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Market returns are out of your control. These thirteen actions are in your control.

When family inheriting is not an option or you are not all that close with your relatives, sometimes it can be trickier to decide where to leave your estate.

A stability allocation has two purposes: to meet withdrawal needs and to move the portfolio more conservative (less risky) by dampening the volatility of stock returns.

Unfortunately, you must order cashiering envelopes directly from a Schwab agent. Here’s how you do it.

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.

The selection of what products we purchase or avoid for clients is based solely on what we believe gives our clients the best chance to meet their goals.

No matter how small your savings, those small changes have large effects over time.

Most of our regular use of items is habitual. Developing a mindset that uses less requires changing our habits.

There are at least seven major mistakes in this advice by Wells Fargo Asset Management.

To avoid a higher trading fee at Schwab, it is in your best interest to turn on paperless delivery for everything that you can.

Luckily, you can update your address online. Unfortunately, it is not as straightforward as the average investor suspects it will be.

Here are some of the best practices to protect your identity.

Schwab used to have a streamlined service for ordering more checks. Now as of 2019, they have outsourced their check ordering to a third party.

A low forward P/E suggests higher expected appreciation.

Here is a strategy that can both help you identify what you value and help you start your budget.

Anything which is not contributing toward your financial independence should be considered part of your lifestyle spending.

Setting aside some of the payment to cover future inflation is a prudent retirement planning practice.

“I may leave a list or other written statement expressing how I wish certain items of my tangible property to be distributed.” But how do I do that?

It is possible to be prepared for financial emergencies by living 10% more frugally and saving for the inevitable eventuality.

A low cost timeless portfolio for your HSA with HealthSavings Administrators.

Kudos to you for noticing the value of Roth conversions! We have three ways we can help.

Thirty years of interest, dividends, and capital gains tax is a significant savings.

What ever happened to that check? Here’s how to find out if it a Schwab check you wrote has been cashed by the recipient.

For those who are doing it themselves, this page can help you satisfy this important IRS requirement.

Most divisors are looked up in tables based on your age. Others are calculated based on last year’s divisor. Some particularly unfortunate cases have distribution deadlines rather than divisors at all.

Many of us are anxious about paying our bills on time, but using payment aids like Schwab Bill Pay can help alleviate some of that anxiety.

It is hard to prioritize saving, but it pays off. Here is how.

It is common for investors to be surprised by movements in their portfolios, but it is harder to determine if these movements mean that anything should be done.

There are many opportunities to pay your children. If that payment can be counted as earned income, then the child is eligible to fund their Roth IRA.

This is intended to be a brief overview of what you should do once you realize you are overseeing an estate.

The Marotta Investment Committee typically builds portfolios with average expense ratios of about 0.24%.

Is what I’m accomplishing here worth sacrificing the step up in basis? If it is not, perhaps there is a better way to implement your estate wishes.

Portfolio construction is extremely important to achieving your long-term goals. Don’t risk those goals by assuming that individual stock-picking is a superior strategy.

Even though is often the worst choice, most people take Social Security as early as possible, at age 62. This decision reduces lifetime benefits by hundreds of thousands of dollars.

For the proper Victorian, acts of love and money should not mix. Although this honest conversion may ruffle Victorian sensibilities, it is a foundation of the trust we forge with our clients.

If you ask, the broker will gladly tell you how much of that type they’d recommend getting, but not whether you need it in the first place.

The required IRA distribution in the year the account owner dies is called a Year of Death RMD.

Taking these few extra steps can maximize your gift’s benefit to both you and the recipient.

“Buy on the dips” is a good strategy only because of the first word.

We recommend that you fund your Health Savings Account (HSA) to the maximum limit each year and that you keep funding it to the maximum as long as you can no matter how much money you have in the account.

Here is a clear guide on how to transfer funds between your Schwab accounts.

More and more family plans are actually composed of many different independent people in the eyes of the government.

There are two ways to run the analysis. One is quick and can be done on the back of a napkin. The other is more detailed, best done in a spreadsheet. In this part one, we will explain the quick math.

These are two simple but effective strategies to help calculate a very good conversion target for this year.

Even the most Roth-loving individuals may have hidden Traditional assets that they do not know they can convert to Roth. Here are just a few places to look.

Even though you would likely benefit from contributing to your 401(k), you might not benefit from keeping your assets there — even if you are the owner.

Our first goal is to be accurate. We want to do the task the right way. This is where workflows help.

Thank you, Robert, for your email and your readership. I hope that everyone enjoys our new “Do-It-Yourself” service level.

These are two ways to benefit from the higher standard deduction while still fulfilling your charitable intentions.

How to go from where you are now to being one of our clients under our “Do-It-Yourself” service level.