Year-End Financial To-Do List
Yep, 2020 is almost over. (I know, many of us are saying thank goodness!) There’s so much going on in December that it’s difficult to find time for the important, but none urgent items. Here are a few important financial items that it would be good to take a look at. Holiday Debt It’s so […]
Comprehensive Financial Planning
Your financial well-being depends on a number of factors and they’re all important. For example, suppose you don’t properly understand how much you need for retirement and you consequentially run out of funds near the end of your life. Or, suppose your savings are on track, but that a major medical event or a liability […]
Tax Planning 2020
Believe it or not, we’re about three months from the end of the (calendar) tax year. However, there’s still time to lower your 2020 taxes. Here are some commonly used approaches to reducing taxes. Lower Your Income via a Tax-Deferred Savings Plan Tax-deferred savings plans let you reduce your Adjusted Gross Income by the amount […]
The Value of a Financial Advisor
We’ve talked before about the value of a financial planner, but the current pandemic has brought certain aspects of this value into sharper focus. One could construct a laundry list of reasons a financial planner can be an important partner, but I really liked a recent Vanguard study that organized these benefits into three categories: […]
Financial Navigation During the Pandemic
The coronavirus pandemic continues and certainly will do so through at least the end of the year. While this is an unprecedented period for almost all of us, there are some well-known things we can do to successfully navigate our way through it. I’ve summarized a few of them below. Watch Cash Flow. This is […]
Using Credit Cards Wisely
During the coronavirus stay-at-home and safer-at-home periods, many of us have been buying groceries and other necessities on the internet using our credit cards. This has reminded me that it might be a good time to review some of the basics for the use of credit cards. Fully Pay Card Debt Each Month. It’s important […]
Using the Pandemic as a Catalyst for Financial Change
As I write this article, Colorado is transitioning from stay-at-home to safer-at-home rules. We’ve had almost 24,000 coronavirus cases and over 1,300 coronavirus deaths, our unemployment rate is currently about 11.3% and our older citizens or those with health risks are still advised to stay at home. So, while we’re trying to find the right […]
2020 RMD Waived
As part of the recently enacted Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act), required minimum distributions (RMDs) from IRA, 401(k), 403(b) and other qualified retirement plans are waived for 2020. If you don’t need the cash this year, this law will allow you to avoid withdrawing funds when the market is down substantially. […]
Coronavirus
We’re sure all of our readers are very familiar with the coronavirus pandemic that the world is experiencing. You’ve been told to wash your hands, don’t touch your face, practice social distancing (or in some cases, isolation) and so forth. As we write this article, Larimer County has 101 confirmed cases (61 of which are […]
Retirement Accounts & Taxes
You probably already know that there are several common ways to save for retirement. These include 401(k) and IRA accounts. What you might not be as familiar with, is how these various retirement vehicles are taxed. There are four concepts in the taxation of retirement accounts. First, some accounts allow you to invest money without […]