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Blog
How the 2020 Election Could Impact the Markets and Your Financial Plan
Every election season, political emotions run high. Candidates tell us that this is the most important election in our lifetimes. Advertisements vilifying the opposing candidate seem to never end. Political chatter on social media picks up. Through it all, it can be hard to keep our emotions under control.
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How Estate and Gift Taxes Can Impact Your Financial Plan
Heath Ledger’s death in 2008 is another tragic story of an extremely talented artist gone too young. The unfortunate circumstances of his death compounded the complexity of his estate, leaving lawyers and family in a difficult position.
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How to Take Advantage of Donor-Advised Funds and Special 2020 Tax Deductions for Donations
As a CPA, one of the questions that I have been getting more frequently is, “What is a donor-advised fund?” This is not surprising as the number of individual donor-advised fund accounts has grown by over 50% for the second year in a row, according to the National Philanthropic Trust’s 2019 DAF Report.
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5 Steps to Care for Your Credit
By John Corron, Wealth Advisor – A read through of the New York Fed’s Q2 2020 Household Debt and Credit Report revealed some surprising changes, including: Overall debt held by U.S. Households has climbed steadily since 2013 to just below the Q1 2020 all-time high of $14.3 Trillion. Credit card balances decreased by $76 billion (largest drop since the measure has been recorded). Delinquencies have been steadily declining since 2009 to just under 4% of all outstanding debt. The percentage of consumers currently in collections is at its lowest level (just over 8%) since 2013 where just over 14% of...read the full article
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How to Make Charitable Giving Part of Your Financial Plan
COVID-19 caused an economic shockwave that we’ll feel for a long time. Nonprofits, from large global networks to the local churches, have been hit hard, too. In a recent survey of 110 nonprofits, 80% of them said revenue had fallen across the board.
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What You Need to Know When Choosing the Right Trustee
One of the most important decisions you’ll make when designing your estate plan is who to name in the various fiduciary roles – trustee, personal representative, executor and agent.
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6 Planning Opportunities for 401(k)s in Light of the SECURE Act
By the very name, the SECURE Act – or Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement Act – is designed to enhance retirement savings. There are several provisions in the new law to help accomplish this goal.
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Teaching Kids about Money from Childhood Through Adulthood
Teaching kids about money is especially complex – you aren’t just passing on a few bucks to go to the movies, but an array of attitudes, values and assumptions regardless of whether you mean to. Your kids watch, in a way not even they are aware of, how you interact with finance and how you model it for them.
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Emotional Markets and Volatility Explained
By John Corron, Wealth Advisor – What a run of market volatility we have experienced since COVID-19 captured the world by storm! After such a long run of stable and positive market returns following the Great Financial Crisis of 2008 to 2009, the magnitude of day-over-day up and down market moves have been stunning for many.
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Risk Tolerance Revisited
By John Corron, Wealth Advisor – Sound financial planning involves constantly checking with clients on changes to their financial circumstances. Are there new major expenses on the horizon? Is income significantly higher than last year? Have any unexpected health issues popped up in your family that stretched the budget?
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