Guest Columnist

By Soren & Gary E. Croxall The coronavirus pandemic and the subsequent economic fallout has forced many people to rethink their retirement strategy. Whether you are mid-career and retirement is still a distance out, retirement is fast approaching, or you are a recent retiree wondering...

Happy New Year! January is the eighth annual Positive Parenting Awareness Month in Santa Cruz County. Although parenting is a non-stop job that deserves recognition every day of the year, this month is an opportunity to reflect on what it means to be a...

The late 1960s and 1970s were a tumultuous time in America. The Vietnam War, serial killers, Civil Rights marches and the Black Power Movement were plastered across the nightly television news. Aptos was to get our own, very up-close-and-personal incident with the Black Power movement.

What does it take to be a hero? Every day, people make our town a better place to live.

The recent market volatility at the end of 2018 reminded us that markets don’t always behave as we would like. We’re sure that many people probably fell out of their chair after they opened up their Dec. 31 account statements.

In July 2019, the state of California launched CalSavers, a program designed to allow employees access to a retirement savings plan administered by the state if their employer doesn’t currently offer their own retirement savings plan.  What is CalSavers? CalSavers is essentially a Roth IRA that...

Sept. 15 marked 10 years since the collapse of Lehman Brothers. The Financial Crisis of 2008 wiped out about 8.8 million jobs, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and caused about $19 trillion in household wealth to evaporate. While the recession officially started in December 2007, we wanted to review a timeline of some key events and also look forward to the future.

By Zach Friend, Santa Cruz County Supervisor Here are some updates on local road repairs and proposed projects for bike and pedestrian safety this year. Funding for these projects comes from Measure D (which brings in about $900,000/year to our district for local roads), SB...

There’s a Chinese proverb, “A journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.” It makes me think of the Triple P – Positive Parenting Program motto, “Small changes, big differences.” Together, both quotes provide a helpful reminder that in this lifelong journey called “parenting,” the greatest growth and change often comes from taking one small step at a time.

My parents are ready to buy a home, but my mother wants to buy the land and build their home. Are there programs that can help buy her land to build her home? Is there a possibility for a first time home buyer to buy land to build or is it easier just to buy a home that is already built?