Tim McMahon, Author at Your Family Finances

Brand Building: Five Ideas to Kick Start Your Small Business

When you are first starting out with your own small business, you need to develop a brand so customers are able to know who you are and what you stand for. A brand is much more than a logo. The promise your business makes, the way you present your brand visually, and your company’s focus on customers help to define your brand and what you represent. Take time to work on these details when you are starting out so you can better communicate what you offer to your clients or customers. This process can take some time, but it allows you to be more competitive in your industry.

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Saving Now: How to Prepare Financially for Your Retirement

Retirement / By Tim McMahon

It is essential to start saving money as soon as you can, in order to have enough money during your retirement. There are many ways to save money for retirement including personal savings accounts, retirement savings plans from your employer, and Individual Retirement Accounts, also known as IRA’s. Take a look at these different ideas for saving you money and preparing for your future the right way.

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The Tale of Two Insurance Policies

Life / By Tim McMahon

Are insurance companies just counting on people being ignorant or lazy? Don’t be one of them, be sure to compare prices and coverage before you send any money. In this post we will look at two different term insurance policies and what to look out for.

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Reducing Investment Stress

Investing / By Tim McMahon

Planning your finances and choosing investments can be stressful especially when markets are volatile. But it can be downright scary when like in 2008 they enter free-fall. Many people have decided that the stress (and chance of loss) just isn’t worth it and so they have chosen to stay out of the market altogether. Unfortunately,

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Give Your Kids or Grandkids a Financial Boost

Children / By Tim McMahon

Summer is a great time to teach your children about saving money for retirement and an interesting way to do it is by setting up a Roth IRA for them. Remember a Roth IRA is slightly different than a standard IRA. In a standard IRA you contribute pre-tax dollars and so it reduces the taxes

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Affordable Dentistry: How I Saved Thousands

Money Management / By Tim McMahon

We all know that we should get regular dental check-ups but seeing a dentist can be expensive. According to Fairhealthconsumer.org a simple composite (white) 1 surface filling on a front tooth in Richmond Virginia will average $150. This is the easiest type of filling. If your cavity covers two surfaces the price goes up to $185 and

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Helping A Family Member With A Mental Disorder

Health / By Tim McMahon

A mental disorder can happen to anyone in a family. In addition to the emotional and physical distress that mental illness inflicts on an individual and his/ her family, finances also become strained. There a number of ways that people can assist their family members who are suffering from mental illness to ease their lives

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The Permanent Vacation

Personal Growth, Vacation / By Tim McMahon

Over the years my wife Lisa and I have traveled quite a bit. Together we’ve visited Canada, Mexico, Panama, Guatemala, Ecuador, Dominican Republic, Thailand and China (plus a few others). Separately, I’ve visited a few more. We’ve often considered moving to one of these beautiful, relaxed and low cost locations. Each has its own charm and

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Cost of Giving Birth Skyrocketing!

Children / By Tim McMahon

Can you imagine paying half your annual salary just to have a baby? According to recent statistics the median household income is $50,502 and the cost of a single birth is $28,169! That is up from $17,035 before Obamacare was introduced in 2007. Even if you have insurance, you are getting stuck with a much

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Money Saving Tips for Students

Education, Money Management, Students / By Tim McMahon

It’s daunting for a parent when they wave their child off as they begin the next chapter of their life as a college student… it only seems like a short while since they were starting kindergarten. Parents do as much as possible to educate their children with life skills: necessities like how to separate the whites and the

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Should You Go the Self-Storage Route?

Frugality, Real Estate / By Tim McMahon

While the thought of moving to a new home is very exciting, the actual process of moving can mean nothing but hard work and huge amounts of stress. Many real estate experts emphasize the importance of removing items from your home prior to sale… it is well established that by “de-cluttering” your home, potential buyers will be

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Useful Tips to Get Your Finances On Track

Money Management / By Tim McMahon

Financial health is a function of both income and expenses. There’s no doubt that unless you control your spending, you can never improve your personal finances. Charles Dickens put it this way in his classic book David Copperfield, “Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen six, result happiness. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pounds ought

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