Top Ten Financial Tips for Graduating EM Residents

1. Save more than 20% of your income.

2. Have cash reserves for six months of expenses.

3. Automatically have savings deducted from check.

4. Take full advantage of employer's financial benefits, i.e. retirement, child care, advanced education, etc.

5. Max out your 401K, Roth IRA, or other retirement plan.

6. Review insurance policies (malpractice, disability and life insurance.)

7. Create an investment strategy based upon income, age, and risk tolerance.

8. Start an education plan for your children (529 or education IRA.)

9. Review estate planning and update your will or trust.

10. Start planning now to avoid income tax suprises next year.

Source: Lane Financial & Dew Wealth Management

Business Card Trick of the Trade

Have you ever gone to a conference and gotten a grip of business cards in your hand?

I used to store mine in a little box in the deep recesses of a banker box never to be opened again.

But then I discovered how to leverage www.evernote.com and the iPhone. Here's what you can do:

1) Take a picture of each business card (the back side if there is something on it) with your iPhone.

2) Find your Evernote incoming email address, click here, if you don't know how.

3) Email all the business card photos to the Evernote email address using iPhone photos

4) Go to Evernote website and log in. You can search the business card photo's content by name, company, etc. etc.

5) Now throw each and every one of your business cards into the closest recycle bin like a ninja!