Category Archives: Financial Services

Life insurance is an important component in a diversified financial portfolio. While it may be a difficult conversation to have with your loved ones, it’s an important and necessary one. We may not like discussing our own death but ensuring our families are taken care of and supported is paramount, especially for families with children. The first step is to understand which type of life insurance policy fits best with your situation. In this post, we explore the various types of life insurance policies including term and permanent options including whole, universal, and variable options.

On February 3rd, President Trump issued an executive memorandum requiring review of the previously instated Department of Labor fiduciary ruling. In the memorandum, President Trump tasked the Department of Labor to fully review the ruling to assess if it would ‘negatively affect’ investors ability to access retirement information, offerings, product structures, or related financial advice.

Understanding finances and having a healthy relationship with money is vital to being a successful adult. And, yet, often children are not being taught important financial information about money from their parents. In fact, a 2016 T. Rowe Price survey found 71% of parents are reluctant to talk about money with their children. And only 22% of kids say they talk with their parents “frequently” about money. Having an open dialogue with your children about finances is important to prepare them for success in the future. As uncomfortable as it may be to discuss finances with your children, you need to do it. In today’s post we share specific tips for talking with your kids about the importance of saving for their future and utilizing smart investment tools and strategies.

In recent years, the rise of ‘Robo-Advisers’ or automated investment services has become increasingly popular. Services from firm’s like Betterment and Wealthfront offer low-cost options to automate financial investing. In reality, these processes may be too simplified; many involve easy sign-up processes, quick user surveys, and blanketed financial plans for the masses. While these services undoubtedly provide valuable insights, we caution using a one-plan-fits-all approach to personal financing decisions. In today’s post, we share four considerations for using robo-advisers.

The key to rebuilding your credit or increasing your rating is understanding how credit scores are determined and using strategic techniques to boost scores. In today’s post, we examine what you should know about building up your credit score.

In today’s post, we’re examining the difference between stocks and bonds and how they relate to risk level and your end goals.

When inflation rates rise, each unit of currency buys fewer products. Conversely, declining inflation rates signal the increase in the amount of products and services equal to monetary units. Understanding changing inflation rates, especially those in the past 10 years, is an important step in accessing the strength of the economy and a useful tool in financial planning.

Each year congress votes to appropriate spending permissions and tax breaks for the federal government. Early this year, Congress passed the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2016 that authorized $1.1 trillion in spending and affirmed $700 billion in tax breaks. We believe one such provision, known as the IRA charitable rollover, may be of particular interest and importance to our clients. We’ve highlighted key insights and summaries are below.