Debra Newby Watkins CPA – Page 16 – CPA's not only count, they make change.

Save Money

You can still eat steak, but cooking it at home saves at least 50%.

Ever read an article with tips for saving money and thought how easy it could be to reign in your budget? This couple saved over $50,000 in 2014 by downsizing, eating at home more often, canceling unused subscriptions and going car free. Although the last one is feasible only if you live in an area with public transportation, the rest are simple and applicable to all.

8 strategies for saving money from a couple that banked $50,000 last year

“We stopped a nasty habit we had of reading about great tips and then failing to implement them,” Matt writes. “Avoid our mistakes. … Literally, do something today from this list and start saving money.”

Savings For All

Millennials are often seen as “financial freewheelers,” Zach Witcher says in the first line of his New York Times article, For Millennials, It’s Never Too Early to Save for Retirement. This label actually doesn’t fit all of the 20-30 year olds currently in the workforce, many of whom are already putting money into savings. One important aspect of beginning to save early in life is the amount of time your investment has to grow. Check out the five examples in this article and see how your savings plan stacks up to these young workers.

Pink Collar?

As more and more traditionally male, “blue-collar” jobs disappear, a new trend of “pink-collar” work is on the rise. This is causing an interesting divide in the workplace where unemployed men are not willing to move into these jobs such as health aide. One that takes soothing and calm, a “woman’s touch,” one man quipped in the article, Why Men Don’t Want the Jobs Done Mostly by Women. Even as factories continue to close or automate, men are not seeking these types of middle-skill jobs. Although lack of training and need for extra schooling play a part, researchers and sociologists are finding that the biggest reason is how the jobs are viewed. At this point, many employers are turning to rebranding to encourage more men to apply. One such ad in a hospital compared the excitement of being a surgery nurse to the rush of mountain climbing.

Resolution: Budget

Is one of your New Year’s goals to better manage your money? Do you often find yourself stressed about your budget, or lack there of? Want to make a real go of saving, paying-off debt and creating financial solvency? Stephen B. Smith for Young Money offers nine suggestions to better manage your finances and to achieve your goals. 9 Nifty New Year’s Resolutions .

May you have health, wealth and happiness in 2017.

Sharing the Gift of Sharing

Tis the season for giving…

Want to help your teenager or younger child learn more about sharing what they have? Ron Leiber for the New York Times has great recommendations for talking to children about your family’s legacy of both giving and receiving, a history of why you feel it is important to share what you have with others and he offers a simple plan for explaining exactly how you divide the money between various charities.

Six Ways to Give the Gift of Generosity to Children and Teenagers

Hidden Monopolies?

The attempted merger of AT&T and Time Warner has drawn a lot of attention lately. So much that a Senate hearing was held last week to investigate the possibility of the combined companies forming a monopoly. During the meeting of the Senate Judiciary Antitrust Subcommittee, Mark Cuban, internet entrepreneur, made the comment that people should not be concerned with the waning phone business but internet giants, Google and Facebook. Jonathan Taplin, Op-Ed contributor for the New York Times, investigates this further in, Forget AT&T. The Real Monopolies Are Google and Facebook.

Progressive and Evangelical?

Is it possible to have a church that both holds to the doctrine of scripture and is open to all? Sounds like the kind of place we’d all like to attend. A church where the doors are open for all, the sermons biblically based with a refreshing twist on the classic stories and no secret code of membership. One church working toward this model is Hillhurst United Church in Calgary, Canada. Check out the story in Christian Century, Biblical, evangelical—and progressive. What do you think? Are they headed in the right direction?

Breaking The Code

As demand grows for skilled software designers, so does the market for coding schools. In places like Austin, Texas where there is a concentration of high-tech companies, new coding “bootcamps” are appearing almost daily. This has attracted the attention of the Texas Workforce Commission who is currently stepping up the enforcement of their certification regulations. In the past, coding schools were allowed to operate during the application process without fear of violations, but this may be changing, according to Will Anderson for the Austin Business Journal in his article, Coding schools face increased scrutiny from Texas Workforce Commission. The coding school owners are frustrated with the TWC’s apparent lack of appropriate regulation for their rapidly growing field.

Instagram, Snapchat, LinkedIn?

Many teenagers are now creating LinkedIn profiles in order to share a more “adult” view of their achievements with colleges and universities during the admissions process. Some question the health of having our children so future-focused, while others make a living teaching students how to tailor these profiles to best showcase their skills and achievements. What do you think? In the current climate of highly competitive college admissions, should you pull out all the stops in an effort to land the college of your dreams?

New Item on the College Admission Checklist: LinkedIn Profile

Truth or Meme?

During this election season especially, the public has employed more and more tools to influence the online political narrative, or so it seems, according to Amanda Hess for the New York Times in, Memes, Myself and I: The Internet Lets Us All Run the Campaign. What a fascinating read and another look into the ways social media continues to inform our views as a nation. Now, if I could just find the perfect Accounting meme to steer clients my way.