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...
If you haven’t reviewed your insurance coverage in a while, you might be surprised with how many ways you can save costs. Here are three tips for lowering your insurance costs while improving your coverage in the coming year. Is Your Deductible Costing or Saving You Money? Buying auto insurance doesn’t have to be a complicated issue, but if you’re not paying attention, some of the seemingly small decisions that need to be made in...
When people warn you that having kids is expensive, it’s no joke. From diapers to food, braces to sports activities the costs add up quick. For a middle-income family in the U.S. raising a child up until age 18, costs an estimated average of $245,340 (or $304,480, adjusted for projected inflation), according to the 2013 “Cost of Raising a Child” report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Of course, this number fluctuates dependent on where...
Think back to those early days in life when it seemed like everything in the candy aisle was free if you begged your parents hard enough. Not a fleeting thought was given to the expenses of a vacation or the copay costs at the doctor. There’s something beautifully unburdened in the way which children experience the world: recklessly present and innocently ambivalent. Teaching your children lessons about money from a young age won’t crush that...
The annual meeting is rescheduled to sometime later this quarter and the family reunion is sometime next summer, but like certain holidays and your birthday you know you can always count on a few specific dates. It’s reassuring. One such day is Tax Day, AKA April 15. Yet, unlike a birthday this looming deadline tends to sneak up on you in the least enjoyable way. And even if Tax Day is hardwired into your brain...
It is no secret that the typical American is working long hours with little respite compared to other countries with large economies. Full-time employees report an average work week of 47 hours and four out of 10 American workers say they work over 50 hours a week. Americans work an average of 34.4 hours a week, according to data sourced from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), which is longer than the work...
