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?
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.
The so-called “Peanut Butter Manifesto” written by a Yahoo! Executive in 2006 gave us a term that hasn’t worn thin yet. The “Peanut Butter Approach” is a derisive term used in business to describe spreading anything – money, energy, time – too far and too thin to be effective or useful.
But when the SECURE Act goes into effect – expected on Jan. 1, 2020 – beneficiaries will have to fully distribute taxable accounts within 10 years of the account holder’s death. That could push your loved ones into a higher tax bracket.
Return on Investment (ROI) is a term you learn about 5 minutes into your first class in business school. Maybe the business model is elegant and the organization is streamlined, but that all begs the question: what is the ROI? How much will we make?
There’s more to this central question – rent/lease versus buy – than simply the numbers in your bank account. What you don’t spend in cash, you may spend in time and energy; what you save in this market you may pay for a year from now when the market is depressed.
The retirement planning process is full of potholes – they seem to pop out of nowhere and can do major damage if you’re not careful. In my years as a financial guide, I’ve put in a lot of man-hours helping people avoid financial potholes. The danger is real and the monetary bruises take a w …
