Comprehensive Financial Planning

You know that you have a credit score, but did you realize that bonds do, as well? Bond ratings are grades (determined by bond rating agencies) that can give you insight into a bond issuer’s financial strength and capacity to repay its debts. If you’re a fixed-income investor or you have bonds as part of your portfolio mix, read up about bond ratings and what they mean for your investments. What are the bond rating agencies and what do they do? The bond ratings agencies are private companies that work a little bit like consumer credit rating agencies or credit Read More

There are a number of withdrawal approaches you can take, and all have essentially the same goal: Provide you with the income you need during retirement, without running out of money. With inflation rearing its ugly head, you may be one of many who have asked whether your retirement withdrawal strategy should change, so that your hard-earned retirement funds can go as far as possible. While every retiree’s strategy will be different, here’s a look at five common strategies, along with some of the advantages and disadvantages of each. #1 The 4% Rule For decades, the 4% rule has Read More

How are you preparing for your health care needs in retirement? It’s one of the biggest expenses, and so is likely to take a large chunk of your retirement budget. Here’s what you need to know.Medicare leaves a lot of gaps.Some retirees think they’ll be able to rely on Medicare to cover much of the cost of care as they age, but that’s unfortunately not the case. In fact, there are a number of essential medical services and expenses that Medicare Part A or Part B don’t cover. These include:Deductibles and copaysPrescription drugsLong-term careMost dental careRoutine vision careRoutine hearing exams Read More

As one year winds down, economic forecasters ramp up their calculated predictions for the next. So what will next year bring, and more importantly, what does it all mean for you? Here’s a summary of a few of the big factors, along with what we might expect to see in the coming months. The Big Wildcard: The COVID-19 Pandemic What’s happening now: The pandemic continues to complicate things. New variants in 2021 have sent ripple effects through the global economy, especially as many countries have newly tightened restrictions and big events have been postponed (including the World Economic Forum Read More

You’ve already conquered the basics like saving up a sufficient emergency fund, paying down debt and building retirement savings. But that doesn’t mean you’ve done all you can to secure your future financial health. Consider these financial resolutions for 2022. New Year’s Resolutions: Some people love them, and others want nothing to do with them. But the start of a brand new year is as good a time as any to make sure you’re set to meet — or exceed — your financial goals. Resolve to check in on your budgetWe know — budgeting is Personal Finance 101, and you scored high Read More

You want to do all you can to stash away funds for retirement, and maximizing your contributions to retirement savings accounts after 50 is a great opportunity to do just that. It’s not always easy or possible to save for retirement, especially in the early stages of adult life. People may be working toward paying down college loans and other debt or providing for family needs, and retirement feels a long way off. Others invest heavily in their business and neglect investing in their financial future as much as they should. If you’re one of those people who thought Read More

Every year the IRS sets the annual gift tax exclusion, allowing you to give up to a certain amount tax-free. Here’s the latest you need to know as you plan your finances heading into the New Year. What is the annual gift tax exclusion for 2022? For the past four years, the annual gift tax exclusion — or the amount of money or assets you’re able to transfer to another person without incurring a gift tax — has been $15,000. However, the IRS just announced an increase to a new high exclusion amount of $16,000 per recipient. The reason? Read More

Risk: Life is full of it, and that doesn’t stop when you hit your retirement years. Even if you spend decades planning and judiciously saving for retirement, you still face the unexpected hiccups that could disrupt all you’ve planned.  Part of careful financial planning includes accounting for risks. How will your plan bear the brunt of both unanticipated and known risks? It’s never something that can be foreseen with complete certainty, but understanding that there are potential risks and what those are can help you better plan and prepare. Here are three categories of risks that every retiree (or Read More

You’ve seen the acronym SERP, but what exactly are these retirement plans, and how do they differ from other retirement benefits? A supplemental executive retirement plan (SERP) is one way businesses can reward and retain key employees. Here are the top three things you need to know about these plans as a small business. SERPs are intended for highly compensated employeesThis type of retirement offering is included in a broader benefits package to attract and retain high-level executives at a company, particularly C-suite employees. It’s an incentive that can make a business more competitive in attracting top-tier talent.  These are the basics: The Read More

We all have a goal to retire comfortably, whether we plan to retire early, at age 65 or continue to work after the average retirement age. Knowing these retirement facts could help you do just that. #1 Your retirement could be 30 years or longer. Think about it: If you retire at 65, your retirement could last almost one third of your life. This may mean you shouldn’t go too conservative in your investment approach early in retirement, because if you do, you may not continue to reap the returns you need to sustain your required income for all Read More