death of a young parent, there may be issues for you that were not addressed by…