Credit Freeze, Please
We all know that Experian surrendered 143 million US citizens’ personal information recently- so you have about a 50/50 chance of having your information compromised. And yes, Experian is giving you a year (really? Only 1 year!?) of free identity protection that should help prevent identity theft. However, you can take action to help further […]
Financial Planning 101: 6 Easy Ways to Improve Your Credit Score
Whether you’re trying to buy a home, looking to refinance or hoping to get a lower interest rate on an automobile loan – your credit score matters. Clients often ask me how they can improve their scores and the answer is the same regardless of which stage of life you’re in. 1) Increase Your Limits This […]
Financial Planning 101: Do You Need an Emergency Fund?
As a financial planner, when a potential client comes to me with money to invest they often ask, “How should I start investing my money?” They know that they need to invest and have extra capital on hand to do so, but they’re putting the cart before the horse. Before even speaking with them […]
Should You Have a Roth IRA?
Roth IRA accounts have been available since 1997. In a traditional IRA, you contribute pretax dollars that grow tax deferred, but are taxable upon withdrawal. Roth IRAs are for after tax contributions that provide tax free growth and distributions upon retirement. The magic of compounding means, the earlier you start, the greater the tax-free […]
Financial Planning 101: What Should You Do With Your Old 401(k) or 403(b)?
I often get the question of what to do with an old 401(k) or 403(b) sitting with a former employer. In short, there are only a few circumstances where you would want to leave it be, but in those circumstances it can be extremely advantageous to do so. So, when should you leave the […]
Where the Risk Lies
It is important to understand all the risk you face as an investor. Risk comes in many forms and some risks are higher than others at different stages of market cycles. Understanding the risks that could hurt you the most and how you can offset or reduce that risk is important to your long term […]
How Equity Index Annuities Work
Bob Clark, a columnist for Investment Advisor magazine, recently said, “…the role of advisors is to protect their clients from the financial services industry”. Many times the products pushed by the large financial service firms do more harm to investors than good. The “hot” product du jour is currently the Equity Index Annuity. While the […]
What are ABLE Accounts?
Individuals with special needs and families that seek to help, have long been hamstrung by the Catch 22 of public assistance. If a family provides too much financial assistance, the beneficiary loses access to government assistance. If the family does not help the individual may suffer from lack of access to housing and education. For […]
How Variable Annuity Guaranteed Minimum Income Works
We all have a tendency to hear what we want to hear. It seems to be especially true of financial products and services. I am often asked about the guarantees that variable annuities and equity index annuities offer. For example, this week I spoke with an individual who owned an annuity that offered an annual […]
Lawsuit Challenging DOL Fiduciary Rule Filed
Here are the people who do not think advisors should be held to a fiduciary standard: SIFMA – Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association. View their members here. FSI – Financial Service Institute. FSI is comprised of financial advisor members and broker-dealers. You can learn more about this group here. IRI – Insured Retirement Institute. IRI […]
