Tag: personal finances

Retirement Planning Considerations for Spouses with a Significant Age Gap

Written by Zachary Morris, CFP® on May 11, 2020.

In some things in life – love, in particular – age is a fairly meaningless number. When it comes to financial planning, however, age can begin to matter quite a lot. This is why it is exceedingly important for spouses with a wide age gap to have a long-term financial plan in place. As we collectively face a time of economic uncertainty, smart long-term planning can also offer you peace of mind.

Long-term financial plans include retirement planning, of course, and this is an area in which traditional advice often won’t work well for couples separated by a decade or more. If you and your spouse are in this scenario, you’ll need a retirement plan that can accommodate the needs of two different stages of life.

Let’s explore a few of the considerations that mixed-age couples need to be aware of for proper retirement planning.

The CARES Act Has Changed 2020 RMD Rules

Written by Zachary Morris, CFP® on April 23, 2020.

Required Minimum Distributions are Temporarily Suspended

When President Trump signed the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act on March 27, he enacted the largest aid package in American history. One important impact is that Required Minimum Distributions (RMDs) for 2020 are, in essence, suspended. In this way, the federal government chose to sacrifice short-term tax revenue in order to provide immediate financial relief to retirees.

This change bears discussion, however, as there are many questions about what the CARES Act means for those who have already taken their 2020 RMDs, as well as any impact on taxes and inherited accounts.

Let’s begin with a review of the basic tenets of the RMD portion of this new law.

Financial Literacy Month, Coronavirus and Financial Resilience

Written by Zachary Morris, CFP® on April 16, 2020.

How to Focus on Your Finances in the Month of April

Beginning 16 years ago, April was declared Financial Literacy Month as part of a strategy to enhance and increase nationwide financial literacy. It was implemented with the hope that it would lead to increased government advocacy of financial literacy programs, as well as spark more interest in programming already offered through schools, non-profit organizations, and businesses.

The creation of a month-long focus on financial literacy was a pointed acknowledgment of its importance in helping Americans gain necessary financial knowledge – knowledge that proves integral during a time of crisis like we are facing now with the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic.

Though prevention is always preferable over a cure, it’s never too late to learn more and change your financial behaviors. Doing so can help you become more resilient in the face of financial adversity during times of personal or worldwide crisis. So, here are three ways you can personally celebrate Financial Literacy Month this year:

Lifestyle Creep and How to Avoid or Reverse It

Written by Jeff Diamond, AIF® on May 22, 2019.

Whether you have heard the phrase lifestyle creep or not, the odds are good that you have experienced it either first-hand or indirectly. Another word for it is lifestyle inflation. As you make more money, your apartment or house gets a little bigger, your furniture gets nicer, and dining out becomes more frequent. Then you meet someone special and your family grows from one person to two and then comes baby and…another baby and so on and so forth. The house needs to accommodate more people, the cars need to be safer and nicer and larger.

Impact Investing: Pros and Cons

Written by Zachary Morris, CFP® on May 1, 2019.

“SOCIETY IS DEMANDING THAT COMPANIES, BOTH PUBLIC AND PRIVATE, SERVE A SOCIAL PURPOSE. TO PROSPER OVER TIME, EVERY COMPANY MUST NOT ONLY DELIVER FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE BUT ALSO SHOW HOW IT MAKES A POSITIVE CONTRIBUTION TO SOCIETY.”- LARRY FINK, CEO OF BLACKROCK.

Recently, as Impact Investing has gained more attention in the investment world, we have received a number of questions from clients and prospective clients about what it is, whether it is a viable strategy, how it can be implemented into an existing investment strategy and whether we currently offer impact investing strategies to our clients. Given the frequency of these questions, we wanted to share this article to shed some light on the subject.

It should be made clear that we do not currently have a specific strategy dedicated to impact investing and it is not commonly a mitigating factor in the manner in which we make our investment decisions as a fiduciary to our clients. If in the future, there comes a demand for such a strategy, then we will consider incorporating impact investing and the values behind it into our portfolios.

Five Years Until Retirement: Countdown and Checklist

Written by Zachary Morris, CFP® on April 17, 2019.

Like the horizon line, retirement was always in view but seemingly far away. Now, that endpoint may be looking a lot closer and more real. Retirement is moving from a someday category to an in less than a decade category and you may find yourself panicking. For years you dutifully looked over your employer match paperwork, checked your savings balances, and maybe even had a financial advisor to help you out. But now the finish line is in sight and you may worry that you are not where you need to be. In this article, we will go over some checklist items to look over to get you on track and restore that peace of mind.