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SECURE 2.0: OVERVIEW AND OPPORTUNITIES
SECURE 2.0 is a significant piece of legislation that addresses some of the challenges faced by those at different stages of saving for retirement as well as those already in retirement.
Read MoreHow to Decrease (or Eliminate) IRMAA Surcharges on Medicare Premiums
IRMAA, which stands for Income Related Monthly Adjustment Amounts, doesn’t get a lot of run in the media, maybe because it’s boring and sad, but we’re going to shine a little light on some legal and ethical ways to...
Read MoreAmerican Rescue Plan Act
Recently, Congress passed another bill to provide additional stimulus to the economy in an attempt to combat some of the economic hardships experienced due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Most are aware of the legislation because of the...
Read MoreYEAR END CHECKLIST
For Employees: Are your workplace retirement plan contributions in line with your goals and are you taking full advantage of the company match, if applicable? Have you had a change in the number of dependents, and do you need to adjust...
Read MoreIs a Roth Conversion Right for You?
I'll try to highlight some key points in the recording so that you can skip around to specific questions that interest you. Have a look below. Also, keep in mind that while playing the video, you can hit the gear icon on the bottom of...
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AMA (Ask Us Anything)
So something happened today, that likely you are aware of. Thanks to your questions, we did our first Ask Us Anything. We covered a variety of topics that you requested. Wouldn't say we are pros at this video thing but enjoyed the...
Read MoreThe CARES Act
The CARES Act Hopefully, by now most of you have heard of the recent relief package passed in Congress and signed into law by the President. The bill, known as The CARES Act (Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act) will...
Read MoreSECURE ACT IMPACT ON TRUSTS AS IRA BENEFICIARIES AND RELATED STRATEGIES
This is, for now, the third and final post related to the changes brought about by the SECURE Act. The first two can be found here and here. As promised, we’ll discuss the impact on QCDs (Qualified Charitable Distributions),...
Read MorePLANNING IMPLICATIONS FOR INDIVIDUAL RETIREMENT ACCOUNTS AS A RESULT OF THE SECURE ACT
We introduced the SECURE Act in a previous blog post at a higher level here, now we’re going to getting into the nitty-gritty and discuss how this *might* impact you from a planning standpoint. To review, two of the major changes...
Read MoreHOW WILL THE NEW SECURE ACT IMPACT YOU?
For most of you, if you haven’t come to see us already in 2020, this might seem like a trick question. Many people aren’t aware of the existence of the SECURE Act, but it’s an important piece of legislation that was...
Read MoreCHOOSING THE BEST LOCKSMITH
For all you locksmith buffs out there, I need to apologize. This really isn’t (for the most part) about locksmiths at all. I want to talk just a little about the cost of financial advice as it relates to the value received by the...
Read MoreWHY THE WHY MATTERS
In financial planning, it’s most often the ‘what’ that comes to the forefront - the return, the investments, the effective tax rates, the facts about retirement timing and income and so on. The ‘why’ is...
Read MoreWHAT TO EXPECT WHEN YOU'RE EXPECTING TO HIRE A FINANCIAL ADVISOR
(Opens door, shows self out.) When it comes time for some to reach out for help in the world of financial advice, the unknowns can feel overwhelming. While it’s true that a multitude of professionals exist in the space and land...
Read MoreAN HSA AS A RETIREMENT SAVINGS OPTION
Before I get into this post, I want to address what you all are obviously thinking – this blog post is going to be incredible. You’re absolutely right, it is. People go to bed at night and dream about the possibility of...
Read MoreOVERCOMING DELMORE AND SOME THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT RETIREMENT
In a financial planning firm, the simplest version of what we do is to listen to a person’s goals and help them figure out how to best achieve them. While that seems easy enough in theory, in practice It tends to be more of a...
Read MoreSOME THINGS TO BE THINKING ABOUT IN 2019
It’s been a little while since the last blog post and a lot has changed since then – new name, team member, and location. We’ve been busy around here and the start of new calendar years doesn’t tend to slow...
Read MorePICK YOUR POISON
Not the kind of words that most would happily accept coming out of the mouth of their financial advisor, but in my opinion, a reasonably honest assessment of what it takes to create an investment strategy. The last several weeks have...
Read MoreBETTING BLIND
Much of what has been written on this blog over the course of the past year or so deals in one way or another with the need to have a financial plan and to use it as the compass for financial decisions. If you’ve read most or all...
Read MoreHOW WITHDRAWAL STRATEGIES CAN IMPACT TAXES FOR LOW AND HIGH INCOME RETIREES
One of the things that tends to change pretty drastically for those transitioning from working into retirement (besides going from living a life with meaning to one in which your enjoyment is derived solely from how close your guesses...
Read MoreEATING CHOCOLATE WILL PREVENT YOU FROM RETIRING…OR SOMETHING LIKE THAT
(That’s poorly written clickbait, but if I had another title referencing pensions, I didn't think anyone would read it. So let's talk pensions.) Recently, I wrote a post about pensions and within the post, spoke a bit about the...
Read MoreHALLMARKS OF GOOD ADVICE
In a previous blog, I wrote about what good advice looked and felt like and what it would cost you. I touched on some things that I thought were important, but in terms of being on the receiving end of it and not knowing for sure...
Read MorePENSION OR LUMP SUM? 5 FACTORS TO HELP WITH THE DECISION
When deciding between a lump sum or a pension payout, there are a multitude of factors that should be considered (you could certainly argue for more than five), most of which involve some level of subjectivity, but all of which could...
Read MoreWHEN IS THE "RIGHT" TIME TO BUILD A FINANCIAL PLAN?
June 26, 2018 at 8:47 a.m. – that is the precise moment in time that it makes the most sense to build a financial plan. It’s obvious, right? No you say? Well then when is it? Of course there’s no “right”...
Read MoreMONTE CARLO IN FINANCIAL PLANNING ISN'T THE SAME AS IN GAMBLING
When most people talk about Monte Carlo, they’re either referring to a place in Monaco that’s informally associated with gambling and casinos, the likes of which is depicted in movies, including multiple James Bond flicks,...
Read MoreMISCONCEPTIONS ABOUT WEALTH MANAGEMENT
The last post I wrote dealt with assessing the potential cost of financial advice, the many forms that it could take and, ultimately, whether or not it’s worth it to you to pay for such advice. In this post I’m going to...
Read MoreWHAT IS GOOD FINANCIAL ADVICE AND WHAT IS IT WORTH?
This post might end up being a tad longer than some in the past and I regret that some of you have already closed this window after reading that, but if you have then you probably weren’t ready to hear the information anyway. I...
Read MoreHOW MIGHT MY FINANCIAL PLAN BE AFFECTED BY THE NEW TAX BILL
This post isn’t going to be a compendium of the tax bill; my hope is that it looks a lot more like a CliffsNotes version of what is a reasonably large and involved change in the tax code. If you want to read something more...
Read MoreHOW CAN WE PREDICT WHEN MARKETS WILL CRASH?
I’m not a journalism major, so I’m going to write this the same way I write all of my blog posts – haphazardly. But in at least one way, I’m going to do that intentionally: I’m going to bury the lede. Why...
Read MoreWHEN TO CLAIM SOCIAL SECURITY?
It seems like a simple question, one that every retiree likely does – and should – ask… but a heads up, there is probably a more complex answer than many anticipate. There have been plenty of papers and opinion...
Read MoreWHAT TO DO IF YOUR ADVISOR UNDERPERFORMS
Dump ‘em, obviously. What did you think this was going to say? I’m kidding. First of all, by what measure is he underperforming? Your service expectations, return expectations, his word? Much of the disappointment that...
Read MoreCREATING A PLAN YOU CAN CONSISTENTLY ADHERE TO VERSUS WHAT YOU CAN ‘TOLERATE’
Portfolio construction – a favorite topic for both advisors and clients alike – usually begins in a similar place. An advisor asks some stock questions that score, in different ways, what amount of risk a client is willing...
Read MoreUNDERSTANDING AND PLANNING FOR TAXATION IN NON-RETIREMENT ACCOUNTS
While many people may be aware of the immediate differences in taxation between retirement (IRA, Roth IRA, SEP, SIMPLE, 401(k), etc.) and non-retirement accounts, a lot of them make no conscious decision to hold different types of...
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