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 […]
The Wall
This is one of the walls in the reception area of my office. You can see I like to hang lots of little items there. The items were picked with some care, they are meant to convey to clients and prospective clients a sense of who I am and what I believe in. They are […]
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 […]
Trade Wars?
With the new administration in place and President Trump threatening to tax imports from countries like Mexico, some have become concerned that we will set off a trade war with the rest of the world. For many reasons, I hope this is wrong and that, like most of the time, the biggest export from Washington, […]
New Year’s Resolutions
It’s that time again. The time when we make resolutions for the New Year. Resolutions are things we want to change. I resolve to… Resolutions are your goals for the coming year. Write them down on paper – in ink. Committing goals to paper makes them more concrete than goals we merely hold in our […]
New Year Predictions
Every year about this time, the popular press comes out with predictions for the new year. We all know that no one has a crystal ball but we read them anyway. Happily, Google never forgets. Here are some of the predictions made for 2016. Trump falls out of the race for the Republican presidential nomination […]
Average is not Normal
Over the last 80 years the stock market has advanced an average of 10% each year, but average is not normal when it comes to the stock market. The table pictured on the left shows the actual returns for the S&P 500 each year since 1975. How many of those returns were 10%? How […]
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 […]
