News & Updates
3 Ways to Protect Yourself from Financial Fraud
With more of our lives being spent online, cases of identity theft have skyrocketed. According to the Federal Trade Commission, the losses from impersonation scams tripled over the last three years. In this article, we discuss three ways to guard against financial...
Should You Be Concerned About Gift Taxes?
Clients are often concerned about the potential tax impact of a gift and how this should factor into their giving strategy. In this post, we will go over the basics of gift taxation and some considerations that may impact how you give.
Annual Client Letter 2024 (Reprint)
We hope your year is off to a great start and that you had a wonderful 2023! As we kick off 2024, we want to take a moment to reflect on last year and talk about some things to look for in the year ahead.
5 Money Lessons from Christmas Movies
As you watch your favorite Christmas movies this holiday season, keep your eye out for some personal finance lessons. December has historically been the highest month of the year for consumer spending, however, there are lessons that can be gleaned beyond sticking to your holiday budget. Here are five money lessons from popular Christmas movies to keep in mind this season.
9 Year-End Tax Strategies
As we enter the last couple months of the year, it is a good time to revisit your tax planning and make sure you are taking advantage of available opportunities. These could be moves to save taxes now or in the future. Here are nine strategies to consider before the year ends.
When Should Married Couples Claim Social Security?
As couples start to think about their retirement, deciding when to start claiming social security benefits is a key question. Social security may not provide the largest part of your retirement income, but it’s a key piece of your retirement strategy because it’s...
Long-Term Process vs. Short-Term Results
You may be familiar with the phrase “Trust the Process”, popularized by former Philadelphia 76ers’ General Manager Sam Hinkie. Hinkie’s phrase referred to the team’s strategy of acquiring assets such as draft picks which could be used to acquire superstar players for the team. The strategy resulted in some tough years for the team before it became a contender down the road.
Could These Tax Credits Lower Your Tax Bill?
As we review our clients’ tax returns from the previous year, we continue to look for opportunities to increase how much they keep of what they earn. This can include looking for opportunities to claim tax credits – particularly some of the ones that often go under the radar. In this article, we will cover a couple of tax credits that you may be able to take advantage of to reduce your tax bill in the coming years.
What Does it Mean to Create Real Wealth?
Wealth is defined in the Merriam-Webster dictionary as, “an abundance of valuable material possessions or resources”. While this is one measure of wealth, many think about wealth as something else. In Morgan Housel’s book, “The Psychology of Money”, Housel sums up wealth in the following way: “The highest form of wealth is the ability to wake up every morning and say, “I can do whatever I want today.”
How To Be a Successful Long-Term Investor
It is easy to focus on what the markets have done over the last week, month, or year. However, we often hear less talk about how investments have performed during the last 10, 20, or 30 years. In our view, the shorter the time frame you focus on, the harder it is to say what markets will do. By looking at a longer time horizon, we can use lessons from history to have more confidence around how various investments may perform. We can also take specific steps to improve our odds of a successful investment out and achieving our long-term financial goals. In this article, we will discuss some of the key tenets of being a successful long-term investor.
How Inflation Impacts Your Tax Bill
Inflation has been making many parts of our lives more expensive – cars, food, and home prices are a couple of areas that immediately come to mind. However, there may a be a small silver lining. The IRS sets tax brackets, tax deductions and retirement account contribution limits based on inflation. Depending on all the moving pieces in your financial picture, this could result in a lower tax bill. In this article, we will look at the impact of inflation on taxes this year and some planning opportunities resulting from it.
Investment Lessons from Warren Buffett
Warren Buffett is known as one of the greatest investors of all time and his annual letters are considered a “must read”. Besides sharing the details of how his company Berkshire Hathaway operates, Warren often includes some wisdom that applies to the everyday...
Are Taxes Your Biggest Lifetime Expense?
Around tax time, it can be surprising to see how much you pay in taxes each year. It could be because you focused on the after-tax amount deposited in your bank account or its not until you pull all your information together at the end of the year that you see the...
Five Ways the SECURE Act 2.0 Impacts Your Retirement Planning
Near the end of the year, the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2023 was passed. This large spending bill included a retirement bill known as the SECURE Act 2.0. This retirement bill is wide-ranging, covering areas such as retirement account contributions, education savings, and charitable giving, to name a few. In this post, we highlight five key parts of the bill that may present opportunities for your retirement planning.
Should a Trust be Part of Your Estate Plan?
As you’ve worked to build up your wealth, it is important to consider how you are going to pass down any remaining assets to your family, friends or charities. Often the first thing that comes to mind when you think about your estate plan is a will. However, many...
Are You Being Intentional with Your Money?
As you think about the financial side of your life, it is worth asking if your money has been going toward things that are important to you. Some things areas of spending are inevitable, like food, housing, and healthcare. Other areas you may have more control over such as trips or a house project.
Should a Spousal IRA be Part of Your Savings Strategy?
If you and your spouse both have access to an employer-sponsored retirement plan such as a 401(k), retirement saving is as easy as specifying the contribution amount to be deducted from your paycheck. However, for some couples, both spouses do not have access to a...
Planning for Five Key Tax Challenges in Retirement
Developing a paycheck in retirement that generates the income you need while also keeping your taxes low is not an easy task. All the planning you did while working – saving diligently, using tax-deferred accounts – can turn into unwelcome tax surprises as you move through retirement. While there is no one-size-fits-all solution, there are some multi-year tax planning strategies that can lower your lifetime tax burden.
Retiring in a Rollercoaster Market
Retiring in the face of a volatile stock market can be concerning. Whether you just retired or are planning to make the jump in a few years, seeing your account balances decline could make you question the timing of this decision. While some factors are out of your control, there are steps you can take to ensure a successful retirement.
Is Now the Time To Do a Roth Conversion?
If you could choose any retirement account to have your assets in, a Roth IRA would likely be at the top of the list. Tax-free growth and a lack of required minimum distributions are a couple of the reasons we have previously highlighted for why to invest in this type...
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