Abby VanDerHeyden, CFP®

To determine home equity, a homeowner first needs to know the home's current value. All lenders will require a home appraisal with costs normally paid by the homeowner.

Maybe you want to renovate your home to avoid having to buy a new house in today's cutthroat market. Perhaps you wish to pay off higher interest credit card or student loan debt. Tapping home equity can be a viable and beneficial financial strategy for many reasons but also comes with its fair share of risks.

You’ve likely seen ads and commercials for several different credit monitoring companies offering their version of monitoring. But what else can you do to protect your personal information? Should you pay for a credit monitoring service, or should you do it yourself?

The American Rescue Plan (ARP) has more than just stimulus payments to offer. If you qualify for the enhanced child tax credit, be on the lookout for the IRS portal rollout in a few months. Many families have benefited from child tax credits in years past, but the enhanced credit differs in several ways.

Evaluating the reasons behind a desire to purchase life insurance on a child can be helpful with the question "does it make sense?" If you are protecting against future un-insurability, it's hard to argue an alternative solution.

The tax savings experienced from dependent care FSAs are nice, but avoiding lost contributions at the end of the year should be the primary goal!

Open enrollment doesn't need to make you anxious! Review the different options available and to be aware of helpful resources.

Determining what to do with an old 401(k) is an important decision, but it does not have to be complicated. The Wall Street Journal recently reported about 30% of workers leaving jobs elect to cash out their 401(k) accounts and pay taxes – and often 10% penalties! Is that the smartest option?

Many students have financial decisions to make due to the COVID-19 pandemic. How does the CARES Act affect student loan borrowers and those who used a 529 plan for college expenses?

As important as it may feel to conquer your student loan debt, do not lose sight of setting money aside for your future. Develop a savings strategy that aligns with your financial goals.

It is common for spouses to title property they own together as “joint with right of survivorship.” But things can get messy when the other joint owner isn’t your spouse. If you own property with a non-spouse, how can you safeguard to mitigate the risks, if possible?

Many of us have likely turned down the travel insurance offered while booking a flight to our vacation destination. But perhaps we shouldn’t. Travel insurance can be a lifesaver when it comes to the unexpected, especially while traveling abroad. Unsure if travel insurance would be worth your money? We’ve outlined how to determine if the cost is worth it for you.