1. What Is Financial
Well-Being?
By Anya Kamenetz, Tribune Content Agency
there to help us achieve our goals. And people with a
reasonable amount of optimism about the future are
bound to make better decisions toward that end.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau issued an
important research report earlier this year on the
subject of financial well-being. This it defined as a
state of being in which a person:
--Has control over day-to-
day, month-to-month
finances.
--Has the capacity to
absorb a financial shock.
--Is on track to meet
financial goals.
--Has the financial freedom to make the choices
necessary to enjoy life.
I'm going to talk about the first two criteria in this
column, and the next two in another column.
The first principle is close to an impossible dream.
None of us knows exactly what is going to happen
tomorrow or next month to our finances. The only thing
we can expect is the unexpected, whether it's as small
as a car repair or as big as a layoff.
The key then is to manage volatility as well as you can
by focusing on the other
three principles.
"Absorbing a financial
shock" has two
components: an
emergency fund and a
back-up plan. The
emergency fund idea is
pretty simple-- Start
putting away money now,
today. If your income is
steady, create an
automatic transfer from
your checking to your
savings account of 10
percent of your paycheck
on the 10th of the month --
after the bills are paid. If
your income varies, put
away a third of each big
check and 10 percent of
the littler checks. These
are arbitrary but good
rules of thumb to use-- I do both, actually, now that I draw a paycheck and also
freelance on the side.
Once your savings account reaches six months of expenses you can relax a bit.
The other component of absorbing a financial shock has to do with your source of
income. Most of the successful people I know can do more than one thing for money.
They may or may not be doing them at the same time, but simply knowing that they
can makes it easier to make financial decisions without fear of losing everything. In
today's economy, being shock-ready means constantly updating and
maintaining one's skills. And that, in turn, becomes much easier if you have a
genuine sense of interest in what you're doing.
“The only
thing we can
expect is the
unexpected.”
I am a licensed agent with New York Life Insurance Company and an authorized user of the Macro Asset Perspective system.
This publication is provided to my readers as an informational source only. The ideas, opinions and concepts expressed here should not be
construed as tax, legal, financial or investment advice. You should consult with your own professional advisors regarding your particular situation.
SMRU 1657568
Chris Marincik
Agent, New York Life
CA Ins. # 0F63408
2235 Mercury Way, Suite 100
Santa Rosa, CA 95407
Office: (707) 569-7106
Cell: (707) 694-6734
cmarincik@ft.newyorklife.com
P
ersonal finance experts are starting to look at
financial health more holistically. Money,
after all, is nothing but a means to an end. It’s

2. Best scholarship search engines
Scholarships.com provides the
best possibilities overall but has
many ads and mismatches. The
College Board’s BigFuture
(BigFuture.CollegeBoard.org) is
fast, ad-free and screens out most
promotional scholarships but lists
scholarships only alphabetically—
not by deadline or relevance.
Cappex (Cappex.com) gives useful
information on competition for
awards and the effort needed to
apply—but registering results in a
large number of recruiting e-mails.
Zinch (Zinch.com) has the best-
designed Web site, with an easy-to
-use interface, but very few match-
es to local or specialized scholar-
ships. Fastweb (Fastweb.com)
clearly labels promotional scholar-
ships but is full of ads and mostly
recommends national scholarships.
Try all the sites to get a compre-
hensive sense of available scholar-
ships, both national and local or
specialized.
Source: Bottom Line Personal Maga-
zine
State tax treatment of IRA’s var-
ies widely. Withdrawals from tradi-
tional IRAs and other tax-deferred
retirement accounts generally are
taxable at the state level but are
not taxed by these seven states
that do not have income tax—
Alaska, Florida, Nevada, South
Dakota, Texas, Washington State
and Wyoming. Some other states
exempt at least a portion of the
withdrawals from tax—but in some
of those, you must be above a
specified age to receive the ex-
emptions. The US tax code allows
taxpayers to deduct IRA contribu-
tions up to a certain amount, but
some states do not allow that de-
duction on state returns. Rules vary
widely and change frequently so be
sure to consult a knowledgeable
accountant or tax planner.
Source: Investopedia.com
Marguing over whether buying a new
home is best seen as an investment, a
savings vehicle or a lifestyle choice.
Most of all, we can't believe the way
prices are rising.
Homes in many parts of the country are
getting less affordable than ever.
According to a recent report by
Interest.com, a finance website, in 17
of the 25 largest cities in the country, a
median-income household can't afford
a median-priced home. That's up from
11 of the 25 just last year. The
difference is a product of two factors:
the uneven economic recovery that has
boosted home prices almost 16 percent
while median household income has
risen only 3 percent, and an increase in
average interest rates.
After the 2008 crash, luckily
many of us have been cured
of any aspiration to be "house
poor." There's a big difference
between getting approved for
a mortgage of a certain
amount, and actually being
able to afford that amount
month to month. This decision
takes some deep financial
thinking -- far more than just plugging numbers into the
many calculators available online.
Here are some points to help decide how much house you,
or we, can really afford:
--Consider your future career and life plans. Affordability is
a ratio of purchase price to income. Unfortunately
Americans are experiencing record-breaking volatility in
their income. Remember that you are signing up to pay
down a mortgage every month for the next 10 to 30 years,
or else incur the transaction costs of a resale at best (or, at
worst, be forced to sell at a loss into a down market). So
you have to try to do a 10 to 30 year forecast of life
choices and prospects, just like a company making
earnings forecasts. What are the chances that one
member of the household might lose his or her job? Does
one of you want to take time off from paid work to care for
a child or relative? What if job opportunities beckon in
another city?
--Consider your other debts and obligations.
Credit card debts, car loans and student loans,
child support, and credit rating affect how good a
mortgage you can qualify for and your ability to
write that check. The overall "back-end" debt-to-
income ratio, defined as mortgage payment plus
all recurring monthly debt divided by gross
income, should be less than 43 percent.
--Consider total costs. Operating costs, including
fuel, utilities, maintenance, property taxes and
insurance, were estimated in 2012 by the National
Association of Home
Builders at 4.24 percent of a
home's total value per year--
less for newer homes.
These expenses may be the
most daunting financial
aspect of homeownership
because they are
completely
unpredictable.
“This decision
takes some deep
financial
thinking.”
How Much House Can You
Really Afford?
By Jill Schlesinger, Tribune Content Agency
"Plans are only
good intentions
unless they im-
mediately de-
generate into
hard work.”
-Peter Drucker
y husband and I are house hunting.
We have spent many late nights
poring over spreadsheets and

3. Phony telemarketing calls are on
the rise. Dishonest telemarketers
illegally call numbers on the Do
Not Call Registry. They often use
robocalls—automated calls that
get victims to pick up the line be-
fore connecting to an actual tele-
marketer. And they use spoofing, a
technique to hide the originating
phone number from caller ID. Do-
not-call violation complaints were
up 54% in 2014 over 2013-- nearly
four million in all. The Federal
Trade Commission goes after only
about 50 fraudulent telemarketing
firms a year but still advises vic-
tims to report the calls at FTC.gov.
Source: FTC.gov
Realistic-seeming IRS phone
scam demands immediate payment
of a phony tax bill and uses the last
four digits of victims’ Social Security
numbers. The caller ID is “spoofed” to
seem as though the call comes from
the IRS. Thieves sometimes send
victims a false e-mail as well using the
IRS logo and format. The scammers
say that if victims do not pay immedi-
ately, they can be arrested or deported
or lose their business or driver’s li-
cense. But the IRS initiates taxpayer
contact only by US mail, never by
phone or e-mail, and the agency does
not work directly with police or immi-
gration officials. If you get any initial
call claiming to be from the IRS, hang
up and report the scam to the Treas-
ury Inspector General for Tax Admin-
istration, 800-366-4484. If you get an e
-mail, forward it to phishing@irs.gov
without opening any attachments—
they may contain malware.
Source: IRS.gov
Osmall-business owners or temporary workers, according to
a 2014 survey by Freelancers Union and Elance-oDesk
(now known as Upwork). Some do it by choice; others do it
because they can't find a salaried job; many work
freelance in addition
to their 9-to-5 jobs.
All share the
common challenge
of preparing for the
inevitable lean
times.
Financial planners
often talk about the
importance of
prioritizing spending
by distinguishing
between wants and
needs. Most of us
aren't very good at
it. But if you're not
sure when your next
paycheck will arrive, you need to have a firm
understanding of how much you need to get by versus
what you need to live comfortably.
Although your income may be irregular,
bills for your mortgage, utilities, car
payments and other essentials will
continue to arrive on schedule. Before
you go out on your own, you have to
know what it really costs you to live
because "it may be slim pickings the first
couple of years," says Amy Jo Lauber, a
certified financial planner in West Seneca, N.Y.
Delena Stout of Kansas City, Mo., learned how to
make sacrifices after she was downsized out of her
job in business development. In 2003, she started
Brookside Barkery & Bath, a dog-grooming and pet-
supply store. She now has two stores that
generated $2.7 million in revenues last year. While
she has no regrets, forgoing a steady paycheck
"was a big lifestyle change." When you're starting
out, she says, "you don't go out to dinner. You don't
travel. You don't have disposable income."
Tools such as Mint.com offer a good way to track
your spending and separate essential costs from
everything else. Another option is to record all of
your expenses on a spreadsheet. The key is to
understand how much you need each month to
manage your household.
Once you've figured out how much it costs to
keep the lights on, you can decide how much you
should stash in an emergency savings account.
While
someone
with a stable
job and
regular
income may
be able to
get by with
three to six
months of
living
expenses in
an
emergency
account,
people with
erratic
incomes
need a larger financial cushion. Reid Hartsfield, a
certified financial planner in Jacksonville, Fla.,
recommends keeping six months' to a
year's worth of expenses in the
account. If your spouse has a job with
a regular paycheck, you might be able
to get by with less than that.
“Before you go out
on your own, you
have to know what
it costs to live... ”
Budgeting For An Uneven Income
By Sandra Block, Kipling’s Personal Finance
ne-third of the U.S. workforce - some 53 million
Americans - work for themselves at least part-
time, as independent contractors, moonlighters,

4. Recent grads can get cash
for relocating through the Rural
Opportunity Zone program. In
exchange for moving to a desig-
nated rural county, graduates re-
ceive money to be used toward
loan repayment. Examples: Mov-
ing to one of 54 rural counties in
Kansas can bring up to $3,000 per
year for up to five years. Moving to
Niagara Falls, New York, is worth
$7,000 over two years to a limited
number of recent graduates.
Search “rural opportunity zone”
and a state’s name to find pro-
grams available there.
Source: lovesmalltownamerica.com
Apps that cut costs of eating
out: Yelp has a “deals” feature to
find discounts and freebies at early
restaurants. Foursquare points to
local dining establishments offer-
ing discounts and can be used as
a digital loyalty card at some loca-
tions. Forks offers instant coupons
for fast-food chains and local res-
taurants, plus a customer loyalty
program. Scoutmob is focused on
supporting local businesses that
offer discounts in the 13 cities
where it is available. Blackboard
Eats provides users with special
offers and discounts of up to 30%
off meals in Los Angeles, New
York City, San Francisco and Chi-
cago.
Source: Bottom Line Personal
magazine
Dprotocol for paying and tipping. Here's how to
handle three awkward situations.
1. When I try to pay the check, I get an argument.
If you have formally invited someone to join you
for a meal (for example, "I want to take you out to
celebrate"), you're the host - be prepared to pay.
But if your guest insists on splitting the tab, accept
the offer rather than argue.
When you're determined to treat someone for a
special occasion, do some advance planning:
Choose a
restaurant you
know well, arrive
early and slip the
waiter your credit
card with
instructions to
charge the meal
and gratuity to the
card.
As the invitee, it
doesn't hurt to
offer (sincerely) to
share the bill. If
you get no for an
answer, simply thank your host and say the meal
is on you next time. Don't spoil a pleasant
occasion by bickering over the bill.
For occasions such as a large birthday dinner at a
restaurant that you're not planning to host, let
guests know ahead of time that you're putting
together a pay-your-own-way type of event, says
Daniel Post Senning, spokesman for the Emily
Post Institute. Keep your tone casual when
spreading the word.
2. The group wants to split the bill evenly, but my
meal costs less.
Light eaters or sparing drinkers may resent having
to subsidize their tablemates' lobster entrees or
bottles of wine. If you're out with a regular
group of friends and suspect you'll end up
feeling stiffed, request a separate check
from your server - but do so when he or
she is taking your order, says etiquette
expert Diane Gottsman. (Volunteer an
explanation to your friends if you like,
such as "I'm just having a salad tonight"
or "I'm sticking with water this time.")
Once everyone is throwing their credit
cards down for the waiter to charge
equally, you've missed the chance to bow
out gracefully.
In other situations - especially business
contexts - avoid the nickel-and-diming.
"You run the risk of looking cheap," says
Gottsman.
Instead, be
prepared to
fork over
your equal
share and
enjoy the
group
experience.
3. I noticed
my host left a
terrible tip.
Much as you
might like to add to the tip yourself, "that's
making a comment on the generosity of
your host," says Post Senning. He
advises dropping the issue altogether. If
your conscience won't let you
shortchange the waiter by proxy,
however, walk out with your host and say
good-bye, then discreetly return to make
up the difference, advises
Gottsman.
Who Picks Up The Tab At The
Restaurant?
By Miriam Cross, Kiplinger’s Personal Finance
ining out should be an opportunity to relax
with friends, impress a client or bond with
someone special, not fret over the