Monthly Archives: February 2010

If you’re an endurance athlete, camper or outdoorsman, you’re probably familiar with The North Face, an outdoors equipment company. But do you know The South Butt? The company—whose motto is "Never stop relaxing?"—has recently garnered a lot of attention after it was sued by The North Face for trademark infringement. If you compare The North Face and The South Butt‘s logos, you’ll probably come to the conclusion that—at the very least—The South Butt was inspired by The North Face. Take …

One of the things I love about the Olympics is that for two weeks every two years, the world’s attention collectively focuses on something positive. The news headlines are filled with sad and stressful news, so it’s uplifting to instead cheer on our nation’s elite athletes as they try to fulfill their lifelong dreams. This year, of course, the Olympics started off on a sad note with the death of the Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvili. But as I’ve followed the …

In Tuesday’s blog, I talked about how tax-exempt savings plans, such as health savings accounts, can reduce your taxable income while also enabling you to save money for future expenses. Today I’ll talk about tax-deferred savings plans, which enable you to postpone paying taxes on some income until a future date. Before talking about these savings plans, a quick math and tax lesson. Let’s say you earn $50,000 a year, you’re single and you claim the standard federal tax deduction …

One of my New Year’s Resolutions this year is to do a better job managing my money. I think I’ve always been pretty smart when it comes to finances, but I realized that I was letting some great opportunities to save money pass me by. In today and Thursday’s blog posts, I’ll talk about some of the best ways to save money and cut your taxes: tax-exempt savings plans and tax-deferred savings plans. Today’s blog focuses on tax-exempt savings plans. …

On Monday the nation celebrates George Washington’s Birthday, though the holiday is often informally referred to as Presidents’ Day. Did you know that 26 presidents were also lawyers? For today’s post, I thought it would be fun to share some presidential trivia. Presidents as Lawyers Twelve of our presidents were also military generals, but overwhelmingly we elect lawyers to serve as president. Do you know who was the first lawyer elected as U.S. president? It’s our second president, John Adams. …