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Financial Planning Checklist for the New Year

SWA Checklist

Financial Planning Checklist for the New Year With only a few weeks left in this calendar year, your mind may be racing through lists of Christmas gifts, decorations, holiday parties, and year-end bonuses. Your carefully crafted plan for meeting your financial goals is by the wayside, waiting for January 2 to pick it back up…

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Kids, Gifts, and Your Financial Future, Oh My!

With the holiday season right around the corner, now is the perfect time to sit down with your spouse or partner to have a conversation about budgets and gift giving limits. A recent National Retail Federation survey shows that consumers say they will spend roughly $589 on gifts for others and $207 for items such…

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Jane Jennings – Jane and Company

Back in 2004, Jane Jennings moved to Austin with her three children, two girls and a boy. She took on various jobs to make a living; cleaning houses, waiting tables, and substitute teaching. In the meantime, she explored her love for paint and color and design, painting in her house multiple times. One of her…

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Danny Peña is living the American dream

In March of 2015, Danny Peña earned his CPA license. And in the last year and a half, he has grown his business and even hired an employee full time to assist. Danny, his wife, and two children live in Austin and they appear to be living the American dream. “Our overall strategy for managing…

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Krista Lea changes careers successfully

Krista Lea was working in the financial sector, educating clients about retirement plans, and she knew in her heart it was time to make a change. She was feeling squeezed with the pressure and structure, and took some vacation time, embarking on a cruise to the Caribbean. When she returned, she had a revelation: she…

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Katie and Cortney: the secret is teamwork

Teamwork

They had grown up in the same small town in Michigan, and attended the same school starting in elementary school. They became close friends in high school, and then chose the same university. After they separately moved back to their hometown, they transitioned from friends to romance. Eleven years ago, Cortney and Katie married; she was…

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Jennifer and Brian keep their family finances simple

finances

Jennifer is a wife, mother, blogger, and reporter for YNN in Austin, Texas. A Georgia native, Jennifer met her husband, Brian, on a blind date while both were in college at Brigham Young University. She was 18, and he was 22, and they fell in love quickly and married in a little over six months….

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Andy and Craig: high school to med school and beyond

Money

Andy and Craig met in high school and got engaged soon after they both attained their undergraduate degrees from the University of Texas. They were in their early 20s, and Craig was in medical school in 1999 when they married; they didn’t have much experience with managing money. “We were all about immediate gratification and…

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Bob and Susie plan for retirement with a series of good choices

Retirement

What would your life look like if you made all the right financial decisions early and often? Susie, 68, and her husband Bob, 70, say they are pretty healthy and making their financial plans based on each of them living to be 100, barring unforeseen circumstances. Both sets of parents lived well into their 90s,…

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Maureen and Jeremy balance home life, three kids, and uncertain futures

When Maureen and Jeremy had their first child, they discovered that baby Charlie had an extra chromosome: he was born with Down syndrome. During the first year of Charlie’s life, Maureen and her husband juggled work, home life, and regular sessions with a physical therapist, a speech therapist, an occupational therapist, and a play therapist…

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