Brian Preston's "Money Guy" Blog and Podcast

The Silver Lining of a Financial Crisis

brian@money-guy.com (Brian Preston, CPA, CFP, PFS) — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 17:49:09 +0000

Money-Guy 10-01-2008 What a week! Actually, what a past couple of weeks! Obviously, it wouldn't be too hard to harp on all of the bad stuff going on right now. So, instead of doing that, I would like to focus on some of the silver lining and maybe some of the positive things that could come [...]

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News Nightmares & Bank Debacles

brian@money-guy.com (Brian Preston, CPA, CFP, PFS) — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 22:44:26 +0000

Money-Guy 09-16-2008 So this is the question of the hour: What is going on? Or maybe the better question is: What got us into this mess? The real answer is a perfect storm with many moving parts acting together to drag down the financial markets. The more simple answer, although not necessarily the entire cause, is [...]

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Cheese Grits, College Savings, Black Holes, and HELOCs

brian@money-guy.com (Brian Preston, CPA, CFP, PFS) — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 20:44:02 +0000

Money-Guy 09-09-2008 For most parents, saving for their child's education is always a priority. With the volatility and uncertainty in today's market, it has become a priority that is not so easy to fund. Most would agree that a hundred dollars here or a hundred dollars there, while not providing a full ride, would definitely help [...]

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Tax Smart and Creative Ways to Better the World

brian@money-guy.com (Brian Preston, CPA, CFP, PFS) — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 20:46:39 +0000

Tax Smart and Creative Ways to Better the World (Click here to listen) (click on the icon to play audio) In tight economic times charities are often hit with increasing needs from the individuals who require their services. To make matters worse, generous donors are struggling with their own financial issues resulting in less donations [...]

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Fairy-Tale Foreclosure, How a Planner Works, and Dark Knight Review

brian@money-guy.com (Brian Preston, CPA, CFP, PFS) — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 21:11:59 +0000

Money-Guy 08-07-2008 Today's show is a grab-bag of goodies. If you keep up with pop-culture, you've probably come across the show Extreme Makeover Home Edition. If you're not familiar with this show, they select a family in need and makeover their home. One family they selected actually lived about fifteen minutes away from me, so when [...]

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Looking Back @ July 2008

brian@money-guy.com (Brian Preston, CPA, CFP, PFS) — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 21:31:31 +0000

Thanks and a huge shout-out to everyone who helped drive record numbers on the Money Guy website in July 2008. If you've told a friend about me, subscribed to our free email update list, added a kind comment on iTunes, or linked to an article on your personal website, thank you! As one of the few [...]

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Brian Preston's Guide to Selecting Mutual Funds

brian@money-guy.com (Brian Preston, CPA, CFP, PFS) — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 20:53:39 +0000

Money-Guy 07-30-2008 The mutual fund universe is larger than ever and there are no signs of it slowing down. With more funds, more information, and easier access to this information, how can you go about selecting solid funds that are going to assist you in achieving your life goals? With help from InvestorWords and BusinessDictionary, let's begin [...]

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Liz Weston - Loaded Celebrity Interview

brian@money-guy.com (Brian Preston, CPA, CFP, PFS) — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 06:00:04 +0000

Money-Guy 07-23-2008 We have a special treat for you on this installment of the Money Guy Show! I usually don't have guests on the show, but today we're fortunate to be joined by Liz Weston. As many of you will attest, Liz is an award-winning, nationally syndicated personal finance columnist with a unique gift for simplifying [...]

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Protecting Yourself: Banking System Under Stress

brian@money-guy.com (Brian Preston, CPA, CFP, PFS) — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 22:43:44 +0000

Money-Guy 7-17-2008 Our banking system's clearly under a lot of stress at the moment. Coming off a decade of aggressive mortgage lending, the system's troubles have been compounded by a sputtering economy and retreating stock market. As an investor, you need to be smart about insulating yourself from the system's problems. While I don't want to [...]

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Navigating Stormy Economic Waters

brian@money-guy.com (Brian Preston, CPA, CFP, PFS) — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 18:30:07 +0000

Money-Guy 7-9-2008 Pick your economic worry -- there's more than enough to go around: mortgage crisis? faltering U.S. economy? government deficits? skyrocketing oil prices? geo-political instability? rising inflation rates? As a financial planner, I see and feel the anxiety that my clients are experiencing. For most, the anxiety peaks each quarter with the arrival of their [...]

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Are Tax-Deferred Savings a Ticking Time Bomb?

brian@money-guy.com (Brian Preston, CPA, CFP, PFS) — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 16:32:53 +0000

Money-Guy 6-24-2008 "If Thomas Jefferson thought taxation without representation was bad, he should see how it is with representation." - Anonymous Deferring taxes has always been a bedrock principle of retirement planning. The logic is simple: why would anyone pay the government now when tax-deferred accounts allow you to delay your obligation for 15, 25, and [...]

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Father's Day 2008: Teaching Children About Money

brian@money-guy.com (Brian Preston, CPA, CFP, PFS) — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 15:40:06 +0000

Money-Guy 6-17-2008 "Any man can be a father, but it takes a special person to be a Dad." - Anonymous Since we celebrated Father's Day this past weekend, I thought it'd be fun to discuss how parents can help their children grow up to be financially responsible adults. Building on the ideas of Clark Howard, Dave [...]

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Wow! We Win "Best Future Value Blog"!

brian@money-guy.com (Brian Preston, CPA, CFP, PFS) — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 03:56:16 +0000

If you're a regular visitor or listener, you know I don't blog and podcast here for fame and fortune. Most months, I'm lucky if contributions from listeners come close to my hefty hosting and bandwidth expenses. I'm instead motivated by a conviction that everyone, rich or poor, deserves access to high quality personal finance counsel. So, [...]

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Rethinking Life's Necessities, Wants, and Wishes

brian@money-guy.com (Brian Preston, CPA, CFP, PFS) — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 19:59:31 +0000

Money-Guy 06-10-2008 I think a lot about our culture and how the virtues of frugality and simplicity seem to have been forgotten by many of us. As never before, the popular media show us how ultra-wealthy athletes, entertainers, and business titans live, travel, eat, and dress. Combined with easy credit and a "want-it-now" mindset, we've started to [...]

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Welcome, Carnival of Personal Finance visitors!

brian@money-guy.com (Brian Preston, CPA, CFP, PFS) — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 14:06:14 +0000

If you've arrived here via this week's Carnival of Personal Finance, welcome! I'm Brian Preston, a fee-only financial planner in Atlanta by day and host of the popular "Money Guy" blog and podcast in my spare time. Going "beyond common sense", my goal is to bring you the tools and information you need to restore order [...]

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