Category: timeless relevance
Year-End Action Items for Investors 2024
As we approach the final weeks of 2024, there is still time for investors to make important year-end financial adjustments to position for a strong financial finish to 2024. Our annual year-end action items provide ideas and reminders to make the most of your financial plan.
Minimizing (or Eliminating) IRMAA Medicare Surcharges
As with many transitions in life or business, a little advanced planning helps the process run much more smoothly. For investors in their 60s, a number of planning considerations come into sharper focus which means it is an especially important time for prudent planning. These considerations are...
Which Type of Trust is Best for You and Your Family?
Americans are living longer than ever, which means it’s more important than ever to plan ahead for your financial future and to efficiently ensure the transfer of wealth to future generations. According to the Stanford Center on Longevity and The Longevity Project, Americans are living...
Market Commentary – Taking Stock of the Bull and Bear Case
Market indices have had heady returns over the last several years. The S&P 500 index has had double-digit gains in five of the previous six calendar years, compounding at an 18.5% annual rate over the past five years and a 16.5% clip over the past ten years. Comparatively, since 1928, the index has...
Why an Estate Plan Is the Best Gift You Can Give Your Grandchild
While awaiting the recent birth of my first granddaughter, I spent a lot of time thinking about the best possible gift I could give her. Ultimately, I decided that the ideal present for my grandchild was to give her parents–my daughter and her husband–a professionally drafted estate plan.
Planning Throughout the Retirement Lifecycle
We generally think about retirement in three broad phases. Within each phase, distinct trends and priorities have emerged among retirees in the numerous studies that have been completed on the topic. Each client has their own unique plans for retirement, but understanding these general patterns...
Why the Dow and S&P 500 Don’t Tell the Whole Story
At the end of August, ExxonMobil, Pfizer, and Raytheon Technologies were replaced in the Dow Jones Industrial Average by Salesforce.com, Amgen and Honeywell International.
The Countdown to Retirement: 7 Smart Ways to Get Ready
Most people become even more focused on planning and saving as they near retirement age. The most common questions we hear people ask is, “Will I have enough money?” followed closely by, “When can I retire?” But what about high earners who know they’ll have enough money for their golden years? Is...
Choosing A Smart Investment Strategy
If you’ve ever looked at a graph of stock market returns, you might notice the similarities with an EKG. Lots of ups and downs. But overall, the trend is up. Over the long term, the stock market has delivered compounded annual rates of return of 8-10% per year. In order to achieve the long-term...
The Benefits of Trusts
Trusts can serve many purposes in a family’s financial, retirement, estate, and tax planning. Trusts can ensure that assets are professionally managed across generations and distributed in line with the grantor’s intentions. Trusts can, among other things, remove assets from one’s estate, carry out...