You may or may not engage in many of the typical activities of “spring cleaning” - de-cluttering the attic, reorganizing your closets, touching up the paint, etc. - but you can almost certainly benefit from “sprucing up” your financial situation.

As you survey your financial landscape, what areas might you want to tidy up? Here are a few suggestions:

1) Clear your portfolio of “redundant” investments. Over time, you may have built a sizable investment portfolio. But if you have too many investments that look alike, you may actually be hindering your progress toward your goals. After all, if you own a dozen stocks of companies in the same industry, they’re all likely to be buffeted by the same economic forces. Look for opportunities to replace some of these “redundancies” with different types of securities, taking into account your risk tolerance and time horizon.

2) Organize your financial records. If you’re like those of us who file our taxes at the last minute, now is the perfect time to organize your financial records, because you’ve probably got them close at hand. And it’s not just a matter of having your brokerage and 401(k) statements in nice, neat piles. Once you’ve got these documents together, you might see opportunities to consolidate some of your accounts. For example, you may have IRAs with different banks and financial services companies, By moving them all to one provider, and possibly rolling over an old 401(k) into an IRA, you could save some fees and reduce your paperwork, but, more importantly, you may find that such a move actually helps you better manage your investments. You’ll know exactly what you’re invested in, and it will be easier to follow a single investment strategy. Also, with all your IRAs in one place, it will be much easier for you to manage the required minimum distributions you must start taking when you turn 70-1/2. (These distributions are not required for Roth IRAs.)

3) Review your “systematic” investments. Many years ago, you might have started systematically moving money from your checking account into an investment. But perhaps the circumstances of your life have changed and this money could better be used elsewhere. Scrutinize your automatic investments to see if they still make sense for you.

4) Check your beneficiaries. Beneficiary designations on financial documents - insurance policies, IRAs, 401(k)s, etc. - are extremely important, because they supersede even the instructions in your will. Over time, your family situation may have changed, through death, divorce, remarriage or the birth of new children, so you should periodically review all your beneficiary designations.

5) Examine your insurance coverage. When you have a young family, you need a certain amount of life insurance coverage to provide for some major expenses - such as your mortgage, college for your kids, perhaps some retirement funds for your spouse. But when your children have grown, your mortgage is paid and your spouse has decades’ worth of retirement savings, your insurance needs may change considerably. At the same time, you may find other uses for insurance. Take some time and review your insurance coverage with your financial advisor.

By following these “spring cleaning” suggestions, you can help put your financial house in order for the seasons to follow. Take action soon.

Spring is here, the clocks have been moved forward and Easter is around the corner. Sports seasons come and go, this time of the year signifies that Major League Baseball is just around the corner. March madness in college basketball is here, which means that I will probably waste 20 bucks on an office pool by picking more losers than winners. This time is truly a fun time with so many different sports going on. I would like to congratulate the DHS Lady Tigers for finishing as runner ups in class 2A. Coach Butch Little and the Lady Tigers lost to John Curtis in the finals, but have shown tremendous determination this season. The Tigers return just about everyone next year, watch out class 2A.

John Brady is currently unemployed after LSU fired the 11 year veteran of mens basketball. One solace for Brady, 900k will be his since he had 3 years left on the contract. Interim coach and Darrow native Butch Pierre has led the Tigers to a 5-4 mark and a 3rd place finish in the SEC West. The Tigers are heading to the SEC Tourney at press time with a glimmer or hope to enter post season with a sweep of the SEC Tourney. Coaches that have been mentioned for Tigertown include Anthony Grant of VCU, Travis Ford of UMASS, and Tim Floyd of USC. In my opinion, Floyd would be the choice, he is proven, knows the lay of the land (he coached at UNO) and would bring excitement back to the courts at LSU. On the other hand, Butch Pierre has shown the ability to coach under pressure and the players love him...stay tuned.

LSU baseball is off to an 11-3 start and they have showed improvement since last year. The schedule has not been real tough with series against Duquense, Indiana, Michigan State and Stetson. Those teams are a far cry from the SEC, the Tigers will face the VOLS during the weekend of the 15th of March. Pitching depth after Jared Bradford is suspect and the hitting is OK with Blake Dean, Ryan Schimph, and Matt Clark. Two way standouts Jared Mitchell and Chad Jones are motoring back and forth between baseball and spring football practice. I think Jones is realizing that it is easier to hit a slow QB rather than a curveball. I expect the Tigers to be just above 500 in the league and make postseason.

The ACHS softball team is off to a 15-6 start and had a 11 game winning streak stoppped by the 19-2 St Amant Lady Gators on March 11. The Lady Dogs are led by Ashlyn Grisaffee with a 10-2 record on the mound. The Dogs are led at the plate by 7th grader Nancy Guillot, sisters Alison and Alaina Falcon and the power hitting of Annie Ourso(6 dingers to date). Coach Cliff Kleibert has a scrappy bunch and I expect them to challenge for a state championship in April in Sulphur.

The ACHS and DHS baseball teams are both off to slow starts with tough schedules. ACHS will contend for a district title and DHS will battle for a playoff spot this year. Coach Todd Landry at ACHS and Jay Dykes at DHS start lots of young players that should get better as the season progresses.

I mentioned earlier that LSU is going through spring football practice. The Tigers are minus Junior Ryan Perrilloux, the often troubled heir apparent to Matt Flynn was suspended for the Spring for undisclosed reasons. My take on the situation is that Perilloux has not shown the leadership abilities off the field to be trusted with the keys to this car...yet. I also believe that kids make mistakes and need to be given chances, the question is...how many chances? Les Miles gets paid big bucks to make those decisions and I firmly believe that he will make the right choice for the 2008 Tiger Team. Only 5 more months to App State in tiger stadium.

I hope everyone has a great Easter and that whatever you gave up for lent, you stuck to it. No, i’m not going to tell you what I gave up, but I did OK. My picks for the Final Four are UCLA, Memphis, North Carolina and Kansas. Wait a minute, didn’t I say I wasn’t going to waste 20 bucks on that office pool, maybe next year.

Stories and/or questions can be sent to troyleboeuf@hotmail.com.

There are lots of search engines, but Google is still top dog on the internet, so staying on top with them means staying on top. Master hit makers, Google is always finding new ways to make sure only the best rise to the top. Here are this month’s Top 5 tips to keep you rocking and rolling online all the time.

1. WHAT YOU SAY IS WHAT YOU GET (CONTENT)
What you say and how you say it is what the world gets from you when they visit your site. Monitoring you content is one of the most important things you can do to stay successful.

Classic tips:

• Quality. The more relevant and well worded your content, the better your response. Humans and search engine spiders love a good read. Give it to them!
• Keywords. Search engines thrive on keywords, so use them when you can. Work with a professional content writer to integrate keywords in naturally. You don’t want to drag down your site by overstuffing it with keywords.
• Eye of the Spider. Search engine spiders love text and HTML. Be sure to include lots of both. Use your photos to create your image, but don’t forget the liner notes.

2. THE HOOK UP (LINKS)
To stay on top online you have to stay in the loop. You’ve got to get found and be seen, so know who to link up with and how to draw a good crowd.

New Tips:

• Quality. Backlinks to your site had better be good, because Google’s watching. Make sure all your backlinks come from industry-related sites of authority valued by Google. You may have to woo!
• Submit. Bow down to the power of Yahoo and DMOZ. Request a listing in both directories, but be prepared to please. DMOZ is slow and Yahoo charges, so be nice and be patient. It’s worth it.
• My (G)URL. How to find you, your URL should be simple and readable at glance. Include your site name and keywords if possible, but too many parameters confuse the spiders. So, keep it simple and easy for spiders and people too.

3. WE BUILT THIS SITE ON R&R (SITE ARCHITECTURE)
If your foundation is solid, you’re built to last. The organization of your website is essential to your success. Work with a professional designer to develop a well organized, high functioning site that uses all the technology and tools available to make you a hit on the web with the spiders and the humans.

R&R Tips:

• Respect. People are the man and woman in the machine. Give them a well constructed website that is accessible and easy to navigate. Include a site map and index to keep their visit on track. But honor the machine-- Talk with your web designer about the proper use of Robot.txt.
• Recognize. A Title Tag appears in your link that pops up in a search result. This is what people see and click, so make it succinct and accurate. Include your company name and be sure to tag each page. Keyword(s) can be used when useful but keep it simple.

Change happens quickly on the web. Keep your site from being a one hit wonder by following these easy tips to topping the charts month after month. You know what Google wants, so give it to them. Being a chart-topper has benefits that last!

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