The Wall Street Journal Financial Guidebook For New Parents

A practical approach to affording your kids from cradle to college. Bringing home your bouncing baby boy or girl should be an exciting time of celebration–not cause for worry about how you’re going to pay for feeding, clothing, and caring for your new bundle of expenses. The average family will spend between $11,000 and $16,000 during a new baby’s first year, and more than $200,000 before a kid’s eighteenth birthday. Unfortunately, a second child only doubles your costs, with little economy of scale for each additional baby. Before you start using these statistics as birth control, take a deep breath and know that you can have a family and make a comfortable future for your children while saving for your own important goals. The Wall Street Journal Financial Guidebook for New Parents shows you the way, with information on how to: • Safeguard your child’s well-being with wills, trusts, and life insurance • Best weigh your child-care options and decide whether to go back to work • Save on taxes with child-friendly tax credits and deductions plus tax-advantaged benefits at work • Manage your family’s health-care costs • Save for long-term costs by setting up a college fund • Spend smart and save money at every stage of your child’s development • Continue to contribute to your own retirement savings From maternity (and paternity) leave to flexible spending accounts to 529 college plans, The Wall Street Journal Financial Guidebook for New Parents provides all the information you need to meet your child’s expenses while also protecting your family’s financial security.

Because starting a small business is not only a huge financial risk but also a complete lifestyle change, anyone who wants to be his or her own boss needs to approach entrepreneurship thoughtfully and with careful planning. That’s why there is no better resource than The Wall Street Journal Complete Small Business Guidebook, a practical guide for turning your entrepreneurial dreams into a successful company, from America’s most trusted source of financial advice. It answers would-be business owners’ biggest question—how do I fund my venture?—then explains the mechanics of building, running and growing a profitable business. You’ll learn: • How to write a winning business plan • Secrets to finding extra money during the lean years and beyond • Ways to keep your stress in check while maintaining a work/life balance • How to manage your time, including taking vacations and dealing with sick days • Strategies for keeping your business running smoothly—from investing in technology to hiring the right people • Marketing and management basics • When angel investors or venture capital might be an appropriate way to grow • How to execute your exit strategy Running the show may not always be easy, but the rewards can be tremendous. You may be on the job 24/7, but you have the freedom to call the shots, to hire whomever you want, to work when you want and to take your business as far as you want to go.

Let’s face it: you can't avoid death or taxes. But you can create an estate plan that will make both a whole lot easier for your loved ones and put you in control of how your assets will get passed to your heirs. Here, Wall Street Journal personal-finance reporter Rachel Emma Silverman walks you step-by-step through the process. Chock-full of clear and solid advice on how to get the most out of the main estate planning tools - including wills, trusts, life insurance, guardianship papers, and powers-of-attorney documents - the Wall Street Journal Complete Estate-Planning Guidebook will help make your estate-planning process as simple, smooth, and unintimidating as possible. This book will help you: · Clarify your estate-planning goals, such as dividing up property for heirs, reducing taxes or leaving money for charity · Understand the key estate-planning documents you’ll need, including wills, beneficiary-designation forms, powers-of-attorney and health-care advance directives · Decode the technical jargon that estate planners often use, so you feel comfortable discussing QTIPs and QPRTs when you sit down with your lawyer. · Reduce possible estate, gift or generation-skipping taxes and legal and probate fees – decreasing what goes to the tax man and increasing what goes to your heirs · Learn strategies to divide money and personal property among your heirs, and reduce the possibility of family fights · Discuss sensitive estate-planning issues with your family · Maintain your estate-plan over time, including how to store and when to update your documents With completely up-to-date information on how to navigate the new 2011 estate tax legislation, and thoughtful advice on how to handle your estate in complicated situations – like if you’re single, in a same-sex relationship, or wish to provide for children with special needs - this is the estae-planning guide for today’s messy and complicated world. One of the biggest estate planning mistakes people make, says Silverman, is waiting too long to start. Which is why the Wall Street Journal Complete Estate-Planning Guidebook isn’t just for those planning for retirement or their golden years. It’s for anyone, of any age, who wants the peace of mind of knowing that your wishes will be respected and your hard-earned money will get passed on as you would like.

A guide to starting over financially after losing a spouse, declaring bankruptcy or foreclosing a home provides coverage of topics ranging from debt and housing to insurance and savings. Original.

Are you looking for a mere job—the kind where you do virtually the same thing day after day, year after year, and spend the hours counting down the minutes until the clock hits five p.m.? Or are you looking for a career—the kind that engages your interests and passions, constantly presents new and exciting opportunities and challenges, and allows you to grow personally and professionally? If you chose the latter, this is the book for you. In The Wall Street Journal Guide to Building Your Career, former Wall Street Journal careers editor Jennifer Merritt shows you how to build the foundation for the fulfilling professional career that leads to that corner office. She'll walk you through how to: • Select and nab that important career-launching college internship • Ace your first interview—and blow them away in the second round • Navigate the unwritten rules of any office culture • Negotiate tastefully and successfully for the salary your skills are worth • Get that critical promotion when you're at the peak of your learning curve • Choose the mentor (or mentors) who can best help you achieve your goals • Leap ahead of other high achievers racing you to the top Drawing on advice from industry experts, career coaches, and ordinary people who've made the climb themselves, Merritt offers insider tips for landing and moving up in the kind of job that's not just about earning a paycheck but about realizing your ambitions and achieving the kind of success you've always dreamed of.

From America’s most authoritative source: the quintessential primer on understanding and managing your money Money courses through just about every corner of our lives and has an impact on the way we live today and how we’ll be able to live in the future. Understanding your money, and getting it to work for you, has never been more important than it is today, as more and more of us are called upon to manage every aspect of our financial lives, from managing day-to-day living expenses to planning a college savings fund and, ultimately, retirement. From The Wall Street Journal, the most trusted name in financial and money matters, this indispensable book takes the mystery out of personal finance. Start with the basics, learn how they work, and you’ll become a better steward of your own money, today and in the future. Consider The Wall Street Journal Complete Personal Finance Guidebook your cheat sheet to the finances of your life. This book will help you: • Understand the nuts and bolts of managing your money: banking, investing, borrowing, insurance, credit cards, taxes, and more • Establish realistic budgets and savings plans • Develop an investment strategy that makes sense for you • Make the right financial decisions about real estate • Plan for retirement intelligently Also available—the companion to this guidebook: The Wall Street Journal Personal Finance Workbook, by Jeff D. Opdyke Get your financial life in order with help from The Wall Street Journal. Look for: • The Wall Street Journal Complete Money and Investing Guidebook • The Wall Street Journal Complete Identity Theft Guidebook • The Wall Street Journal Complete Real Estate Investing Guidebook

Get ready for the financial aspects of being a parent...so you can relax, enjoy your baby, and be a wonderful mom or dad! Your scattered emotional state as a new parent might lead you to make irrational money decisions. Let’s explore how to financially prepare for and manage the early stages of becoming a new mom or dad. I’ll help you put your mind and money at ease, so you can do what you really want: Be a great parent...