As we close out the third quarter of the year, it's a natural time to pause and take stock of your progress toward your financial goals. By this point in the year, nine months of progress, challenges, and decisions have shaped where you stand today. With three months ahead, there's time to fine-tune your approach, close gaps, and position yourself to finish the year strong.
As we approach the year's final quarter, it’s the perfect time for a retirement plan check-up. Even if you set your 401(k) contributions months ago, life has a way of shifting the numbers — salary increases, bonuses, or payroll changes can all affect how much you are actually putting away.
As we embark on a new year, there's no better time to take control of your financial future by thoroughly reviewing your cash flow. If having a vision and establishing goals is the touchstone for a financial plan, this essential financial practice sets the foundation for achieving your goals and ensuring long-term financial stability.
Anyone who has gone through a divorce knows how emotionally challenging and financially complex it can be. While attorneys handle the legal aspects, a Certified Divorce Financial Analyst® focuses specifically on the financial implications of divorce. This specialized designation equips professionals with the expertise to guide clients through the intricate financial aspects of divorce proceedings, ensuring better outcomes for their financial future.
Anna Marie Mock, a fee-only certified financial planner at Highland Financial Advisors, discusses the dynamic interplay between art and science in financial planning. Drawing inspiration from Leonardo da Vinci's philosophy that "everything connects to everything else," she emphasizes that financial planning is an art involving subjective goal-setting and a science-driven by objective analysis tools. In this video, Anna explains how the scientific method can be applied to financial planning, using equity compensation as a concrete example.
Is there a divorce season?
According to a study by associate sociology professor Julie Brines and doctoral candidate Brian Serafini of the University of Washington, the answer is yes, and they boiled it down into a simple formula...
Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) are not only a savvy investment option but also offer numerous benefits, especially for high-net-worth families. An HSA is a tax-advantaged savings account designed for individuals with high-deductible health plans (HDHPs) to help cover out-of-pocket medical expenses. While the utility of HSAs is universal, they hold advantages for high-net-worth families and have steadily grown in popularity since their inception.
"The Three Questions Every Frantic Family Should Ask" is a book by Patrick Lencioni, a renowned author, speaker, and consultant on organizational health. The book aims to help families overcome the stress and anxiety of modern-day family life. Lencioni draws from his extensive experience in organizational health to provide practical insights and tools that families can use to build healthier relationships, communicate better, and achieve greater success in their personal and professional lives.
Pandemic investments and the continuation of gene therapy spurred the growth of companies in recent years. Still, these same companies are feeling the pinch due to growing economic uncertainty. Life sciences do better than other industries during economic and market drawdowns, but it is not immune to global influences.
A few years ago, I remembered having a conversation with a divorced client that stuck with me. The client struggled to decide whether to keep or sell the marital home after her finalized divorce. Although she asked the right questions and thoroughly understood the numbers, I could tell emotions guided her decision-making, not logic.
Following a significant life event, such as divorce or the loss of a spouse, people face a common question: How will being newly independent affect my family's lifestyle? During this financially delicate period, a decrease in household income, the ability to remain in the family home, and the long-term impact on a person's retirement plan are all top of mind.
There seems to be a list of five things for anything you can think of to improve your odds of success. Pareto’s Principle (the 80/20 rule) states that 80% of the results will typically come from 20% of the cause. If a list of five things can truly make a difference in your life, that is an excellent return on your behavior.
The new year has begun, and with it come changes to monthly benefits and costs for Social Security and Medicare. On the positive side, Social Security recipients will see a 5.9% cost-of-living increase in their benefits, the largest since Ronald Reagan was President. Unfortunately, due to various factors, Medicare is also experiencing the most significant increase in Part B and D premiums in the program’s history.
In Part 1 of F.I.R.E., we explored the meaning behind the movement and the different variations, while Part 2 of F.I.R.E. provided some context on common misconceptions. With that backdrop, we are going to outline how to quantify your definition of F.I.R.E.
The two worlds of financial services are not clearly labeled so that you would necessarily know from which world you are receiving services. If you seek the services of a doctor, you will know if that doctor is a dentist, an internist, an oral surgeon, or a neurosurgeon by the sign on the door. Unfortunately, the titles used in financial services are less indicative of any professional standard.
When going through a divorce, many challenging topics need to be talked through before things become finalized. When it is time to discuss marital assets, particularly among those 50 and older, retirement assets or pension benefits tend to be at the top of the list since they often have the most significant balances.
In Part 1 of F.I.R.E., we explored the meaning behind the movement and the different variations. According to a survey conducted by T.D. Ameritrade and the Harris Poll, only 11% of 1,500 respondents, have heard of the movement, while 26% are not familiar with the term but know the concept.
A revocable trust is an extension of the grantor or you as the individual owner. Revocable trusts direct how assets will be managed by appointed trustees during the grantor's lifetime and transferred to beneficiaries after the grantor's passing. Because of the structure, the grantor can modify, remove, or add any instructions to the trust during their lifetime.
Whether or not you have an interest in sports, you have likely heard about the helicopter crash involving Kobe Bryant, his 13-year-old daughter Gianna, and the seven other people on board who lost their lives. As reported, eight seconds after losing communication with the helicopter, it plummeted at a rate of descent increasing to over 4,000 feet per minute, traveling about 185 mph on impact. The families on the aircraft were all on their way to a children's travel basketball game.
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