One of the hardest things about being a Certified Financial Planner™ Professional (CFP®) is explaining what we are all about. After all, the term “financial planner” is vague. It is easier to start by saying what we are not: stockbrokers! Still, when we meet a prospective client for the first time, the first questions are…
Given all the planning landscape changes over the last month, are there specific things you should now be considering? Here are a few ideas that may be worth exploring, especially now. Roth Conversion? The CARES Act suspended the need to take required minimum distributions (RMDs) from your IRA and qualified plans. If you are in…
As financial planning for clients grows more complex, it becomes increasingly difficult for planners to recognize every planning issue, opportunity, and concern from memory alone. As a result, there is an increasing risk that planners make a mistake—albeit by accident—in the struggle of trying to apply everything they have learned to an incredibly wide range…
Despite a steady drumbeat of media coverage that Baby Boomers aren’t saving enough for retirement, a recent PwC survey of Boomers found that their biggest fear about retirement isn’t actually running out of money before the end of retirement, but how they’re going to handle their health care costs in retirement. That fear isn’t necessarily…
So you’ve made it to retirement, and realize you have done it with room to spare. A surplus of assets, more than enough to cover your desired lifestyle for many years to come, puts you in a position to have a meaningful impact on the lives of those you love, and on the causes you…
In the unlikely event of a loss of cabin pressure, panels above your seat will open revealing oxygen masks. Reach up and pull a mask towards you… Secure your own mask first before helping others. If you have ever flown on an airline, you have no doubt heard this speech. When I fly with my children,…
Mistakes made when planning for your retirement can have disastrous consequences. Here are eight critical (but common) errors you should avoid… 1. Don’t retire away from a job; instead, retire to a well-designed retirement plan. Spend time thinking about what you want to do in retirement. What will you do every day? Will you…
Eight out of every ten American adults have some form of debt. Properly managed, debt can enhance a person’s lifestyle. For something so common, though, people often have conflicting emotions about it. In fact, debt is the top cause of financial stress in the United States. The situation is not helped by the hysteria and…
Mahatma Gandhi said, “The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.” A 2008 study by Harvard Business School found that giving money to someone else lifted participants’ happiness more that spending it on themselves. These good feelings are reflected in our biology. In a 2006 study, the National…
In the world of finance, there is an SEC guideline called the “Accredited Investor” rule that limits the public’s ability to invest in unregistered securities unless the individual meets certain income and/or net worth standards. Or stated more simply, the SEC limits those riskier private investments to more affluent – and presumably more “sophisticated” –…
