Page 2A
opinion page
Setting and Achieving Financial Goals in the New Year
By Gregory Parsons,
CFP, CRPC
If the start of 2023 has you
inspired to take on a health-
ier approach to your financ-
es, you may be wondering
how to do so and where to
get started.
Should you focus on rein-
ing in your spending habits?
Earning more? Investing
wisely? All of the above?
Here are some practical sug-
gestions to help you improve
your financial outlook this
year and in the years ahead.
Envision your future.
Financial goal setting in-
volves brainstorming. Take
the time to consider what
you want your financial fu-
ture to look like and what
it will take to get you there.
Your goals will flow from the
life you want to create for
Health: Stakeholders gather to discuss mental health strategy
Continued from Page 1A
IDD individuals to the police
station for their own safety.
This type of response takes
away from the individual’s
ability to get the help they
need while adding unnec-
essary traffic at stations that
already have limited space.
Additionally, those in jail
for their crimes cannot go
to trial until they are cleared
by mental health agencies.
The elongated time period
to be screened, address any
mental health needs, and be
marked fit for trial can open
a revolving door for those in-
carcerated. Kaufman Coun-
ty Sheriff’s Lieutenant Tracy
West divulged that access to
forensic beds can take near-
ly a year for non-violent res-
toration and over 1,000 days
for violent restoration.
While identifying gaps in
Kaufman County’s resourc-
es, one of the biggest issues
Commissioner Buckingham announces the 27th Annual “Treasures of the Texas Coast” children’s art contest
Herald Staff Report
Commissioner Dawn
Buckingham, M.D. kicked
off the 27th Annual Trea-
sures of the Texas Coast
Children’s Art Contest on
Jan. 30, which is facilitated
through the Texas General
Land Office’s (GLO) Adopt-
A-Beach Program. All Tex-
as students, public, private,
and homeschooled, in kin-
dergarten through sixth
grade are encouraged to
send in their masterpieces.
Artwork should be based on
the theme “Treasures of the
Texas Coast” and should de-
pict why the Texas coast is
important or special to the
student.
“Growing up near the Tex-
Mabank Fire Department to host annual fundraiser
By Bailey Daniels
Herald Reporter
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yourself.
Get specific. It’s difficult
to act on goals that are too
broad or vague. You need
to know dollar amounts.
For example, if you hope to
replace an older car, zero
in on the price tag of your
next vehicle. Or if you want
to purchase a first (or sec-
ond) home, identify how
much you need for a down
payment and what month-
ly payments you can afford.
With these specifics in hand,
you can calculate how much
you need to save each month
to achieve a given goal.
Prioritize. Choose a man-
ageable number of goals to
work toward. Better to start
small and build on your suc-
cesses. You can sort goals
into lists of short-term at-
tainable goals, five-year
goals, and long-term stretch
for the county is limited
space at Terrell State Hos-
pital. Before the pandemic,
Terrell State has roughly 300
beds for patients. After the
repercussions of the pan-
demic, Terrell State has been
slowly working its numbers
up from a near 50% drop in
space. While the number of
beds is now back over 200,
this space limitation leaves
little room to treat criminals
without seeking care outside
of the County. Moreover, the
limited space at the hospital
means that mildly afflicted
patients are often turned
away to leave room for more
severe patients. This limit-
ed access could increase the
county’s suicide rates as well
as open doors for more men-
tally ill criminal behavior.
Another highlighted issue
is lack of knowledge and ed-
ucation for both community
members and law enforce-
as coast and living there for
more than a decade, our Tex-
as beaches are very near and
dear to my heart. I am ex-
cited to see the imagination
and creativity of students all
throughout the state,” said
Commissioner Buckingham.
This year's grand prize
winner will receive one 6-8
night Caribbean cruise for
two from Royal Caribbean
International departing out
of Galveston, Miami, Tam-
pa, Ft. Lauderdale, Port Ca-
naveral, or Puerto Rico, two
day-passes to Six Flags Over
Texas or Hurricane Harbor
Arlington, and a copy of the
book “The Big Beach Clean-
up” by Charlotte Offsay.
The grand prize winner's
teacher will also receive one
ment is hosting their 29th
annual chili supper to raise
funds for the fire depart-
ment. Chili will be served up
from 4 p.m.-8 p.m. on Feb. 4.
The event will take place
We Earned
Our Reputation
As Roofing Professionals
From the Ground Up.
The Kaufman Herald
goals. The sequence of goal
attainment often falls into
place naturally. For exam-
ple, common sense suggests
building up your emergen-
cy fund and paying down
high-interest debt before
contributing to a college ed-
ucation fund.
Attach timelines. Goal
setting is meaningless with-
out milestones and target
dates. Set timelines that are
reasonable and achievable.
Document your goals.
You’ll want a visual reminder
of your goals to make them
part of your routine. Cre-
ate a spreadsheet, put pen
to paper or – ideally – work
with a financial advisor who
can help you map out your
goals and document your
progress against them. Set
a reminder on your phone to
review your goals on a dai-
ment. The Kaufman County
Sheriff’s Department only
has one officer equipped to
handle mental health cri-
sis response, while small-
er cities in the county have
no crisis officers. Kaufman
County Sheriff’s Depart-
ment reported 354 mental
health calls over the course
of one year. County dispatch
estimates that the number of
phone calls they receive over
the course of a year are like-
ly two or three times higher,
with most reports regarding
suicide attempts.
While Kaufman Coun-
ty ranks below the national
average, at 14 suicides per
100,000 residents, the in-
coming growth of the coun-
ty will leave a more dire de-
mand for crisis intervention
with even fewer resources for
the community. After cov-
ering the gaps for the com-
munity, seminar attendants
6-8 night Caribbean cruise
for two from Royal Carib-
bean and prizes from Texas
Adopt-A-Beach.
All 40 finalists, comprised
of 10 winners from each
group of K-2nd, 3rd-4th, 5th,
All entries must be
postmarked by Wednes-
day, March 1, 2023, and
mailed to the Texas Gen-
eral Land Office at:
Texas General Land
Office
Adopt-A-Beach Pro-
gram: Children’s Art
Contest 2023
P.O. Box 12873
Austin, Texas 78711-2873
at the Mabank Fire Depart-
ment located at 111 E Mason
St in Mabank. The cost of en-
try is any donation amount
and attendance is open to
the public.
Roo f Down.
ly, weekly, or monthly basis.
Doing so will keep you fo-
cused and accountable for
achieving them.
Pair goals with your bud-
get. Realistic financial goals
live within a budget. Ideal-
ly, your budget will provide
guidelines and guardrails
for earning, spending, and
saving—the key to success-
ful financial goal setting.
Retrain your brain. Goal
setting may seem like depri-
vation if you view it only as
cutting back on spending.
Reframe your thinking to
overcome mental obstacles.
See the rewards of putting
your time and energy to-
ward actions that move your
financial life forward. You
might give yourself a psy-
chological boost by doing
something nice for yourself
during or after goal setting
identified the core issues
that should take priority.
Attending stakeholders and
organizations decided that
the first steps to addressing
these issues are creating a
behavioral health leadership
team, improving housing
options and care facilities,
improving law enforcement
and dispatch pre-arrest di-
version through training,
and spreading awareness
and education training for
the community.
After splitting off into four
groups to address these core
issues, each group creat-
ed follow-up meetings and
plans of actions to focus on
what is next in solving the
problem. These separate
groups also mark the begin-
ning of four new commit-
tees, dedicated to address-
ing mental health in the
community. The behavioral
leadership team, communi-
and 6th grades, will receive
one free ticket to Schlittter-
bahn, one free ticket to visit
the USS Lexington, a cou-
pon to visit the Texas State
Aquarium, prizes from Tex-
The Kaufman Herald
Publisher/Editor
Office Manager
Sports Reporter
News Reporter
News Reporter
300 N. Washington,
P.O. Box 460, Kaufman, TX 75142
(972) 932-2171
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Teresa Grady, RDH
James E. Theken, D.D.S.
Thursday, February 2, 2023
activities. Over time, your
mind will connect the two
activities so that you find
pleasure in both.
Be flexible. Goals are not
static. If something changes
in your circumstances, you
can adjust your goals. If you
need to reduce your invest-
ment budget while you pay
for a much-needed home
repair, that’s life. Don’t let a G r e g o ry Pa r s o n s
setback derail you. Simply
adjust and move on. visor can help you with fi-
Prepare for success. nancial goal setting. When it
When you make the effort comes to applying strategies
to set attainable financial to save and invest for your
goals, you’re halfway there. future, their advice is price-
Once you start tackling each less.
of your financial goals, you’ll — Gregory Parsons,
be inspired to do more. Feel- CFP®, CRPC® is a Financial
ings of financial uncertainty Advisor with Kuttin Wealth
will fade as you take your fu- Management, a private
ture into your own hands. wealth advisory practice of
Get expert guidance. An Ameriprise Financial Ser-
experienced financial ad- vices, LLC. in Kaufman, TX.
ty housing committee, ed- Simpson is a national-
ucation and training team, ly recognized policy expert
and crisis team development on cross-sector collabora-
each have follow-up meet- tions between behavioral
ings set for the month of Feb-
health and criminal justice
ruary. systems. Dr. Simpson is re-
The behavioral leadership
sponsible for the coordina-
team hopes to improve com- tion and oversight of foren-
munity resources, the com- sic services as directed by
munity housing committee Senate Bill 1507, 84th Leg-
plans to elevate research islature, Regular Session
and try to secure pre-exist- (2015). Dirksmeyer supports
ing facilities throughout the
the State Forensic Director
county, the education and
by facilitating collabora-
training team will strive for
community outreach and tion among both internal
and external stakeholders at
education, and the crisis
team development will focus the intersection of behav-
ioral health and justice and
on law enforcement train-
ing. provides tailored technical
The seminar was led by assistance to communities
HSSC State Forensic Director across Texas on improving
and an Associate Commis- forensic services and reduc-
sioner, Dr. Jennie M. Simp- ing justice involvement for
son and HSSC Technical As- people with mental illness,
sistance Coordinator for the substance use and intellec-
Office of Forensic Coordina- tual and developmental dis-
tion, Emily Dirksmeyer. abilities.
as Parks and Wildlife, prizes ning artwork.
from Texas Adopt-A-Beach, For more information,
a certificate of recognition
guidelines, and an entry
from the Texas General Land
Office, and copies of the 2024 form for the art contest, visit
calendar displaying the win- TexasAdoptABeach.org
(USPS No. 291-680)
By
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