Investors often choose big banks and investment firms over smaller financial advisors because they think the brand name and size makes the service and product offerings better. In actuality, it’s often the reverse. Unless your firm is a Fiduciary, chances are there are sales quotas and contests for the non fiduciary, “suitability” reps, who are…
There was an excellent article in the WSJ last week about a topic most of us don’t really want to think about (but really need to:) how to prepare in case you die young. No one likes to think about dying and absolutely no one likes to think about the possibility of dying young. Lately…
Last Thursday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit struck down the Department of Labor’s Fiduciary Rule, stating that it was “unreasonable’ that brokers handling investors’ retirement savings should be required to only act in clients’ best interest. Unreasonable for advisors to only act in their clients’ best interests? Let that sink in for…
One of the most important elements of a good financial plan is regular saving. Unfortunately, it is one of the biggest stumbling blocks as well, with 57% of Americans reporting they had less than $1000 in savings in a 2017 survey. To make matters worse, 1 in 3 American has no retirement account, and only…
Last week, in response to confusion surrounding the 2018 tax law that was passed in December, the IRS released an updated online Withholding Calculator. The tool is designed to help taxpayers make sure they are not wildly underpaying or overpaying what they will owe. The new law is highly complex and made changes that included…
Are you saving for your child’s education with a 529 account? If you are already contributing to a 529 plan, reduced deductions in the new 2018 tax law mean you may want to increase your contributions – or even create a second 529 account – to offset higher state taxes. If you haven’t yet opened…
Saving on taxes, while saving for your child or grandchild’s college education, just got a little trickier thanks to important changes in the “Kiddie Tax”. The tax bill that was signed into law in December made some significant changes to how Uniform Gifts to Minors Accounts (UGMAs) and Uniform Transfers to Minors Accounts (UTMAs) are…
Whether you realize it or not, chances are good that you are prone to something called Recency Bias, which is the common tendency to think that what has been happening recently will continue to happen in the near future. If you, like many investors, are shocked and concerned about February’s sudden market volatility, it’s probably…
Whether you view Friday’s stock market sell-off as an adjustment to permit the markets to climb higher on a more solid base, or were nervous about the sharp short term “loss” of unrealized gains, it’s clear that the stock market’s meteoric, historically-long winning streak hit a bump in the road this week. Draw downs and…
We hear from prospects all the time “ I manage a complex budget for my firm, yet I just can’t seem to sift through my personal finances.” Welcome the financial planner to your life. It may sound like a foreign concept to some, but for many simply having their own emotions attached to their personal…