How to Talk to Your Family About Your Estate Plan and Avoid Complicating Their Grief
Sarah Duey I once had clients with only one daughter. They created a living trust for only their grandchild without ever telling their daughter why. As the trustees, we worked with this daughter, because her child was still a minor. There were hard feelings — a lot of wondering why her …
How Your Employee Benefits Fit into Your Financial Plan
Your Health Savings Account (HSA) is a cornerstone of your benefits planning. The money is triple tax-advantaged – contributions, growth and withdrawals for qualified expenses are not taxed. This account is like nothing else, and you need to take full advantage of it.
Small Business Owners
199A Deduction – Big Change for Small Business Owners Two-hundred-forty-seven pages later, we have one large IRS document and a whole lot of questions. For small business owners, 199A deductions are complex. Do you fall into the 95 percent of small business owners covered? When do 199A dedu …
4 Tips to Take Your 401(k) to the Next Level
The best kind of money isn’t old, new or even tax-advantaged – it’s free money! If your employer has a 401(k) program, they probably have a matching plan. Know what that is and make sure you max it out. They’re essentially giving you money, which you never want to turn down.
Volatility – What to Expect and How to Act
I recently gave an annual presentation to the 401(k) participants I advise. I always try to explain risk tolerance and investing to my audience in an easily understandable way. For most of the participants, investing in their 401(k) has been their only experience investing, so their knowled …
Everyone Offers Retirement Planning These Days. What’s so Special About Our Approach?
We often compare retirement planning to trying to hit a moving target in the wind. The target is your retirement goals – essentially what you want to spend and accomplish with your finances. The target is moving because you don’t know how long you will live – your retirement could last 5 ye …
Why Should I Hire a Financial Advisor?
As an advisor, we get tasked with showing someone why they should pay us to give them advice. If clients can do it all themselves or hire a computer to invest, what is the true value of having a financial advisor? Is it really worth it?
Took Their Ball and Went Home: Staying in Play with Job-Creators
Valentine’s Day was tough on New Yorkers who hoped to benefit from the more than 20,000 new jobs from Amazon’s move there (not to mention all the additional jobs from construction and supporting the new employees).
How Do I Know Which Investment Strategy Makes the Most Sense for Me?
Our disciplined discovery process is key to understanding the right investment strategy for your specific situation. Once we have the answers from our clients, we begin to think about the second category of factors which involve the overall health of the economy.
Tax Cuts and Jobs Act Changed Things More Than You Realize
The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act made a lot of changes. It was the single largest tax reform bill in nearly 30 years. However, the impact of the TCJA might be a lot broader than most realize. Almost every small business owner in the country is impacted by a new tax deduction called 199A.