SMPC Architects, an architectural, landscape and interior design firm headquartered in Albuquerque for the last 65 years, has opened an office in Santa Fe to better serve its clients in Northern New Mexico.

The office, 1925 Aspen Drive, Suite 801A, will be led by John Padilla. Padilla, a longtime resident of Santa Fe, has worked in the area for 18 years.


To better serve its clients, Kanaly Trust has hired Robert Shelton, CFA, a Santa Fe resident.

Before joining Kanaly, Shelton was a senior investment officer with JPMorgan Private Bank, where he provided investment advice to high net-worth families, foundations and charitable trusts.

E. Deane Kanaly opened the Kanaly Trust Co. in Houston in 1975. Today, Kanaly Trust has $2 billion in assets under management.

For more information, visit www.kanaly.com.


If you are receiving a federal tax refund from the Internal Revenue Service, you can choose to use that money to buy U.S. savings bonds.

Here are the top six things you'll need to know about using your federal refund to purchase savings bonds.

* You may use a portion of your refund to purchase up to $5,000 in U.S. Series I Savings Bonds.

* The total amount of saving bonds purchased must be a multiple of $50.

* Additional money over the specified amount must be deposited into another financial account — such as a checking or savings account.

* The bonds will be issued in your name. For married taxpayers filing a joint return, the bonds will be issued in the names of both spouses.

* You will receive the U.S. savings bonds in the mail.

* You normally select this option by filing Form 8888, Direct Deposit of Refund to More Than One Account.

Form 8888 has step-by-step instructions on how to select this option and how to specify the amount of your refund you want to use to purchase savings bonds.

For more information, visit IRS.gov.


John Ruybalid, vice president and reverse-mortgage specialist with Quest Mortgage in Santa Fe, will present a free workshop called "Reverse Mortgages: Changes for the New Year" at 10:30 a.m Saturday, Feb. 6, in the meeting room of the downtown branch of the Santa Fe Public Library.

Reverse mortgages enable eligible homeowners to access the money they have built up as equity in their homes. For more information, call 690-1029.