Great advice. For charitable contributions, I would recommend www.itsdeductible.com by the makers of TurboTax, Mint, QuickBooks... it is free and auto completes the information when you file your taxes with TurboTax or you can print it out for your CPA should you go that route.

Everyone’s financial position is different. The key lesson is to save in the areas that have the highest annual compounding return i.e.: 401(k), IRAs, Roth IRAs, etc. Typical lesson for 401(k)s are to max out if possible each year... but most cannot do that until they are at least 10 years out of school. However, the…

You should own your funding account... using a bank's bill pay, Intuit's PayTrust product (my personal preference), or credit card. Auto-Drafts are a risk which are not necessary and easily avoided.