The reason withdrawals from an Individual Retirement Account (IRA) prior to age 59½ are generally subject to a 10% tax penalty is that policymakers wanted to create a...

Folks along El Camino Real are carving pumpkins and getting ready for Halloween, but no matter how scary a face you carve on the pumpkins or how much fake blood you put on...

When we rang in 2020 at midnight on Dec. 31, 2019, who knew then there would be school and business closures, job layoffs, sudden sheltering in place mandates, food...

Folks along El Camino Real were blessed with a wonderful cool spell on Saturday, but it didn’t last long. It was back to hot and dry again on Sunday with high winds that...

The past eight months have been full of change, mostly due to a national coronavirus pandemic, and I’m sure many of you – like me – are ready to return to some semblance of...

Folks along El Camino Real are wondering how we can be on our third or fourth hurricane and still not get a decent rain. Our prayers go out to all the people in the Lake...

If you have ever purchased real estate you probably recall putting up money with your offer to purchase. In Texas we call it earnest money. In some states it’s referred to...

I would like to say “thank you” to all those who are responsible for the demolition of old structures in and around Rusk. A cleaner and neater look to our properties makes...

Folks along El Camino Real have had a lot to deal with over the past few weeks and a lot of it hasn’t been good. I guess that is just part of life. We wish everyday was...

We were sound asleep at 4:40 a.m. last Thursday, Oct. 1, when a loud alarm started sounding in our bedroom. Startled awake, I didn’t know what it...

If you have not already done so, now is the time to review your tax situation and make an estimated quarterly tax payment using Form 1040-ES. The third quarter due date is...

Many years ago I listened to my school teacher nephew talking to a parent about what the parent believed to be onerous property taxes. As the conversation progressed, the...

Folks along El Camino Real are eagerly awaiting the coming of the first cold front to usher in the fall season, while looking forward to December and the ending of 2020. ...

Withdrawing funds from your retirement accounts must be done carefully to avoid a potential 10 percent early withdrawal penalty. Unfortunately,...

Folks along El Camino Real are trying to figure out what they are going to do with all of the bottled water and light bread they bought last week in preparation for the...