Financial Planner Shares Tips for a 21st-Century Filing System

Jane was not looking forward to going through her parents' belongings to get their house ready to sell. Their health had been failing for some time and they finally agreed to move to a retirement community. Now that they were both comfortably moved into their new apartment, it was up to Jane to get rid of the things they no longer needed.

Her parents had lived in the same house for more than 50 years, so Jane expected to find things that should have been tossed out years ago.  But she was amazed to discover 50 years of tax returns and bank statements carefully stored in boxes in the attic. Her parents had saved all their financial records!

Many people are confused about what records they need to keep and for how long. They hold onto tax returns, bank records, brokerage statements and other financial information simply because they don't know if they'll need it again. Like Jane's parents, the documents get packed in boxes that eventually take over valuable living or storage space.

Financial planner Rick Rodgers, author of The New Three-Legged Stool: A Tax Efficient Approach To Retirement Planning (www.TheNewThreeLeggedStool.com), says tax time is a great time to get organized.

"Most people are going through their records to get ready to file their return," he says. "This is the time to get smart about what you need to keep and then set up a system to store it efficiently going forward."

Rodgers suggests these five steps to help you effectively organize your finances for 2012 and beyond:

1. Out with the old - Discard the records you no longer need: Tax returns older than seven years; bank records and credit card statements that are not related to the tax returns you're keeping; brokerage statements that aren't related to purchases of current holdings. Be sure to shred all your old documents before throwing them out.

2. Go digital - Convert the documents you plan to save into digital images that are stored on your hard drive. Invest in a good scanner and scan as you go through your paperwork, shredding and tossing the hard copies as you go. On your computer, file by tax year, so your 2011 folder will contain your tax return for 2011 and all pertinent bank records and receipts. Organize the previous six years the same way. Next year you can delete the oldest folder when you add the 2012 folder.

3. Save a forest - All of the financial institutions you deal with would prefer to send your statements electronically. Stop receiving paper statements. Instead, download your statements electronically and store them in your new filing system.  Most banks and credit card companies keep at least a year's worth of statements available.  You need to download these files only once a year to complete the year's file.

4. Save backups in case of emergency - Make backup copies of your files on a CD. Choose a CD-R (recordable) as opposed to a CD-RW (rewriteable), because CD-R cannot accidentally be overwritten. Depending on your computer operating system, you may be able to continue adding data to a CD-R each year, until the CD is full. However, some operating systems won't allow that, so you'll need a new CD for each year.

5. Go paperless - Your new electronic filing system can be expanded to include all your financial records, from car maintenance receipts to pay stubs.  Wills and insurance policies can also be scanned and stored but, of course, keep the originals of those in a safe deposit box or fireproof safe.

Gone are the days of saving your financial documents in box and shoving it into the attic.  Technology advances have made organizing your personal finances easier with minimal cost.  Make 2012 the year you get organized by moving your finances into a 21st century filing system.

About Rick Rodgers

Certified Financial Planner Rick Rodgers is president of Rodgers & Associates, "The Retirement Specialists," in Lancaster, Pa. He's a Certified Retirement Counselor and member of the National Association of Personal Financial Advisers. Rodgers has been featured on national radio and TV shows, including "FOX Business News" and "The 700 Club," and is available to speak at conferences and corporate events (www.rodgersspeaks.com).

In a part of the world as beautiful as it is brutal, the fate of two brothers and a nation are at the mercy of a ruthless military general, in author David Fergusson's adventurous and chilling tale of modern Africa and its continuing struggle for freedom and self-determination in the new novel Tribe of Shadows - The Hunted(http://davidfergusson.tateauthor.com/).

William Hunt is a renowned journalist living in London when his brother, Ross, who runs a photographic camp on the edge of an African game reserve, sends a desperate message as he runs for his life from a feared and powerful military leader who commands a legion of merciless guerillas.  Loosely based on actual events and the real life experiences of people who have endured civil wars and ethnic clashes in Sub-Saharan Africa, the novel explores the breathtaking violence and spiritual redemption of a struggling region of the world.

For Fergusson, who grew up in the former Rhodesia - now Zimbabwe - in its troubled transitional years, the story is personal.

"African nations are among the most beautiful, but most troubled in the world and I wanted to capture the essence of that struggle and do so in a way that allows readers all over the world to relate to the plight of the people who live there," says Fergusson, who now makes his home in Zambia.

"Tribe of Shadows delves deeply into the darkness of the lost soul, and the compassion and patience needed to draw it out of the shadows to a place of peace."

The novel undoubtedly will spark discussion of Sub-Saharan African nations who are continually struggling for self-rule, economic independence and higher standards of living for individuals who have endured centuries of colonization, military rule, crippling poverty rates and non-existent education and healthcare. Blessed with some of the world's most fantastic natural beauty, incredible wildlife and riches in natural resources, Sub-Saharan Africa remains a region uncertain of its future in a modernizing world.

Fergusson's work seeks to explore that difficult transition, following the two brothers, their friends and their family members as they are pursued by mercenaries intent on silencing a powerful secret the men hold. Their story culminates in a dramatic ending that reflects strong messages of resiliency and faith.

"If you know Africa as I know Africa, you will see its past, present and future reflected in this story," Fergusson says.

About David Fergusson

David Fergusson has turned his dramatic personal history into a riveting work of fiction in Tribe of Shadows - The Hunted. Born during a bush war in the waning days of Rhodesia, David grew up as his homeland transitioned into the nation of Zimbabwe. While most families left, Fergusson stayed to weather the difficulty for a further 26 years before finally ending up in Zambia where he currently resides.

Corporate Exec-Turned-Novelist Says It's Never Too Late

With 7 million Americans receiving unemployment benefits, and many counting the years - instead of months - since their layoff, author Darlene Quinn says now is a good time to reinvent yourself.

She cites James Sherk, a senior policy analyst for the Heritage Foundation, who says the jobs people held two or three years ago often simply aren't there anymore.

"People are trying to find jobs similar to what they had previously, when those jobs completely don't exist," he told Reuters recently. "So they will spend a good portion of their period unemployed looking for jobs that they are unlikely to find."

Quinn is a master of personal reinvention. She started her career as a teacher, then became a contractor, developing self-improvement and modeling programs for hospitals and a store. That segued into a position as a top executive at Bullocks Wilshire department store and "retirement" as a freelance journalist.

And now, the 74-year-old is an award-winning novelist. She published her third book, Webs of Fate (www.darlenequinn.net), this fall, continuing her series about deceit and intrigue in the high-end retail industry.

She says she was always a story-teller; she just never thought about putting her stories on paper.

"Being a victim of the short-lived educational phenomenon called sight-reading, which did not include phonics, I had always been intimidated by the written word," she said.

"Somehow none of my teachers appreciated my creativity when it came to spelling.  Therefore, my creative writing efforts were sprinkled with so many red marks, they appeared to have broken out with the measles."

Maybe, she added, she just needed a great story to tell and a passion to tell it that was stronger than her fear.

Quinn became a schoolteacher after earning a bachelor's at San Jose State University. Much later in life, while working as a department store executive during a time of tremendous upheaval in the retail fashion industry, she found her story. But before she tried to tell it, she first sharpened her wit and her pen by writing articles for trade journals, magazines and newspapers.

That led to her being drafted by actor Buddy Ebsen to help him with his first novel, a love story called Kelly's Quest. Ebsen was working on a second, a mystery based on his popular TV persona detective Barnaby Jones, when he died in 2003. His widow asked Quinn to finish the book, Sizzling Cold Case, which was published in 2006.

By now, Quinn was ready for her own tale.

"I felt compelled to tell the story of our vanishing department stores," she said. "Instead of writing a dour tell-all about the business, I decided to chronicle my experiences in one of my fictional worlds and I filled that landscape with the realistic and dynamic characters that inhabited my daily life.

"The age of computers with spell-checking software helped me get over my fear of a red-inked manuscript."

By 2008, Quinn had finished her story of intrigue in the retail fashion business. Webs of Power won a 2009 National Indie Excellence Award the following year.  Twisted Webs followed in 2010.

"One thing I've learned in my life is that things change," Quinn said. "People change and, sometimes, their dreams have to change with them.

"To be releasing my third novel at age 74 is the fulfillment of a dream I never knew I had. Until now."

About Darlene Quinn

Darlene Quinn is an author and journalist from Long Beach, Calif., whose novels about deceit, intrigue and glamour in the retail fashion industry were inspired by her years with Bullocks Wilshire Specialty department stores. Her newest, Webs of Fate, won the 2011 Reader's Favorites Award before it hit the bookshelves.
It provides the back story for the characters in the first two novels in the series: Webs of Power, winner of a 2009 National Indie Excellence Award, and Twisted Webs, winner of 2011 International Book Award for General Fiction and the 011 National Indie Excellence Awards for General Fiction.

For those of us from families built on Debbie Downer DNA, there's only one direction a mood can go during holiday get-togethers and that's down.

Sure, the running negative commentary, bubble-bursting barbs and rampant self-pity were funny coming from comedian Rachel Dratch on "Saturday Night Live's" Debbie Downer sketches. But few of us can foresee our own Negative Nancys giving us a good belly laugh.

Whether you're the smiley face among frowners, or a bit of a Depressing Dan yourself, there are tricks you can use to keep the table talk from getting lethal, says Paula Renaye, a professional life coach and author of The Hardline Self Help Handbook, (www.hardlineselfhelp.com).

"You can take control simply by thinking about what you choose to say - or not say," Renaye says. "If you hear yourself criticizing, judging or complaining, you're part of the problem. Happy, self-respecting people don't find it necessary to dump on others to make themselves feel good.

"If someone else is the problem, simply don't give them the ammunition they need," she says. Instead try these tactics:

• Do not say anything negative. Period. And no one-downing! One-downing is the opposite of one-upping. It's the art of coming up with something worse when someone else talks about their problem. No matter what negative thing anyone says, or how much you agree with it or don't, resist the urge to respond with a negative. Instead ....

• Dodge, distract and detour. Turn things around with a question -- a positive one. If you need to, make a "happy list" of questions before you go, so you'll have some at the ready. And remember, there's no law that says you have to answer a question just because someone asked it. With negative people, it's best if you ...

• Do not talk about yourself. The only reason negative people care about what you're up to is because they want something to ridicule, brag or gossip about to make themselves look or feel good. Don't go there. Whether you just filed bankruptcy or won a Nobel Prize, keep it to yourself. No good can come of it. None. And why do you need to chatter like a chipmunk about yourself anyway? Might want to think on that one, too. Better to find some praise for someone else than to expect someone to praise you.

• Do not share your woes. Even if you're in a tough place and could really use a shoulder to cry on, don't start laying your woes on a Negative Nell. Even in a weak moment, when you've had a terrible day, talking about it with a negative person is a bad idea. You might get a microsecond of sympathy, but that's only so they can launch into telling you how much worse they have it. So, no talking about yourself unless you want to be the talk of the party, the family and the town.

• Do your homework and become like Teflon. Think of the times people said things that made you feel bad or made you feel the need to defend or explain yourself. If you want to avoid going down that trail again, start hacking away at the jungle of your own emotions. Get over needing anyone's approval or blessing. If you are still waiting for negative relatives to validate you, you're in for a long wait. Don't set yourself up to be miserable. Get over it and go prepared.

About Paula Renaye

Former eggshell-walker, emotionally-bankrupt wreck and utter failure at keeping her world from falling apart, Paula Renaye uses her journey out of despair into joy as a breadcrumb trail for others.  She has been a consultant for 18 years, holds a degree in financial planning with a background in journalism and psychology, and is a member of the International Association of Coaches.  Paula is the multi-award-winning author of The Hardline Self Help Handbook.