Savings

We’re having an evolution at Vantage January 23, and it’s going to make managing your budget that much easier. Our personal financial management tool—My$Manager—has undergone a renovation and will show off a new look and feel complete with enhanced features and greater accuracy.

In a nutshell, here’s what you’ll experience:

Exercise more. Lose weight. Finish that project in the basement. The New Year is here, and with it come all the usual resolutions. Why not make saving one of them? Building your personal wealth can be both satisfying and comforting. But how is it done? There are a number of ways to achieve a slice of your own personal wealth, some easy, and some that need dedication. As you can probably guess, for most people, the dedication thing is the way they’ll have to go. But just for amusement sake, wouldn’t it be nice if you could…

Taxes. Does the word leave a bad taste in your mouth? If it’s not paying them, it’s the hassle of getting all your records together so you can prepare them...so you can pay them. Ugh. But millions of Americans will be looking past the unpleasant aspect of preparing their taxes this year because there’s a dividend at the end of all the meticulous work, a 2010 tax refund.

If you think you’re in line for a refund this year, it’s to your advantage to get your tax return in as early as possible, and that means getting a head start on preparation. As we all know, the hardest part of most any project is getting started. Here are a few pointers to help you get your tax prep in order:

By now you should hopefully be done with your holiday shopping. But if you're not and your budget is running out of steam, what can you do? Mix frugality and a creative streak to make this a memorable holiday season for everyone on your list. Here are a few suggestions as sent in by readers of Bankrate.com:

• Get the kids involved. For example, let them decorate unfinished picture frames (available at a low cost at arts and crafts shops). What grandparent can turn down a current picture in a hand-decorated picture frame?
   
• Wrapping gifts can be very inexpensive if you check out the After-Christmas sales. You’re very likely to find wrapping paper, ribbons/bows and tags available for 75-90% off.
   
• Have a cooking specialty? Jellies, jams? Soups? Prepare them and fill mason jars. Wrap them in festive ribbons and/or bows.
   
• Rather than purchase a gift for each individual family member, create a gift basket for each family. Customize it to the likes of the family. Flavored coffees, DVDs, teas, popcorn, gift cards...they all work nicely in a festive basket you can find at garage sales/thrift stores throughout the year.
   
• Treat families to memberships at museums, aquariums, zoos, etc. As an added bonus, they can use them as a great reason for special family time!
   
• Make your own holiday cards by recycling old cards. Cut up last year’s supply and create your own customized cards.
   
• Garage sales and thrift shops often have bargain prices on children’s new or nearly new toys and clothes.

Mortgage rates are low, as low as they’ve been for a long, long time. But they’re beginning to inch up again. Will the trend in higher rates continue? Will rates leave record low levels and start a new trend upward? Only time will tell. But we can tell you this, with these low current rates, right now is the perfect time to buy a new home or refinance an existing mortgage. You’ll save on two levels:

How’s your holiday shopping coming along? Still need a few items? Time is running out, but you’re in luck, there’s this new thing called the Internet where you can shop online via computer from the comfort of your own home 24/7. And it delivers! Yeah, we know, the Internet really isn’t new, but it’s still pretty cool that you can shop so conveniently 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

And now is a great time to shop online. Between the holiday rush and the sluggish economy, merchants are eager to get a slice of your shopping dollar. You’re very likely to find an enticing amount of coupons, deals (free shipping) and reduced prices for the taking. Here are some tips for squeezing everything you can from those online shopping trips:

Hang the stockings! Put up the trees! It’s time to call upon Holiday Spirit 2010. The only problem (if there is a problem) is that tradition dictates that you fill those stockings and place presents around those trees. Most of us enjoy the activity itself, it’s the money spent to ring in the spirit that sometimes gives us pause. What you don’t want to do is trade Holiday Spirit 2010 for Financial Ghosts of 2011.

Yes, you have a list and you’ve checked it twice, but what’s wrong with a third time, a check to make sure you’re not overextending yourself and busting your holiday budget. With huge retailer sales starting earlier and earlier, online shopping 24/7 and easy access to credit, breaking the bank has gotten way too easy, especially around the holiday season.

And the winning Powerball number is...

What? You won? You WON?!!

It’s a dream for many of us, whether we play it or not—winning the lottery. Ah yes, enough riches to realize all our dreams and beyond.

Of course, basing any future financial circumstance on winning the lottery is a bit starry-eyed and unrealistic. The odds of winning a lottery is minuscule; a state lottery is about one in 18,000,000 while multiple state lotteries like Powerball can leave you feeling very unlucky at about one in 120,000,000. Long odds no matter how you look at it. So long, you’re much more likely to be hit by lightning. According to the National Safety Council, your chance of being struck by lightning is in the neighborhood of one in 2,650,000.*

The Tax Increase Prevention and Reconciliation Act of 2005 (TIPRA) has given investors the opportunity to convert Traditional IRAs to Roth IRAs with a tax incentive, but time is running out; this window of opportunity is open only until the end of 2010!

The big difference in this incentive is how income is reported. Up until 2010, any amount converted from a Traditional to a Roth IRA had to be reported as income on that year’s tax return. For 2010, conversions won’t have to be reported on your 2010 tax return. Under this Act, you’re able to split the reported taxes over two years: 2011/2012.

Sometimes it’s nice to showcase the good things our members do for our community. This year, Vantage member, Karen Sanders, is doing her part to highlight the giving part of the holiday season.

Karen is the general manager of the Keller Plaza 8 Cine in South County, and she and her fellow employees have adopted two local families who were recently highlighted in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch’s 100 Neediest Cases feature (which runs each year around the holidays and is co-sponsored by the United Way).