Guest Columnist

As we are writing this month’s article, the Dow Jones Industrial Average just crossed over 22,000 for the first time in history (Aug. 2, 2017). Year to date the Dow Jones Industrial Average is up approximately 11.4 percent while the S & P 500 is up approximately 10.61 percent (as of Aug. 1, Source: Morningstar).

Age 70.5 is a milestone birthday in the United States. It’s also a birthday most people dread because Uncle Sam comes knocking, looking for you to pay taxes on retirement money that you’ve been diligently saving and deferring. If you are like most who reach this magical age, you probably factor in your anticipated required minimum distribution (“RMD”) that you must take from your various retirement accounts each year into your overall living expense needs. However, if you are one who truly doesn’t need the money to pay for everyday expenses, here are a couple of options for you to consider.

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...

In December 2019, Congress passed the SECURE Act which is the first major change to retirement legislation since 2006 with the passage of the Pension Protection Act. The passage of the SECURE Act will affect retirement savers in a number of ways from changes...

There are a lot of colorful names to describe suppliers of illegal booze: Rum runners (self-explanatory), moonshiners, bootleggers. What is a bootlegger? In the late 1800s, it was illegal to give Native American Indians whiskey, so traders would conceal flasks of liquor in their boot tops. Previously, we learned how prohibition helped to fund organized crime, and how otherwise law-abiding people developed a thirst for "medicinal" Scotch whiskey. But, Scotch alone does not make a well stocked bar, and not all alcohol was smuggled into the county. Gin was actually the most common liquor consumed during prohibition and much of it was produced locally.

For the first time in decades, significant upgrades and improvements are planned for libraries in our district. Let’s look at how we got here, what’s planned and how you can get involved in the process.

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...

We mentioned in our January article that many people were likely to be surprised that come tax filing time the refund that they have come to expect every year in the spring has evaporated, or worse yet, they now owe money to the IRS!

The Aptos Chamber was more like a small-town improvement association. The initial name was the Aptos Community Club. The first item of business was to get a fire engine for the town and to obtain all night telephone service. The next item of work was to celebrate the opening of the new bridge into town which replaced an old wooden bridge with a suicide curve in the middle. The chamber planned the ceremony and a big parade.

Aptos Village once had a Town Hall on the corner of Valencia Street and Trout Gulch Road, but it had been torn down.