Articles of Interest

There are six areas of personal finance that are important to review. When training to become a financial professional, much of our course work centers on these six critical areas of creating a financial strategy. Some recognize October as Financial Planning Month, so it's an excellent opportunity to review those six personal finance areas.1

Many universities and colleges are welcoming students back to campus, even if most campuses are largely online this year.

A few things you may want to think about before filing  for benefits.

Whether you want to leave work at 62, 67, or 72, claiming the retirement benefits you are entitled to by federal law is no casual decision. You will want to consider a few key factors first.

There are benefits and limitations when you decide to donate stock. Why sell shares when you can gift them? If you have appreciated stocks in your portfolio, you might want to consider donating those shares to charity rather than selling them.

Are you or someone you know currently making federal student loan payments? In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, some welcome relief may be on the way. Thanks to the recent passage of the CARES Act, the U.S. Department of Education will allow you to temporarily halt your federal student loan payments from March 13, 2020 until September 30, 2020.1

As states cautiously begin the process of relaxing their COVID-19 restrictions, some are wondering, “Why is the stock market doing so well when the economy is doing so poorly?” It’s a great question, and fortunately, one that's been answered before. To find the answer, we’ll need to dust off those economic textbooks of yesteryear and turn to the chapter on “lead, lag, and coincident indicators.”

Distributions can be waived in 2020 for Inherited Accounts, 401(k)s, and IRAs.

Recently, the $2 trillion “Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security” (“CARES”) Act was signed into law. The CARES Act is designed to help those most impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, while also providing key provisions that may benefit retirees.1

If you’ve only just begun your career and are starting to collect a decent paycheck, the last thing on your mind is probably retirement planning. When you’re in your twenties and thirties, retirement can feel light years away, but it will get here much quicker than you can imagine. And when it does, you’ll want to be prepared. And for those in their 40s and 50s, remember that it’s never too late to start saving for retirement. The most important thing is to just start.

An estate takes lifetimes to build but can be lost in the blink of an eye. Most of us don’t imagine assets that took decades to accumulate being drained in a few short years, but in some cases this is exactly what happens. Here are some of the top risks to an estate and some easy ways to manage those risks. It’s important to note that all these risks, and the strategies to deal with them, are best dealt with while the person looking to leave a legacy is still alive and healthy. It’s far more difficult, if not impossible, to protect an estate “after the fact”.