We made it through another tax season, but that doesn’t mean our work is done! In fact, now is the perfect time to reflect not only on the past year but also to look ahead, as the actions you take now can significantly impact your future tax situations. With that in mind, we’d like to share some key strategies and best practices to help you stay prepared and organized and potentially reduce your tax liability...
Now that winter is behind us, it’s the perfect time to give your finances a “spring clean.” Here are a few simple ways to get started: Review and refresh your budget - Take a close look at your current budget. Have there been any changes in your income or expenses since your last review? Adjust your budget to reflect these changes and identify areas where you can save more. Declutter your expenses - Examine your...
If you’re like so many of our clients, saving for your children’s or grandchildren’s education is a top priority. You may also be wondering the best way to begin. To help, we thought we’d share some insights on 529 accounts and why they’re a great option. A 529 account is a special kind of investment account that you can use to pay for a wide range of education expenses. Your savings in the plan will...
It's now a secret that the typical American works long hours. But despite this long work week, Americans are terrible at taking vacation.
The figures out last year show that the average amount of student loan debt a student graduates with is $18,625. Most graduates are carrying multiple student loans from multiple sources, and the cost and complexity of managing them can become overwhelming, especially if they are unable to secure steady employment with sufficient cash flow to make the payments. One option that has always been available to indebted graduates is a college student loan consolidation which...
Without fail as Tax Day approaches every year, the mind whirls while you check boxes and fill in numbers about everything you could have, should have, would have done to save more money on taxes. Could you have saved more? Invested better? Been smarter at charitable giving? Probably. It’s too late for some money-saving measures in the last minute lead up to the deadline for filing your taxes, but one you can take on simple...
If you’ve been listening to the financial media of late you have no doubt heard some of the so-called experts prognosticating on the prospect of the next big bear market. Unquestionably, the stock market is at another crossroads, and its 7 percent increase year-to-date belies the concerns that most people have over the global economy. So, gloom and doom forecasts by a media anxious to sell papers or air time, should not be at all...
Summer’s finally here. The sun is out, it’s warm, the days are longer, and your worries seem just a little bit further away. But, folks, I’m sorry to say, sometimes storms roll in on the sunniest of days. And if I’m honest, the world is a bit of a scary place at the moment, with politics impacting the economic climate, and warmer temperatures affecting agriculture all around the world, the future is perhaps not as...
Your student is planning on following in your footsteps and will be receiving that admissions letter of acceptance sooner than you think.
If you’re a fan of political dramas on televisions, you’ll know that the turbulent world of politics has an affect on the global financial markets. But what about in real life? How much does art - if you can call shows like Scandal, Veep, and House of Cards art - imitate life, and vice versa? The truth of the matter is that 2017 is turning out to be a bit of an unpredictable political year...
If you’ve ever played the Game of Life board game, it becomes clear that compressed into the colorful path there are various stages of life. Each stage holds its own major financial challenges as well as prospective profits in addition to surprises (new baby!) and forks in the road. In the real world game of life, much is the same, but with sound financial planning throughout the different stages of life, you can have much...
The annuity industry must have studied the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears because, after recognizing that investors weren’t very keen on low fixed yields or the vicious volatility of the stock market, they came up with a product, that for most people, would seem to be just right – Indexed Annuities. Often described as a blend of fixed and variable annuity, it really is an asset class unto itself. Essentially, it is a...
