College Costs: Tuition Is Just the Beginning

The Wall Street Journal's Emily Blazer discusses costs you may not typically consider when budgeting for your child's college education. Food, clothing, transportation, extracirricular activities, storage, and many other miscellaneous expenses can add up! Click here to read the full article.

When Should You Retire?

Dan Danford, MBA, CRSP,Chief Executive Officer at Family Investment Center wrote an article entitled Deciding When to Retire for the April issue of Medical Economics.


To read the article, click here.

Upside Down Home Value

Financial adviser Dan Danford answers an unfortunately common personal finance question given the state of today's economy:

"I imagine I'm like a lot of people in today's economy with my marital home being upside down in value. Is there a way to refinance my house even though the value is upside down?"

Danford, MBA, CRSP, of Family Investment Center, explains refinancing a home and mortgage that is upside down in value.





Don't forget to catch up with Family Investment Center on our Twitter and our Facebook page.

In edition to the tweets, blogs, and videos Dan Danford, CRSP Principal / Chief Executive Officer at Family Investment Center, reports on about finance. He also contributes to magazines like Medical Economics. This week's article is called Deciding When To Retire. Here, Dan answers this retirement question from a reader:

I was planning to retire from my practice at 65, but now the age at which one can collect full Social Security benefits has increased, should I postpone my retirement?

To read Dan's answer to this question, click here.

Women of Exellence Nominates Elaine Coder & FIC

The Women of Excellence Awards is an event sponsored by the YWCA that recognizes a select group of successful women in the St. Joseph area. Last week the YWCA announced their 2011 nominations. Family Investment Center has been nominated for the Employer of Excellence category and Elaine Coder, Director of Client Services, has been nominated for the Woman in the Workplace category. The winners will be announced on Thursday, June 16th at Civic Arena. Good luck Elaine and congratulations to all of the nominees!

To read more about the 2011 Women of Excellence Awards, click here.

Brief Investment Message‏ from Jason White

Friends,

I hope this message finds you well! With the NHL hockey playoffs at full throttle, I felt compelled to take a stab at a hockey analogy. Our investment advisory services team works relentlessly on our clients' behalf to try and skate to where the puck is going to be, rather than where it is right now. Such a principle keeps us grounded in our fundamental diversified long-term approach, even when media screeching reaches a fevered crescendo...

A Bit of News:

Recently, I was invited to be a participant in a round table panel discussion on fixed income investing at Kansas City's Interncontinental Hotel just north of the Plaza on Ward Parkway. The nearly two-hour discussion was really fascinating, and I enjoyed sharing my perspective as well as hearing from peers on investment strategy, the economy, interest rates and many other topics.

What I took away from the meeting was further validation about what we believe at FIC, and the way we go about building our customized client portfolios, our manager selection process, and our evaluation of talent.

On behalf of our entire Family Investment Center team, we are very grateful to be blessed with so many wonderful friends, and from all of us, please have a safe and peaceful Easter celebration.
Yours truly,

Jason T. White, Ph.D.
Director of Investments Family Investment Center

For an audio version of this text, click here

Dan Explains Tax Refunds

With the deadline passed for having your taxes filed, financial adviser Dan Danford answers this timely tax question about how tax refunds work:

"Some years I owe money to the IRS, some years I get money refunded, and the amounts always vary. Is there a way to get a consistent refund or have an idea on how much I will receive or owe? If you live on a tight budget it's difficult when you receive an unexpected and unknown expense, such as owing additional taxes."

Danford, MBA, CRSP, of Family Investment Center, says while the tax refund process is easy to understand, there are many complicated factors.