We have all heard grandparents talk about the “good old days,” when a gallon of gas only cost a quarter and you could buy candy for a penny. How times change. In just the last half-century, the price of living has risen an average of 3.8% each year.*
Your financial advisor should be capable, experienced, and properly trained. Most importantly, they should be ethical and worthy of your trust. That’s an extremely hard qualification to identify with exactness, but an effective substitute is to make sure that your adviser’s incentives align with yours.
So, as you look for a financial advisor, you should first investigate how they receive compensation for their services. There are three primary methods of compensation in finance: commission-based, fee-based, and fee-only.
As a financial advisor, I often experience older clients expressing concerns about whether or not their heirs will be taxed on inheritance money. These clients remember that when their own parents passed away, they received a direct check and were not required to pay taxes on that income.
How much money does it take to be “wealthy” in America? According to the 2018 Modern Wealth Index by Charles Schwab*, Americans claimed on average that a net worth of $2.4 million dollars makes you “wealthy”. However, the survey also found that many Americans did not define wealth only by net worth. In fact, the most popular definition of wealth did not include money at all; the largest group of Americans considered wealth to be living a “stress-free” life and experiencing “peace of mind.”
Creating and contributing to a college savings plan enables you to financially support your children in their educational goals. Although saving such a hefty sum of money may seem daunting, these three key principles will help you create a personalized plan to save for your children’s college with ease.
For many retired and near-retired individuals, Social Security benefits constitute the foundation of their future income. However, when making the transition to retirement, deciding when and how to start taking Social Security can be the most stressful part of the process. These three fundamentals can speed you on your way.
Does your financial advisor serve your best interests or their own? This article, recently published on KSL360, updates the current legal findings regarding the “fiduciary rule” for financial advisors. On March 15th, 2018 the Fifth Circuit US Court of Appeals struck down the Department of Labor’s “fiduciary rule” law. Also commonly called the “conflict of…
Why is working with a fiduciary as your financial advisor so important? In our several decades of combined experience, too few prospective clients understand the fiduciary relationship, its importance, and the risk they assume when hiring an advisor without it.
When many people begin investing, they aim to find just the right asset mix to “beat the market.” This means attempting to gain a higher return over time than a commonly accepted index, such as the S&P 500. This inclination is natural but impractical, and research is now showing that it’s nearly impossible over a long period of time.
Would you like an early retirement? How does financial independence sound? Whether your retirement goals include shifting to part-time, making a hobby your new career or 10 am tee times by age 60, making smarter decisions with your money now can make those goals attainable.