It is that time of the year again when our team is fielding questions from clients and prospects who are confused about Required Minimum Distributions (or RMDs). As with anything that needs an abbreviation and relates to government regulations, misunderstanding abound.
Read Moret’s tax time, you’ve just completed your taxes and are now just noticing the enormous tax bill you’ve paid over the past year. You start thinking, did you make a mistake? Is there something you can do this year to lower your upcoming tax bill?
Read MoreWhen should you start talking to your kids about money?
As parents, we know that it’s our job to teach our kids about the world. We talk to them about making friends, staying away from drugs, and looking left and right before they cross the street.
Read MoreSometimes, parents need a guide for when to rescue their kids from money problems – and when to hold back.
If a car were barreling down the street towards your child, would you push him or her out of the way?
Read MoreThe tales of financial advisor fraud are like a car wreck: terrible to observe and impossible to look away. Here are 5 tips for avoiding your own financial wreck.
What is it about the stories of financial advisors gone rogue that captivates the imagination? Take this recent story in the news: a former New Jersey-based financial advisor was convicted of fraud for stealing his clients’ money and using it to pay his own mortgage, dine out, and buy sporting event tickets. In retrospect, the warning flags were there.
Read MoreBudgeting has a bad rep. Let’s try to rescue it.
What is the single best predictor of your ability to, someday, retire with a measure of financial stability?
If your guess is high income levels or winning the lottery, guess again. Research has demonstrated that consistent saving behavior is the ultimate key.
Read MoreWhat do you think about when you hear the words “financial advisor”?
High pressure sales techniques, obscure products with hidden fees, secret incentives to agents – the list is long and rather unflattering. How did we get here? And, more importantly, how can you choose the right professional to partner with if you don’t want to undertake managing your own money?
Read MoreBetween catastrophes, fake news and fear-mongering everywhere, it’s hard to know what we should worry about these days. Tornadoes and floods? Artificial Intelligence taking over the world? Iowa Hawkeyes winning the big game?
Read MoreIf you are thinking about a financial plan, start with some soul-searching.
Simple automated retirement calculators are everywhere these days. Just run a quick Internet search, and the tools might just convince you that financial planning is all about filling in the blanks.
Read MoreWhat is comprehensive financial planning, why you need it, and how it relates to your investments.
The subject of comprehensive financial planning tends to scare people away. Get ready to demystify it in the next 10 minutes!
Read MoreThe year 2017 ended with much anticipation and uncertainty because of the timing of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. Signed into law on December 22, 2017, this is the most comprehensive set of changes to the tax legislature in several decades. Any time you combine uncertainty and money, misunderstandings and confusion abound.
Our firm sent out a just-in-time email with the summary of the new tax law back in December in an effort to help you stay informed. This article is an opportunity to dive a little deeper into the new set of rules, as well as to address a few of the questions that you have been asking our team. If technical details of the tax law aren’t your cup of tea, feel free to skim that section and jump right into the FAQs (we know that for every client question we get, ten more clients are wondering about the same thing!)
Read MoreLooking at the active, vibrant and well-educated Boomer clients that I am honored to work with, I often wonder: do we need to re-define retirement?
After all, just a decade or two ago retirement meant sitting by a fireplace in the rocking chair and whiling the days away playing Bingo at a local senior center. My clients today seem to have a different set of ideas as they envision a future of travel, exciting new projects and, for some, even no retirement at all! Those new developments create a need for a very different set of conversations that go beyond “what would be your ideal retirement age?” and “what is your monthly budget in retirement?”
Read MoreWe associate retirement with constraints. However, it can be turned into a beautiful constraint by focusing on unique opportunities at the intersection of retirement and taxes.
See Part 1 of this mini-series.
Read MoreContrary to a common belief, Social Security benefits are not automatically tax-free. The idea of “100% tax free Social Security benefits” persists because things used to be that way in the original design of the Social Security plan. Nothing lasts forever, so 50% of Social Security benefits became subject to income tax in 1983. In 1993, the potentially taxable portion of your check expanded to the maximum of 85%.
Read MoreBeing in the financial industry, Ponzi schemes happen more often than I like to hear, but it’s especially concerning when it hits close to home. In this case, Jeremy Lundin of Mound, allegedly stole almost $1,000,000 from local investors and never invested a penny. Jeremy, the owner of Big Island Capital (named after a popular hangout on Lake Minnetonka), promised investors “exponential returns” with very little risk.
Read MoreIncomplete plans can be disastrous. A man named Carl McCunn learned this painful lesson amid the chilling landscape of Alaska. The wildlife photographer arranged for a bush pilot to fly him to an isolated region hundreds of miles north of Fairbanks. He carried enough provisions for his five-month excursion.
Read MoreIn September of 2012 astronauts were tasked with repairing a main switch on the International Space Station. When a bolt with damaged threads became stuck, the crew faced potential power loss. They would need to clean and lubricate the bolts to access the area. The solution? A simple electronic toothbrush. The hack worked, and the mission succeeded.[i] Sometimes alternative solutions are best.
Read Moren the late 18th century Austrians were amazed at a mechanical man who could play chess. He became known as the Mechanical Turk. The automaton, consisting of gears and levers, could engage any player in a game while exhibiting stunning skill for a machine. Of course, people eventually learned it was a hoax. A man hidden under the playing table operated the arms.
Read MoreIf you are a financial nerd like me you look forward to the Davos Economic Forum every year. It's an event held in Davos Switzerland where great economic minds and financial leaders get together and discuss the state of world from a financial persepctive. If you don't have time to watch hours of coverage you can take a look at our quick guide and see the key takeaways from this years meetings. Just click on the image below for a little lite reading this weekend!
Read MoreToday is another article from the Fee-Only Financial Advisor Blog Sharing Group. This group is made up of other like-minded financial advisors from around the country. The purpose of the group is to share useful content and spread the word about the virtues of Fee-Only financial advice.
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