Left to right: Barrett, Shaw and Branham

On the next Connections with Renee Shaw, Dana S. Branham, financial advisor with Edward Jones, and Natalie Barrett, a certified public accountant, join Renee to talk about financial planning for the new year. The financial experts give tips about eliminating debt, building savings and making money go further. This edition of Connections airs Friday, Jan. 2 at 4/3 p.m. CT on KET2 and Sunday, Jan. 4 at 1:30/12:30 p.m. CT on KET1.

Branham and Barrett discuss some of the bad financial habits of clients, including overspending, borrowing prematurely from retirement accounts and not saving. They also give practical advice about how to eliminate these habits and create healthy financial plans.

The guests talk about making informed decisions with yearly tax returns and consulting with financial advisors throughout the year, instead of just at tax time. They offer financial guidelines for each phase of life and detail financial do's and don'ts for 2009.

Connections with Renee Shaw is a KET production, produced by Shaw and Carolyn Gwinn. More information about Connections, including streaming video, is available at www.ket.org/connections.