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7 Steps to Building Your Family Financial Plan

How to Develop a Comprehensive Financial Strategy to Set Your Family Up for Success

Every family will experience various stages of life and unexpected events as the members of that family grow. Having a strong family financial plan in place can help ensure that, no matter what your family encounters, you’ll remain on firm financial footing. Developing a comprehensive strategy for managing your money requires that you start with the basics – that means setting up a budget, paying down your debts, and building a solid safety net for emergencies. Depending on the family, it may also mean investing for retirement and starting a special savings account dedicated to future college costs.

Personal financial planning can be complicated enough, so financial planning for your entire family can be especially challenging. However, it’s not impossible. With dedication and deliberate care, you can make a family financial plan that works for everyone. No matter your family’s situation, there are key elements that should be included in any family financial plan. As you get started with yours, here are seven key steps to consider.

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Small Business Employee Compensation Packages: Choosing What’s Right for You

A Written Compensation Plan is Vital to Your Company’s Success

If you’re a successful small business owner, you likely have a solid business plan in place. However, if you’re like many entrepreneurs, you aren’t as adept when it comes to devising employee compensation packages. It can feel a bit like an afterthought when you’re focused on launching or growing your business, but determining the right compensation package may be critical to your long-term success. After all, the right compensation can assist you in recruiting top talent and in retaining your top performers.

As you consider your options, do so with your company’s overall strategy and values in mind. You want to be able to compete for the best talent, but without overextending your resources. Below we’ll discuss a few ways you can get started.

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Emergency Funds: Why Everyone – Even High-Income Earners – Should Have One

There’s a Reason so Many Experts Recommend this Safety Net

We’ve all heard the prevailing wisdom that everyone should have an emergency fund, but is it necessary for physicians, lawyers, and other high-income earners? This is a bit of a divisive question, with some financial experts continuing to push the dogma of having a cash reserve of at least three months’ salary set aside somewhere, and others making a sophisticated argument that an emergency fund doesn’t truly serve high-income earners.

It’s true that not every person’s financial needs are the same, but it’s still important for everyone to build and maintain an emergency fund regardless of income or assets.

Wherever you are in your career and financial journey, having a cash reserve set aside for a rainy day serves three important purposes.

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Benefits of Hiring a Retirement Plan Consultant

Experts Offer Key Assistance in this Complex Landscape

Your company has unique goals and needs when it comes to your retirement plan and your participants. Since you’re busy running and growing your business – and since the number of lawsuits related to mismanagement of retirement plans has risen in recent years – you may find tremendous value in working with a retirement plan consultant.

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Legacy Planning: Five Ways to Help Your Heirs Preserve and Grow their Inheritance

Don’t Skip this Often-Overlooked Step as You Plan the Disposition of Your Estate

Legacy planning, also called estate planning, is a long-term process. In fact, you’ve probably been engaged in it for much of your adult life, even if you didn’t realize it in the moment. Things like taking out a life insurance policy and naming beneficiaries on your retirement accounts are important steps in planning the eventual disposition of your estate and ensuring those you care about will be financially secure.

On the formal side of things, it’s important that you meet with an estate planning attorney, write a legal will, draft a durable power of attorney, and execute an advanced health care directive. In this article, however, we will examine an important legacy planning step that is too often overlooked: preparing your heirs to receive their inheritance – and helping them to preserve and grow it, as well.

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5 Tips for Physicians: Paying Off Student Loan Debt

Medical School Comes with a Hefty Price Tag, but Here’s How to Tackle It

Though medical school can be a fantastic investment, it’s no secret that it can be incredibly expensive. Most med school students believe this investment to be worth it due to the estimated income of most healthcare professionals. However, it comes at a high cost. Statistics show that the average student loan debt for college students is $32,731, whereas the average medical school debt is $201,490 – quite a drastic difference.

Having large amounts of debt can seriously impact your finances, as well as your emotional and physical well-being. It can increase stress and tension and contribute to things such as poor judgment, inability to focus, and habitual procrastination. These are obviously not conducive to establishing a thriving medical career.

If you’re a medical student or doctor looking to protect your net worth and quality of life, it’s imperative that you establish a savvy plan for paying off your student loans. Here are five tips to get you started.

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Should You Rent or Buy a Home When You’re Retired?

Why More Retirees Are Enjoying the Perks of Renting

One of the biggest financial questions near-retirees must answer is what their living situation will look like in retirement. Many choose to move closer to friends or family, while others move simply to downsize. In addition to location and square footage, however, it’s also important to make the decision between renting or buying. Though it may come as a surprise, renting in retirement has become a growing trend. In fact, since 2005, the largest growing group of renters has been people in their fifties and sixties.

Renting may be a growing trend, but how do you know if this is the right decision for you? There are several factors, both emotional and financial, that you’ll need to take into consideration. To help you explore your options, we will discuss several of these factors below, including crunching the numbers, creating cash flow, and the freedom of movement.

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Fitting Equity Compensation into Your Financial Plan

The smartest move when granted equity benefits is to plan now, not 10 years down the road.

A growing trend in employee benefits is the inclusion of equity compensation to attract the best talent and to recognize top employees. Equity compensation is a form of non-cash compensation that represents ownership in the company, such as stock options or restricted stock. Depending on the company and the type of compensation they provide, employees will either receive company stock upon joining the team or the option to purchase it at a future date into their employment.

Equity compensation can seem complicated, and it may be tempting to let your benefits sit on autopilot, especially if you plan on staying at the company for a while and don’t have immediate plans to sell the stock. This might not be the best move, however, because equity compensation can come with unique tax rules, tax implications, and liquidity challenges. In order to ensure that you’re making the most of these benefits, it’s important to take a strategic approach to manage them and work to incorporate them into your broader wealth management plan. As you do so, keep the following questions and opportunities in mind.

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Cash Balance Pension Plans Can Benefit Doctors, Lawyers and Small Business Owners

Five Reasons to Consider this Defined-Benefit Plan for Your Business

Many small business owners, including doctors and lawyers in private practice, can benefit from a cash balance pension plan. These plans offer significant tax deductions and accelerated retirement savings, making them especially beneficial for those with retirement looming in the near future. What’s more, this defined-benefit plan with a 401(k) twist can help you meet the needs of your employees, too. Many high-earning professionals are unaware of this option, though it offers benefits from both the retirement planning and tax avoidance standpoints.

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How to Use the S.M.A.R.T. Goal-Setting Framework to Set and Achieve Financial Goals

A Savvy Strategy for Meeting Your Money Objectives

If you want to achieve your life’s goals, you must first envision them and then create expectations for yourself. When you begin to see your goals as reality, it can become easier to see how to reach them, too. However, this can often feel like an uphill battle – especially when it comes to your financial goals.

Planning for success in your financial future is a challenge, but you can help yourself stay focused and on track by setting the right type of goals at the outset. To improve your chances of success, set S.M.A.R.T. financial goals.

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