Bills.com: One-Stop Personal Finance

Law school, and starting out in legal practice, isn't made for financial wimps these days.  We can all use help saving money, eliminating debt, budgeting, and handling other important aspects of personal finance.  For an amazing array for valuable resources and tools to help you make the most of your money while keeping it simple, check out Bills.com. For estimating everyday savings that makes a difference, try the Savings Machine Calculator.  Just select a favorite expense, rate of return, and a time period, to calculate what you will gain from what you choose to lose (from coffee to cable TV).  There are budgeting guides, expert advice on credit cards and credit reports, and the site's interactive Debt Coach for analysing your personal debt situation and selecting strategically among alternative debt solutions. From an article on planning a wedding budget to a video on student loan consolidation, it's all on Bills.com. 

Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

Other great libraries

Of course, I am partial to prowling around this library, but did you know that your local Public Library offers free, yes FREE access to databases and eBooks?

The databases range from business to art to music to current newspapers.  Libraries lend many popular eBooks for free (although you sometimes still have to wait for the popular ones due to licensing restrictions).   All you need is a library card.  You may need to go to the library to set up your account, but once you do, you never have to leave your couch or windowsill.

Check out a listing of links to Nassau County libraries or just Google your local library.

Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

Federal Forms Online

Need a form related to a federal agency? Find all the federal forms you can imagine at USA.gov’s federal forms page. Forms are organized by agency name.

Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

Tax Day Extension

Tax Day is over!  Returns and extensions were due by midnight last night for those incurable procrastinators.   The tax filing deadline was pushed back two days for most U.S. taxpayer this year.  The April 15 deadline landed on Sunday and Monday was a Washington, D.C.-celebrated holiday --Emancipation Day.

Emancipation Day, celebrated on April 16, honors President Abraham Lincoln's signing of the Compensated Emancipation Act on April 16, 1862.  “The act is not well-known, but you could consider it the predecessor of the broader proclamation that President Abraham Lincoln used to free the slaves in Confederate states. According to the National Archives, it "provided for immediate emancipation, compensation to former owners who were loyal to the Union of up to $300 for each freed slave, voluntary colonization of former slaves to locations outside the United States, and payments of up to $100 for each person choosing emigration." It led to the freedom of 2,989 slaves.”

Emancipation Day was made an official public holiday in Washington, D.C. on January 4, 2005, by Mayor Anthony A. Williams.  Read more about the District of Columbia 1862 Emancipation Law.

Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

HeinOnline State Attorney General Reports and Opinions Library

HeinOnline recently added the State Attorney General Reports and Opinions Library.  This new library provides 600,000 reports and opinions from all fifty states as well as Puerto Rico and Virgin Islands.  There is also access to the Opinions of the Office of Legal Counsel of the United States Department of Justice and the Official Opinions of the Attorneys General of the United States.  Full-text searches can be done as well as searches by opinion number.  Click here to learn more about the State Attorney General Reports and Opinions Library or click here to begin using it.

Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat