Best Of

In general, the statements should match, but matched accounting down the penny cannot easily be achieved.

If you choose to make a QCD, we suggest saving as much documentation as possible.

A question from our readers, “Should I choose to have dividends reinvested or should I receive them in cash and then reinvest them myself?”

One obscure way we earn our fee is in how we bill you.

Even very volatile investments may, in moderate amounts, reduce a portfolio’s volatility if the investment is not correlated with the rest of the portfolio’s components.

Investments, like life, are volatile, risky, and on average rewarding. Diversification and rebalancing help to protect yourself from the volatility.

Being able to lower total fees while investing part of the portfolio in slightly higher cost country specific exchange traded funds and being able to use exchange traded funds with strategic factors and add a monthly dynamic tilt is a significant accomplishment.

We have all seen mutual fund ads stating this Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) disclaimer, “Past performance is no guarantee of future results.” Let’s take a closer look at it.

Here are seven techniques for small business owners to build real wealth.

My best case for SRI is a personal story of lace, oil paintings, tobacco, and Ray Stedman.

While this may seem complex, don’t let it deter you from using a 529 account to the fullest extent possible.

Putting money in your Roth without delay is valuable.

Every business owner or director of a non-profit should realize that if they don’t take their fiduciary responsibility seriously they are legally liable for their neglect and inaction.

At our firm, tax planning is our priority. We hope to maximize after-tax net worth over your lifetime, even if it is at the expense of this one year.

We don’t write a lot about how to spend money, but an international study published this year claims to have found the route from wealth to well-being through spending money.

Since your employer’s plan usually has the most limited number of choices, pick the best it has to offer that fits with in your over all plan.

Putting all of your retirement eggs in one basket is easy to carry, but risky. Fund your employer’s plan with no more than is necessary to get the match and then fund your Roth IRA and build your taxable savings.

Financial planning is simply doing what it takes to give you the means to do what you want. The poorer you are the more you need financial planning. You don’t have any margin for mistakes.

Most of the assets you use to fund your retirement will come from compounded growth.

While most investment advisors do one total conversion or partial conversion here or there, we have a dedicated Roth segregation strategy, which adds real value to our clients accounts.

Every pay period, pay yourself first. You won’t miss what you don’t see.

Families that consider generational financial planning techniques can reduce the burden of taxes on the family as a whole.

I have learned there are so many more wise plans than just “top of the bracket” conversions.

Many executors, trustees, or even estate plans make careless mistakes which end up in Roth IRAs being distributed too quickly. Here’s a list of ways to prevent your estate plan from ruining your Roth.

There are different tables and formulas used to calculate your RMD divisor based on your particular circumstances. Here is a calculator for the three most common.

Under the “last-month rule,” you can contribute the full amount even after a partial year assuming you meet the “testing period.”

Investment managers can bring clients greater savings by carefully considering how they bill different types of accounts.

Even if a committee has contracted with “prudent experts,” the Committee never delegates its fiduciary responsibility.

Despite the fact that millions serve in a fiduciary role, many are wholly unaware of their legal responsibilities.

We have calculated safe withdrawal rates for ages 0 to 100 based on age-appropriate asset allocation mixes.

A simple summary of how to meet your Required Minimum Distribution in the same year as you perform a Roth Conversion is the axiom: RMD dollars must come out first.

An easy estate workaround is to set up a Donor Advised Fund as a Testamentary fund, meaning you aren’t funding it yet, but it will be funded upon your death.

SEP plans offer a powerful way to provide for your own retirement in the same way that 401ks do.

Life planning begins as thoughts and ultimately shapes our entire destiny.

This style of Power of Attorney certainly gets the job done, but there are a few ways that the cookie-cutter POA most frequently fails to meet people’s wishes.

While your student loans may be a daunting sum, it is still possible to build wealth even while paying off student debt.

Here are ten principles for teaching children about money.

If you don’t have retirement savings in Roth IRAs, it’s time you considered their benefits. Assets in traditional IRAs can be rolled into Roth IRAs without a withdrawal penalty.

It is the season of spring cleaning, so here’s a calendar of ways to clean up your finances one step at a time.

Even the most brilliantly crafted investment plan has to be given time to work.

This is a summary of the six steps required to create a well-crafted investment plan.

Investment brokers like Schwab offer many services local banks offer but there are a few reasons why you might want to resist consolidating all of your accounts to a broker.

Retirement planning should begin the moment you receive your first paycheck.

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is notorious for misunderstanding the recharacterizations of Roth conversions.

These are just some examples of the creative beneficiary designations, but the important part is to dream big about what your wishes are.

After you reach the age of 70 1/2, the IRS requires you to begin taking minimum distributions from your traditional retirement accounts.

Carefully computing and adding your Social Security early retirement safe withdrawal rate can safely boost your early retirement standard of living without jeopardizing your future finances.

We highly recommend a Donor Advised Fund for generous investors.

A swimmer takes one stroke at a time and yet makes great progress.

Here are the most common reasons that your plan might need to be updated or revised and what to do about them.