Tamsen Butler - The Complete Guide to Your Personal Finances Online: Step-By-Step Instructions to Take Control of Your Financial Future Using the Internet

The Complete Guide to Your

Personal Finances Online

Step-by-Step Instructions to Take Control of Your Financial Future Using the Internet

By Tamsen Butler

A few years back we lost our beloved pet dog Bear, who was not only our best and dearest friend but also the Vice President of Sunshine here at Atlantic Publishing. He did not receive a salary but worked tirelessly 24 hours a day to please his parents.

Bear was a rescue dog who turned around and showered myself, my wife, Sherri, his grandparents Jean, Bob, and Nancy, and every person and animal he met (well, maybe not rabbits) with friendship and love. He made a lot of people smile every day.

We wanted you to know a portion of the profits of this book will be donated in Bears memory to local animal shelters, parks, conservation organizations, and other individuals and nonprofit organizations in need of assistance.

Douglas and Sherri Brown

PS: We have since adopted two more rescue dogs: first Scout, and the following year, Ginger. They were both mixed golden retrievers who needed a home.

Want to help animals and the world? Here are a dozen easy suggestions you and your family can implement today:

• Adopt and rescue a pet from a local shelter.
• Support local and no-kill animal shelters.
• Plant a tree to honor someone you love.
• Be a developer put up some birdhouses.
• Buy live, potted Christmas trees and replant them.
• Make sure you spend time with your animals each day.
• Save natural resources by recycling and buying recycled products.
• Drink tap water, or filter your own water at home.
• Whenever possible, limit your use of or do not use pesticides.
• If you eat seafood, make sustainable choices.
• Support your local farmers market.
• Get outside. Visit a park, volunteer, walk your dog, or ride your bike.

Five years ago, Atlantic Publishing signed the Green Press Initiative. These guidelines promote environmentally friendly practices, such as using recycled stock and vegetable-based inks, avoiding waste, choosing energy-efficient resources, and promoting a no-pulping policy. We now use 100-percent recycled stock on all our books. The results: in one year, switching to post-consumer recycled stock saved 24 mature trees, 5,000 gallons of water, the equivalent of the total energy used for one home in a year, and the equivalent of the greenhouse gases from one car driven for a year.

Author Dedication

Thanks to my personal cheerleading squad: Scott, the Lincolns, Ashley Aisenson, and my dear sister Laurie, who is the only person who squeals in delight each time I have a book published.

A special thank you to the Kippers for keeping me stocked with coffee and to the coffee houses in Papillion for the office space.

Finally, thanks to Melissa Peterson at Atlantic Publishing for sticking with me through three books and countless deadline extensions.

Foreword

In the 1980s, the personal computer became more affordable and computer processing speeds increased nothing like todays speed, but plenty faster than the older technology. The buzzword in technology circles was paperless. Paperless occurs when documents are saved in digital format on computers or remote locations. To many people, going paperless would mean no more cutting of trees. At that time, it also was common to hear people say, Personal computers are going to put the printing businesses out of business! But, it still has not completely happened yet.

As a working CPA and financial adviser, I now hear the question, What happened to the paperless society? This question generally arises from clients who have to sign abundant investment documents, or the clients who notice the numerous pages on which their tax returns are printed. After 20 years, we are finally seeing a transition to a semi-paperless society. I do not expect we ever will go 100 percent paperless, but any amount would be better than none.