As part of the Prison Fellowship series of ministries, Angel Tree was founded as a way to reach out to the children and families of prison inmates by showing them the love of Christ through simple actions such as providing gifts for Christmas.  Angel Tree has been involved in the lives of over 6 million children and is actively engaged year-round to help families who struggle with the difficulties associated with having a parent in prison. Visit www.angeltree.org to learn more.

If you would like to see your favorite charity included in this newsletter, send us an email with the relevant information.

Where to Invest Your Money in 2010
by John Gowan

2009 was certainly a roller coaster year with the stock market continuing to decline rapidly early in the year only to reverse course in early March and quickly rebound. As 2009 comes to a close, now is the perfect time to take a close look at your investment portfolio, ensure that you are properly diversified, and rebalance for the coming year. It is also prudent to make small adjustments to your portfolio from time to time based on the current economic environment and the level of risk that you are willing to take. This article can help guide you through some of these difficult decisions on where to invest your money for the coming year.  Read Full Article

Should I Convert to a Roth IRA?
by Ozeme J. Bonnette

Since the creation of the Roth IRA, there have been income limits that have prevented higher earning households from opening Roth IRAs or converting traditional IRAs to Roth IRAs. On January 1, 2010, income limits will be eliminated. This will allow any interested investor to convert traditional IRAs to Roth IRAs.  Read Full Article

An Easy Way to Receive an Extra $100
by John Gowan

Last weekend, I decided to take advantage of an offer through Chase Bank where they give you $100 when you open a new checking account. Like most of these offers, there are a few stipulations, so be sure to read the fine print. This offer requires you to either set up a direct deposit or make five debit card purchases within 60 days in order to receive the $100 bonus. The five debit purchases sounded easy enough to me. Here is the link to the offer:

https://coupon.chaseinformation.com/chaseoffer/?value=1&MSC=c1234

According to the advertisement, the offer ends on December 31st, but I know they run these types of deals rather frequently. Bank of America has a similar offer available for a new checking account that is opened with at least a $500 initial deposit:

http://www.bankofamerica.com/promos/jump/uspsmovers

In my mind, this is easy money and is worth the minor hassle that is required to transfer money and make a few purchases on a new debit card.