This 2015 article reminds us of the benefits of umbrella insurance. We recommend $2 to $5 million of umbrella coverage for typical families with assets over $300,000.
This 2014 article is a good reminder of how interest rates work in our country.
With a savings waterfall, you immediately know which buckets to fill when there is excess and which should remain dry if there isn’t enough for all your goals.
Sometimes the costs are actually benefits when it comes to Roth conversions.
Here are three lies you must stop telling yourself in order to build a solid financial foundation.
If you are close to either side of 60, this 2020 article will outline the ideal scenario to help you make your own financial assessment.
The best way to ensure that you save and invest is to automate the process.
As David Marotta writes in this 2012 post, “If I had to pick one learned skill that has served me the best in my career, it would be learning to grab my mind by the scruff of the neck and drag it back to the task at hand.” This piece reminds us that hard work can sometimes be your best doctor.
Many adult children are returning to live at home somewhat involuntarily. What can parents do to help? This 2011 article offers some wisdom.
The CFP Board is compensation neutral, but it is only because of how they are paid.
This simple example demonstrates the importance of expense ratio.
We recently had a client fall prey to a sophisticated Schwab Bank scam. They gave us permission to share this fraud story with you to hopefully prevent others from being scammed.
For our standard gone-fishing portfolio, we made two changes.
This gone-fishing portfolio is our default portfolio which can be used at any custodian.
We recommend this gone-fishing portfolio for investors with brand loyalty to Vanguard.
In 2003, David stopped to rescue a snapping turtle from 250 West. Even now, the financial planning lessons from that turtle are still sage advice.
It is common for investors to be surprised by movements in their portfolios. This 2019 article reminds us though that even volatile movements can be quite normal.
Here are several tips on how to live richly on your own.
This 2009 article reminds us, “When we are worried about our expenditures, we tend to look at the dollar amounts more than the frequency of our purchases.” However, to combat mindless spending, we should look to trim recurring expenses first.
With one memorable password protecting a vault of random ones, you can increase your security immensely while only mildly complicating your access.
These are the seven rules to using a credit card safely.
This 2015 article has five rules for safely handling your digital security which you can’t afford not to implement.
Converting early can avoid your exposure to tax changes going forward as a Roth IRA is never taxed again.
The best way to climb the mountain of college costs is gradually, but if you need to make some last minute leaps, our government has a few tax-related strategies.
Regardless of which way the balance of trade says the surplus falls, we and our trading allies benefit from the exchange.
This 2015 article details one of the most brilliant breakthroughs in all of food science and how it relates to almost every aspect of life.
Roth conversions can decrease your taxable income and increase your tax savings over the long haul.
Maybe if we say it enough, it will actually get done. “The correct rate for the capital gains tax is zero, zip, nada. Perhaps it is even negative!”
The holiday cliché is to complain about hyper-materialism, but according to anthropologists, gifts and gift giving help shape our identities.
If this level of volatility isn’t your expectation, you are not yet familiar with normal volatility in the markets.
This 2007 post reminds that because of inflation the value of cash trends down, encourages you to protect your portfolio against a falling dollar, and reveals an inconsistency with CPI calculations and actual inflation.
I have adopted this card as the primary one in my wallet for groceries and gas.
After over a decade of broken promises and rising costs, our need for a more sustainable tax system is acutely felt.
A savings waterfall helps investors navigate the financial complexity available to them.
This 2008 article is an uplifting, timeless sermon.
This 2016 article reminds us that “there is a very simple place to start the process of changing our destiny: Each day notice the things that make you happy and try experiencing more of them.”
After over a decade of broken promises and rising costs, our need for a more sustainable healthcare system is acutely felt.
This whimsical 2004 post uses the hypothetical family business of Belle and the Beast to teach a valuable lesson about passing on the family business to the next generation.
Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol is one of the best stories for talking about economics. This 2003 – 2012 series uses the classic tale to illustrate different financial personalities, principles, and philosophies.
Required minimum distributions are taxed as taxable income, the same as other types of traditional IRA withdrawals and Roth conversions.
In “A Christmas Carol,” Ebenezer Scrooge calls Christmas a “humbug” because of the foolish way people celebrate it. This 2008 article reminds us that it is sometimes wise to simplify Christmas.
Taxes related to traditional IRA withdrawals only happen once. Meanwhile, the funds in your taxable account are subjected to taxation each year.
This article should give you something fun to discuss this year.
We have written on the topic of healthcare reform multiple times, including our 2014 economics of healthcare series which culminates in this article.
This lie was PolitiFact’s 2013 lie of the year, but we dub it the lie of the century.
The fact that markets are down isn’t a good reason by itself to fire your advisor, but there are reasons to switch financial advisors related to performance.
While you can only use $3,000 per year of capital losses to reduce your taxable income, you should bank as much capital loss as possible for other future uses.
Many people don’t understand how fixed income is priced, so let me take you through the math.
Return reporting can create either darker or rosier pictures depending on the dates selected.
We avoid investments we deem too risky or laden with fees and seek instead a well balanced, low-cost, diversified portfolio.