Life's major decisions have a lasting impact, and important financial concerns are often overlooked during this annual holiday of love and consumption. But during this Valentine's Day, spend a moment thinking about all of your loved ones who are:

• Graduating from college
• Starting a career
• Getting married
• Having a new baby
• Changing jobs
• Nearing retirement

Gift Differently
Offer your friends and family something more meaningful. Give them peace of mind and the opportunity to secure a positive financial future. For the recipient, there are no products to buy and no accounts to set up; just the time and expertise of a qualified financial advisor to help steer them onto the correct financial course.

A certificate for one or two hours of time is ideal, and the session can either be tightly focused or a less formal "rapid fire" style Q&A session covering multiple topics.
Our most common concerns with gift recipients often include:

• Debt and credit management and repair
• Allocating retirement plan contributions among investment choices
• Estimating college education expenses, and how to fund them
• Developing a spending and savings plan
• Obtaining a second opinion on an investment portfolio
• Making a pension lump sum decision
• Deciding how much and what type of insurance to buy

Contact us to learn more and to obtain gift certificates for your loved ones today.

With our practice in Atlanta, Georgia, we have many women walking in the door. And even though most of our clients actually manage their money very well, we continue to see persistent issues with the women...particularly the married women. As a result, I'd like to share some information to help all of our female readers. Make no mistake...the guys aren't perfect, and eventually, I'll get around to creating an article for the men--our gender's got its own money problems. But this one's for the women, so let's get into the top five mistakes we see on a regular basis.

Mistake #1: Ignoring Your Credit Score
One of the most common mistakes women make is not establishing a solid credit history. Remember, a good credit history will give you more--and often better--financial options. Lenders will review your credit history when deciding whether to extend you credit. If your credit history is good, you may be offered credit at more advantageous terms, potentially saving you hundreds or even thousands of dollars in interest. And here's some extra incentive: prospective employers or landlords may check your credit history before offering you a job or renting you a home. Do not rely solely upon your boyfriend/husband to provide the positive credit profile for your relationship. It's heartbreaking to have recent divorcees come into my office and admit that "everything" was in their husband's name: the house, car, VISA card...everything. All this time, he's been building a positive credit history while she built...no history at all.

Here are some ways you can help keep your credit history healthy:

• Regularly check your credit reports. You're entitled to a free credit report once a year from each of the three major credit reporting bureaus. To request your report, call 877-322-8228 or visit www.annualcreditreport.com.
• Don't cosign loans or sign joint credit applications without understanding the consequences. You will be legally obligated to repay the debt, and any late payments may hurt your credit rating.
• If you struggle with debt, don't wait to take action. Call your creditors. They may be better able to work with you before you get too far behind. Ignoring the situation will make things worse.

Mistake #2: Saving for Your Children's Education--But Not Your Own Retirement
As a parent, you feel it's your obligation to pay for part (or all) of your child's college education, and you may put off saving for retirement until the kid's college bills are paid first. While it's natural to want to put your child's needs first, I want to make sure you are financially secure going forward. Your kids have countless options for financing college--loans, scholarships, work-study, grants-- and they will have many years after graduation to pay for it. On the other hand, you can't borrow money for retirement; there are no scholarships for the golden years. So with a limited number of years to save, make sure your retirement is a top priority; if there's any cash leftover, then save for the kids' college.

Mistake #3: Underestimating Your Need for Life Insurance
There's no sugar coating this one...most women don't have enough life insurance. In fact, most women who are stay-at-home-moms or even part-time outside the home think they don't need any insurance, based on income. So if that's you, then listen up. You are actually contributing a great deal to your family's finances. How much would it cost if you had to hire service providers to do everything that you do on a daily basis? A LOT!! The services you provide for your family are invaluable and very costly for private hire. So if you were to die, how would your family members be able get by? Could they hire a professional to take care of the household? And would your passing devastate the college fund or retirement nest egg? What about ordinary day-to-day living expenses? Life insurance serves as a financial buffer to help protect your family even after you're gone.

Mistake #4: Not Planning for a Long Retirement
The good news is that retirement is likely to last 20 to 30 years...but that's also the bad news (if you're not prepared). Outliving your retirement income is one of the biggest risks any retiree faces, especially women. This is because, according to the National Center of Health Statistics, a woman who reaches age 65 can expect to live until at least age 85. However, because women typically spend less time in the workforce (and may earn less for the same work than their male counterparts), women's retirement savings and benefits are often shortchanged.

So what can you do to make sure you'll have enough income to last throughout retirement? Here are some suggestions:

• Set a realistic retirement savings goal, save as much as you can, and keep track of your progress.
• If you're married, plan for retirement with your spouse. It's especially important to account for your joint life expectancies and ensure that you have a steady stream of lifetime income.
• Find out how much you can expect to receive from Social Security, and what you can do to maximize your benefits.
• If your nearing retirement, consider buying long-term care insurance to help protect your retirement savings from the high cost of long-term care. And because women are often the primary caregivers for a loved one, consider coverage for family members as well.

Mistake #5: Not Seeking Title on Joint Assets
Just like Angela Bassett's character in "Waiting to Exhale", many of our female clients are devastated when they are confronted with a separation (or divorce) only to learn that their names are not on title to the house, car, or other assets. State laws largely dictate the division of property obtained during marriage, and without a prenuptial agreement, assets obtained before the marriage typically fall under state jurisdiction as well. Women--if you remember nothing else--remember this: If you live in a house with your husband, make sure your name is on the title. Even if you do not make the mortgage payment, make sure your name is on the title. Even if your relationship is perfect and you'll never split up, make sure your name is on the title...you catch my drift?

It's no fun to look at your mutual fund statement and realize that you've had losses for the year. It's even more painful if you discover that, in addition to suffering a paper loss, you owe taxes on the fund's distribution of capital gains. It's a question that puzzles a lot of investors...How can you owe taxes on an investment that has lost money?

The answer has to do with the difference between your profit when you sell fund shares, and the fund's profit when it sells individual securities. As a fund buys and sells securities during the year, it will typically have some gains and some losses. At the end of the year, losses are subtracted from gains to determine the fund's shareholder distribution. The fund also may use losses from previous years to help offset gains.

By law, gains and/or income must be distributed each year; typically, those distributions occur around the end of the year and are taxable (unless the fund is held in a tax-advantaged account such as an IRA). Even if a fund is down at the end of that year, it may still have capital gains from earlier sales of securities.

Example: In 2002, Cesar's stock fund bought 10,000 shares of XYZ Corporation for $33 a share. By the end of last year, the share price had reached $50, helping to push up the net asset value (NAV) the fund reported on its year-end statement to shareholders. This year, XYZ's price drops to $43. The fund's manager, concerned that XYZ might fall still further, sells the shares for a $100,000 profit. However, other shares held by the fund drop in value, and Cesar's end-of-year statement now shows a lower balance compared to the year before. Because the fund did not sell shares to realize losses, it must still pass its $100,000 XYZ profit on to shareholders as capital gains distributions.

Good News, Bad News
Owing taxes on distributions from a fund that's down is especially likely in years when a fund experiences substantial redemptions. If your fellow investors in a mutual fund have been pulling money out, the manager might have had to sell securities in order to meet those redemption demands. High market volatility also could mean a greater than usual level of capital gains distributions by funds with managers who traded actively, either to try to lock in gains or avoid further losses.

Some capital gains distributions this year may be affected by what happened in 2000-2002. Many funds that suffered during the bear market could use those losses in subsequent years to offset any capital gains and minimize that year's taxable distribution. However, many funds have now used up their losses from the down years, leaving their managers with fewer leftover losses to offset any current gains from selling individual securities.

Tax Factors to Consider in Fund Selection
One way to minimize such problems is to consider a fund's tax efficiency in advance. Taxes shouldn't be the single deciding factor in any investment decision. However, when assessing the capital gains impact of a potential purchase, consider the following points:

• Some mutual funds tend to be more susceptible to the capital-gains dilemma than others. For example, funds with a high turnover ratio buy and sell more often and may generate more capital gains distributions.
• Some actively managed funds are designed specifically to be tax efficient, taking capital gains into account when making trading decisions.
• A fund's long-term capital gains will be taxed at a more favorable rate than its short-term gains.
• Bond funds can experience capital gains and losses from the sale of individual bonds.
• Each mutual fund must report its after-tax return in its prospectus.

A (Small) Consolation
If you are squeezed by both a loss in your fund's value and a capital gains distribution this year, remind yourself that at least the maximum tax rate on long-term capital gains and qualified dividends is 15% until January 1, 2011 (less if you're in the 15% or 10% tax bracket).

You also may be able to offset capital gains from one mutual fund by taking a capital loss on another investment. A financial professional can help you assess the potential tax impact of a given mutual fund, as well as the best way to manage any capital gains liability.

Are you drowning in consumer debt? Well, even if you're not, chances are that the water level is getting a bit too high for comfort. Interest charges, late fees...everything seems overwhelming as your balances climb higher with each passing month. We know you'd like to escape before it's too late, but how exactly do you begin?

First, Plug the Hole(s)
Are you still using credit cards? Let me rephrase...are you still using credit cards AND NOT PAYING THEM OFF EVERY MONTH? If so, then you must first realize that it's nearly impossible to eliminate debt while you're simultaneously making charges. Back to our original metaphor, it's like trying to set sail with a giant hole in the boat.

Review your expenses and compare them to your income. Are you spending more than you're earning? Even if you use credit "for emergencies only" (and a new outfit for this weekend is not an emergency), you must begin by plugging the financial leaks in your budget.

As your spending becomes more seaworthy, look for ways to reduce your expenses to the point where you create a cash surplus each month. What categories do you spend the most in each month? Food? Entertainment? Clothes? Focus on spending less by implementing creative solutions. Cook at home more. Invite friends over instead of going out for expensive drinks. And find a second hand store. There ain't nothing wrong with second-hand Gucci!

Line up your Ducks
List all of your credit card debts and personal lines of credit (don't include your mortgage, student loans, and/or car loan). Then, rank them based upon interest rate from the highest rate charged to the lowest. I assume you're current with all of your accounts (including the unlisted ones). If not, then you'll likely need some help with credit analysis and repair.

Once all your debts are current, make the minimum payment on all of them and direct any surplus toward increasing the payment against the debt with the highest interest rate. As the minimum payments required on all your debts start to go down (as happens with credit cards), don't pay less on your total debt. Instead, make the minimum payments on all of them and keep shifting the "extra" to increasing the payment on the debt with the highest interest rate.

Take Your Best Shot
Once that debt with the highest interest rate is paid off, add the amount of the payment you were making toward it to what you're paying on the debt with the next highest interest rate. Once again, as the minimum payment requirements on other debts with lower interest rates decline further, put the "extra" created toward this highest-interest debt.

Because the amount you pay toward each debt increases in size as you move down the list of your debts, this repayment strategy is often referred to as snowballing.

Another Approach
Some snowballing methods recommend that you pay off your debts starting with the smallest balance first, regardless of its interest rate, and also apply to this debt any surplus, while keeping your payments the same each month on all of the rest of your debts (regardless of their decreasing minimum requirements). While this approach offers the psychological satisfaction of paying off smaller debts quickly and paying extra against the principal on all your debts, it may not save you as much in total interest charges as the approach outlined above.

Your 401k retirement account has been devastated in this current market recession, and you don't know where to turn for reliable information and objective advice.

Like everyone else, you're concerned about the future. The stock market feels like a roller coaster, and you're confused, anxious, and stressed out. And no wonder...because to this point, you've had no access to objective financial professionals.

But that's over forever, because now...you do.

Our advisors have been invited to speak across the country for private groups, educating them on how to manage their 401k accounts during these turbulent economic times.

But the Lightship Mutual team is not satisfied with this limited audience. Our over-arching corporate mission is to open the doors of knowledge to everyone.

As a result, we've packaged and are now delivering this 401k education directly into your home via live web-based workshops. For a limited time, we will teach you how to protect your 401k account and to realize an ideal financial future.

Learn more about our 401k Online Training here.