Operators are standing by…. Okay, not operators, exactly, but something better: Enrolled Agents. Last year, my longtime Today producer Patricia Luchsinger and I brainstormed the idea of a tax hotline. A phone bank of experts ready, willing and able to answer your tax questions for free. It went so well that we are doing it again tomorrow morning. The phone lines open at 6:30 a.m. EST and close at 10 a.m. EST. We’ll be answering many questions on the phones and a few live on the air. The number is 877-NBC-4-TAX or 877-622-4829.More…
Last night I saw Little Shop Of Horrors for the third time this week. The first two were at my son’s high school. He was in the chorus and had a small part in an ensemble of 50. The third was at Columbia University where my fiance’s daughter directed a cast of 8. On my night off in between, I went to a meeting with scores of other parents at my daughter’s middle school where she is auditioning for a production of Annie. And there, the director put the entire week into perspective.
The play is not the thing, he said, daring to disagree with Hamlet. It is not about the two or three nights in front of an audience for applause. It is about, as he put it in his enviable British accent, “the pro-cess” of a group of kids becoming a company of actors who cooperate to build a show. It is about the time spent tableu-ing scenes, discussing their meaning, researching the time period, and of course learning songs and lines and steps. That is why, he said, the few kids who drop out after getting smaller parts than they (or their parents) felt they deserved inevitably come back and see the show and wish they’d stuck with it. Those kids see that they missed a journey. It’s the journey — the pro-cess — that makes them happier than even the end result.
It’s very much what the excellent Judith Warner blogged about in today’s Domestic Disturbances column for The New York Times website. More…
Hi I’m Sarah Compo, Jean’s assistant. I book Jean’s radio show, do a bit of reporting here and there and help out with other things. Yesterday morning I was talking with Jean about a great deal I got and she thought I should share it with you…This past weekend, with ten dollars in my pocket, I stopped by my local Goodwill store, as I often do when I’m craving a bit of the satisfaction that comes along with getting a good deal. After I hit up the dresses, the house wares and the CDs (which I have to mention were half off this week…where else can you find a Goo Goo Dolls album and a “Reality Bites” soundtrack for $1.50?) a flash of red caught my eye. Yes, there, in the handbag bin was a brand new, red, Longchamp bag with the tags still inside. How much? More…
A good chunk of this morning’s Money 911 on Today was devoted to emergency funds, and how important it is to have one that covers at least six month’s worth of living expenses. That may sound high to you – in the past I’ve advised three to six months – but in an economy like this, you can never be too sure. Watch the video below for more:
I had a Suzy Welch moment on the radio today. You know how sometimes you hear something or read something and it just strikes you as both really smart and really useful? That’s what happened to me upon first hearing Suzy Welch’s 10-10-10 rule. She asks herself when evaluating a decision, any decision, how she will feel about the choice she made in 10 minutes, 10 months, 10 years. And more often than not, it gets her to clarity. More…
I was on Today this morning talking about how important it is to get your finances in order in case the unexpected happens. I blogged about this very topic last week, so I’ll just leave you with the video clip below:
This morning, as we were rushing to stuff lunches into already over-loaded backpacks, grab the tennis rackets and coats (because despite the fact that it’s officially spring, it was 20 degrees outside) my 14-year-old hit me with this question: “What’s a hedge fund, mom?”
I backed into an answer.
Me: Do you know what a mutual fund is?
Him: Ummmm….
Me: It’s usually a bunch of investments in stocks or bonds or both bundled together.
Him: Okay. (He turns and walks out the door and then, realizing we are having a conversation shouts,) I’m still listening.
Me: Well the whole point of a mutual fund is that if one of your stocks or bonds is losing money, the rest of them may not be so you won’t end up losing your whole investment. That’s called “diversification.” Anyway, a hedge fund invests a whole bunch of investments at the same time too, but many of them are riskier than stocks and bonds. So for the most part only wealthy people are allowed to invest in them.
I am — as I am sure so many of you are — so sad about Natasha Richardson. I didn’t know her (I met her once, at a wake, but that doesn’t count as knowing). But I am truly upset for her children, her husband, her mother, her sisters. She seemed to be one of those one-in-a-million Hollywood people who actually did have it all. Perhaps because she lived no where near Hollywood.
For me, freak accidents like this one bring me back to the question: What if it was me? My literary agent told me of how he was once on a plane that seemed like it was absolutely going down. In that few moments he asked himself: Had he taken care of the people he loved? Had he dotted all the i’s and crossed all the t’s? And because he had, he was able to be at peace in the middle of a situation that turned out not to be a disaster after all. More…
I was on CNN this morning, talking about The Difference and its driving question: How to move from a paycheck-to-paycheck lifestyle into financial comfort or even wealth. Take a look below:
Yesterday, I was a guest on Carmen Wong Ulrich’s CNBC Show On The Money. Ric Edelman was there as well — he has a new book out — and the fabulous Tyler Mathieson (the publicist at Money magazine where we both once worked described him as “the light of our lives.”) More…
I am — as I am sure so many of you are — so sad about Natasha Richardson. I didn’t know her (I met her once, at a wake, but that doesn’t count as knowing). But I am truly upset for her children, her husband, her mother, her sisters. She seemed to be one of those one-in-a-million Hollywood people who actually did have it all. Perhaps because she lived no where near Hollywood. 
