Spring is here! New energy is flowing and many of us tend to want to get out more, maybe clean out our homes and closets. But what about our finances?

Here are 5 tips to get you going in the right direction:

Shred all financial files/Go paperless
Sort through your old statements, pay stubs, bills and other financial records and keep only the documents that are absolutely necessary. If you’re unsure about throwing away certain types of receipts, scan them or make a copy, then go ahead and shred! Only tax-related documents and tax returns need to be kept for seven years.

Review your credit report and credit score
I recommend doing this every 4 months. You need to know your score, but you also need to review your report for any suspicious activity.

Reset passwords
Do you have duplicate or easy-to-guess passwords? Do you use two-factor authentication? Think about steps to make your online information more secure. It’s also a best practice to use a password manager like LastPass and to have a back-up system.

Review your Spending Plan
Review all your outgoing expenses and compare those bills to your net income, or your take-home pay. The key here is to make sure you are not deficit spending – or spending more money than you’re earning. Also, change your mindset about budgeting. Don’t look at it as a negative thing. Instead, view your budget as an empowering tool. It’s something that gives you a spending plan of action and helps you prioritize where you put your hard-earned dollars.

Create Your Own Financial Calendar
Set reminders throughout the year to do things like review insurance policies, get a credit report or rebalance investments. Just stay on top of things!

The post Spring Clean Your Finances appeared first on MainStreet Financial Planning.

Did you know that your D.R.E.A.M.s are totally real and possible to materialize?! No matter how big or small. There just needs to be a little bit of structure in place around your finances, spending, and budgeting in particular.

In this 2 part of the conversation with Nick True from www.mappedoutmoney.com, he shares with us his DREAM process to make budgeting your new favorite activity.

D.R.E.A.M. Budget:

D-determine your current location. Where do you stand? Where all the money is going? No Judgement. Collect all the data.

R- refine your vision. Going for the big picture. Get clear on what you want in life? What should it look like in the next 3 years, what work you want to do, what do you want your family to look like? What are you trying to do? Hobbies? 

Do it as a couple, every quarter. Your vision changes. Adjust accordingly.

Write out:

1. Bullet points of what life is going to look like in the next 1 yr.
2. Future journaling for your vision – write a journal entry, as it already happened.

Most people’s dreams are about relationships, which don’t make as much money.  

E – Establish a plan

1 to 2 goals. Map it out for 90 days.

A – Actualize your dream

Make the plan come to life.

M – Make it a habit – for 3 months.

Put it on the calendar.

The post Happy & Practical Steps To Make Your Budget Work – Interview With Nick True appeared first on MainStreet Financial Planning.

It’s my birthday week.  I am turning 38.

I was thinking about what I want this next year to look like. It’s funny how when I was in my twenties I always wanted to look and be older. For some reason, I thought people would take me more seriously. And maybe that is true!

Now that I am getting closer to my 40s, I love being my age.

So for this next year of my personal, family, and professional life, I picked a theme. And my theme associated with the word “Focus”.

Becoming a mother, taught me a lot, especially how valuable my time is, how little of it I now have it for myself. I joke with Yuri a lot about how reminding him how we used to have so much ample time on our hands and what did we do with it?!

This coming year I am focused, laser-focused on what is most important!

Personally – my physical and mental health. My beauty and appearance. I want to have lots of energy, vibrancy, and strength. Daily exercise and healthy diet is my goal.

Family– I want to remember every moment I have to spend with Liam. He is 2 and the time is just going by so fast. So being more present in moments I am with him. Intentionally present.

Yuri and I are back on regular weekly dates:)

Business – We just had our annual retreat with my team, set goals, welcomed 2 new members to our team. It’s now 7 women and one man on my team. Everyone is excited that we confirmed and decided to work with certain types of clients (younger families in their 30s & 40s), the type of services we are going to work, how we going to deliver them, and what we all want the MainStreet brand to be. We are also all working on developing our professional brands as well. 

My finances – this next year is all about growth! We bought a new home last year, did a huge remodel. Now it’s time to focus our efforts on growing our wealth. I want to be intentional with how we invest our money, both for longer-term, retirement, and midterm in our brokerage account.

That is what I am thinking about. I am recording this episode as Liam taking a nap. We are off to Tahoe this weekend to show him snow for the first time. It’s gonna be fun!

What is your birthday wish for yourself this year? 

The post Anna’s Birthday Wish appeared first on MainStreet Financial Planning.

In this second interview with Emily Martinez, time hacking expert, we go about discussing her favorite time hacks you can apply in all areas of your life: family, household, relationships & business.

Learn true and tried tips & tricks and best practices to feel more in control!

 Favorite Time hack:

Family (activities)- especially now in COVID times

Wednesday afternoon Brain Dump

• Use google docs or just a piece of paper for 5 to 10 minutes, and write out absolutely everything that needs to get done and make a massive to-do list. No priorities, just write it out.
• Then start prioritizing. Pick 5 things to accomplish in a week.

Benefit: clear out major brain fog, to uncloud your focus.

Household

Getting your family all involved. 

• “Handle your own things”- Teach kids to become more independent
•   Team-work and divide household chores. Set up a timer for 20 min for Clean up Sprints. Get as much as possible in 20 minutes. Award for the best job! Do before and after pictures. Make it fun

Relationships

Work-life balance. Does it exist? Especially in the WFH environment, we are in. 

• Be creative and take turns planning out dates and fun things, even at home. For example, plan a “Spa Evening”, or have a picnic in the backyard.
• Money Dates – a creative way to talk about finances. Schedule these times. Weekly is Anna’s suggestion!

Business

      Find the right tool for the job. So simple, but misunderstood a lot. What are those repetitive tasks, you can streamline, delegate, and eliminate?

The post Favorite Time Hacks with Emily Martinez Part 2 appeared first on MainStreet Financial Planning.

Today we share an interview with a time hacking expert Emily Martinez. This is a topic we all need to revisit, not just once a year, but every day!

Who doesn’t want more time in their day? Life?

We are talking in this episode about how can we find more time? Is there a strategy to Hack more time?

First let’s explore “Why” more time is the key to success in all areas of life, personal, professional, relationships, and business.

The post Want to Hack More Time into Your Life? appeared first on MainStreet Financial Planning.

Reaching your goals is fantastic. You’ve worked so hard to get there and now you can celebrate. There’s always a high that comes with reaching your aspirations, but then comes the dreaded low. It’s our natural tendency to want to take a break after a success. You deserve it! Take a rest, but don’t let your eyes wander to far from the next milestone.

Financial Money Bosses what is your next financial target?
What’s on the list we made together earlier this year? Pick your next goal and let’s go. Keep striving and don’t lose sight of the financial independence you seek. Celebrate your wins and know that there are more great things to come in 2021.

The post What Happens When You Reach Your Goal? appeared first on MainStreet Financial Planning.

COVID-19 has upended the universe. What we thought was important to us in February isn’t nearly as important now. Family and friends are what we miss most, and as the holidays are near, I wanted to share my best gift ideas that can bring you closer even if you can’t be together this year. Budget bosses will be happy to know that these suggestions are below $25 and can be done as a family, a work team, or as a group of friends.

1. Explore India with a local guide or mediate with a Japanese Buddhist monk. Sign up for these experiential experiences online at Airbnb.com
2. Broadwayhd.com is a streaming service for Broadway shows. Immerse yourself in the arts and watch your favorite musicals and dramas from the stage right to your living room
3. Since your favorite nail salon might be closed, take a virtual at-home manicure class at Sundays. Learn how to care for your nails and pick that perfect color just for you.
4. Start an indoor herb garden with your children with a kit from Amazon.com. Kits come with everything you need to start a garden. Start growing basil, cilantro and whatever herb is your favorite.
5. Escape the Rooms have been dormant because of COVID, but you can still virtually participate in the fun. Solve puzzles and answer trivia to get out of a room before it explodes or gets trapped in there for infinity!

Although the holidays won’t be the same, we can still make it a memorable one and on a budget!

Happy Holidays!

The post Budget-Friendly Holiday Gift Ideas appeared first on MainStreet Financial Planning.

Everyone has a bad day. You could wake up, have a great morning, and then wham, bad day hits. It can derail your afternoon, your evening, and your week or maybe even your year. But have the confidence in yourself to know that you are in charge and capable of handling anything thrown your way. Financial bad days can start with an overdraft, lead to a stolen checkbook or credit card or identify theft. It doesn’t have to be that traumatic, but financial bad days happen to all of us. We spend too much and go over our budget or forget to pay the light bill.

Don’t beat yourself up for bad days. Learn from them and have conviction in yourself that you will try harder tomorrow.

The post What if you are having a bad day? appeared first on MainStreet Financial Planning.

The post Improve Your Money Mindset appeared first on MainStreet Financial Planning.

1. Raise the top individual Income tax rate back to 39.6%. President Trump’s Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TJCA) temporarily lowered the top rate from 39.6% to 37% until 2026.
2. Make wages above $400,000 subject to the Social Security payroll tax. Currently, wages above $137,700 aren’t subject to the tax. He’s suggesting the payroll tax kicks back in at $400,000+ of wages.
3. Phase-out the Qualified Business Income (QBI) deduction that was added by TJCA – for small business owners making more than $400,000 per year.
4. End favorable tax rates on capital gains for anyone making over $1 million per year. Long-term capital gains tax would be paid at 39.6% rather than 20%. This number could go as high as 43.4% if the 3.8% surtax on net investment income stays put.
5. Cap the value of itemized deductions at 28%. Reducing the total amount of itemized deductions for anyone paying a marginal tax rate above 28% means a high earner currently getting a 37% tax reduction for every dollar spent on charitable donations would only get a 28% tax reduction.
6. Reverse the TJCA’s repeal of the Pease limitation. Phase-out itemized deductions for people earning more than $400,000 per year.
7. Lowering the federal estate tax exemption – likely back to pre-TJCA levels (estates over ~$5.5M are taxed 40%).
8. Eliminate the step-up in basis for inherited capital assets. Inheritors of low basis stock will likely owe 15% or 20% on the gains.
9. Increase the child tax credit – from $2,000 to $3,000 for children 17 or younger and provide a $600 bonus credit for children under 6. The CTC would also be made fully refundable, removing the $2,500 reimbursement threshold and 15 percent phase-in rate.
10. Expand the child and dependent care tax credit – from a maximum of $3,000 in qualified expenses to $8,000 ($16,000 for multiple dependents) and increase the maximum reimbursement rate from 35 percent to 50 percent.
11. Changes to corporations – raise corporate taxes from 21% to 28%, impose a 15% minimum tax on large corporations, and take away certain corporate tax breaks.

Note: Even if your annual salary is below $400,000 it does not mean you’ll undeniably escape Biden’s proposed tax increases. For example, boosting income taxes could ultimately raise taxes for workers, and selling inherited low-basis stock could land you significant capital gains tax.

So, what should you do with all this data? Remember, the president cannot raise and lower taxes on his own. Congress has to pass the legislation and since it’s looking like Republicans will most likely retain control of the Senate for at least two years, Biden will likely have a tough time getting these proposals enacted into law. Not to mention, it won’t be at the top of his agenda given the more pressing concerns the pandemic has created on the economy.

Therefore, we’re anticipating that the Ways and Means Committee won’t have the tax situation figured out until roughly 2022. Many investors and professionals speculate that taxes will inevitably arise in the future and are providing tax-saving tips to implement today. MainStreet recommends you work with us to identify tax moves to make based on your individual financial circumstances, rather than implement drastic changes in 2020 based on speculation about future tax increases. Because if we’ve learned anything from 2020, it’s that tomorrow is uncertain.

The post Big changes to make in 2020 to position you for Biden’s tax reform appeared first on MainStreet Financial Planning.