Personal Finance: Ask the Experts: Welcome to The Bee's Personal Finance blog

Personal Finance: Ask the Experts

Get advice on money matters from The Bee's Claudia Buck and a panel of local experts

June 15, 2012

Welcome to The Bee's Personal Finance blog

Greetings and welcome to The Sacramento Bee's first-ever Personal Finance blog. Why this, why now? Because money matters. And coming out of the so-called "Great Recession" (what's "great" about it, I haven't figured out yet), it's clear there's a real desire by all of us to be better informed about our personal finances.

So this blog intends to offer up news, tips, tools and resources that can help you figure out the often-baffling world of personal finances.

It's also the new home to our longstanding "Ask the Experts" panel, which is a rotating group of local experts on taxes (both IRS and California), investing, personal finances, wills/trusts and job hunting.

It's pretty simple: You ask our experts questions; they give you answers. And it's free.

It's all part of The Bee's mission to keep our readers informed on stuff that matters in everyday life. We've all heard the buzz phrase, "financial literacy." It's really just a better-sounding way of saying "money smarts."

Bottom line: I'm no expert, but my goal is to share with you what I'm learning about money smarts. That way, we're all in this quest for financial literacy together.

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Claudia Buck is The Sacramento Bee's personal finance columnist. Read all her columns here. Contact her at cbuck@sacbee.com

Terri Carpenter

Terri Carpenter offers advice on job hunting, retraining and career counseling. Carpenter works at Sacramento Works Inc., the career and job training arm of the Sacramento Employment and Training Agency (SETA). With 15 years in the field, she has hands-on experience with everyone from first-time job seekers to career professionals seeking advice after a layoff or looking for a mid-career change. Ask her a question.

Carlena Tapella

Carlena Tapella is a partner in the law firm of Webb & Tapella Law Corp. in Sacramento. The firm specializes in estate planning and probate, such as estates, trusts, conservatorships and litigation. She is a past president of the Sacramento County Bar Association's Estate Planning & Probate Section. Ask her a question.

Kimberly Foss, certified financial planner, is the founder of Empyrion Wealth Management in Roseville. With nearly 30 years in the financial industry, her clients include women in transition, small business owners, retirees and "pre-retirees." Ask her a question.

Gregory Burke, a CPA and tax expert with John Waddell & Co. in Sacramento since 1984, worked as an IRS tax auditor for six years. He’s a past chairman of the California Society of CPAs. Ask him a question.

Daniel Tahara takes your questions about California taxes. Tahara, a spokesman for the state Franchise Tax Board, has 10 years of experience as a tax auditor. Ask him a question.