Becoming Financially Literate
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As 2011 winds down, are you thinking about your 2012 New Year’s resolutions already? Maybe you will include renewed focus on boosting your financial literacy. Learning about money management, and putting the knowledge into action, are habits you can incorporate into your daily life. Habits like tracking your expenses to establish and follow a spending plan, saving automatically so that you “pay yourself first”, and maintaining a complete set of household records to ensure your income tax filings are accurate and you can take advantage of all deductions and tax credits you are eligible for.
Financial Resources
There are so many good resources, but perhaps you don’t know where to begin.
One of the many good resources to help you learn, and act in a financially responsible way is the Money Management Calendar for 2012, from the Alabama Cooperative Extension System. The Calendar provides a year-long resource for planning, spending, and saving. Download and print it free at http://www.aces.edu/pubs/docs/H/HE-0493-L/HE-0493-L.pdf
Kansas Saves is part of a national campaign to educate and encourage people to “Set a goal, make a plan, and save automatically”. Their website has so much information to help you toward your goals. http://www.kansassaves.org/
Families whose income is $53,000 or below can take advantage of free income tax preparation assistance at a Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) site. Trained, certified tax preparation volunteers are at many VITA sites in our metro area, including here in our Sunset Drive Office Building, near 119th and Ridgeview in Olathe, on Thursday afternoons and Saturday mornings. Call us at 715-7000 or seeKC Cash for details.
Allow enough time to shop around and select health insurance coverage that is both affordable and adequate, thereby meeting requirements outlined in the Affordable Care Act.
Additional information to help Johnson County farmers make health insurance decisions is available on the federal government’s official website, www.healthcare.gov.
Riportella also writes a blog to provide information regarding emerging topics on health reform: https://blogs.ksre.ksu.edu/issuesinhealthreform/
