… from the Perspective of a Financial Planner (I am not an attorney!) Estate planning can get complicated, and sometimes people put it off exactly for that reason. Who wants to be digging into dusty legal documents when there are other, more pleasant things to do (like washing your socks)? …
Last month we discussed the different types of beneficiaries you can name on your IRA accounts. The beneficiaries with the most perks were the “eligible designated beneficiaries,” like a spouse. But what about naming a Trust as beneficiary? Isn’t that supposed to give loved ones some “VIP” benefits, too? The …
I want to talk for a moment about Beneficiaries. How you designate your assets may or may not seem important to you, but it will be extremely important to those you leave behind. This is called Estate Planning, and it’s jokingly referred to as the way you can continue to …
Ah, summertime, and the height of home buying season! Add to that a red-hot real estate market right now, and you’ve got a lot of people with home-buying on their minds. But in addition to the excitement, there can be a massive amount of overwhelm. And no wonder! There are …
“Should we combine our finances??” It doesn’t matter your age, gender, sex, or tax bracket. This is a big, important question any time you are considering a partnership. There are several ways to approach the question of combining finances. Here I’ll describe the two I see most often. It’s important …
“You can’t take it with you” is a common phrase I hear when it comes to money. Another great one I heard this week from a client is, “we are all just conduits.” In other words, money flows through us while we are here, and continues to flow, even after …
Have you ever gotten to the end of the month, looked at your bank account balance, and asked yourself, “Where did all the money go?!” Or worse, had a spouse ask you this. (The last one is from my own experience on numerous occasions after 27+ years of marriage.) It …
3 Things You Can Do As a Responsible and Loving Adult Many parents ask me about what they can do to help their children achieve financial independence. They may have different ideas in mind: a college fund? A financial gift at some important milestone? A car, perhaps? All do-able, and …
We are in a period of the lowest interest rates ever. If you are borrowing money, these are some of the best of times. We have never been able to borrow money for homes, businesses, cars, etc. as low as we have been able to this past year. As a …
Ah, taxes, everyone’s favorite subject! To be fair, I have friends who actually enjoy diving into tax tables and itemizing deductions, which is wonderful! But that is not the majority of people I know. Our tax system is challenging. Yet, we all must learn to navigate it, to some extent. …
