Another Reason to Eliminate Credit Card Debt
You might have heard that the Federal Reserve raised the federal funds interest rate another 0.25% recently. That puts this rate at 2.0%. (It is expected to rise to 2.5% by the end of the year and to 3.5% by 2020.) As the Fed rate increases, so does the prime rate that banks use for […]
Reducing 2018 Taxes with Qualified Charitable Distributions
You are probably aware that the tax laws are changing in 2018. However, many of us aren’t crystal clear on all of the details of these changes. For example, deductions are changing. The biggest deduction change is that the standard deduction has increased. The increase applies to all taxpayers. As an example, it’s $24,000 for […]
Transitioning to Retirement
Retirement — kind of has a nice ring to it, doesn’t it? For many of us, it means starting a new chapter in our life and doing some of the things we didn’t seem to have time for while we were working. I’ve written before about some of the financial aspects of retirement. The Retirement […]
IRS Tax Scams
April 15th is coming up soon and the tax scammers have been in high gear. I even received a recorded call threatening me with arrest from some scammers this year! The most important thing to know is that the IRS never makes an initial contact by phone or email. If they do send you a […]
Inflation
I’m pretty sure every reader has a pretty good understanding of inflation. In general terms, things cost more as inflation rises so that a fixed amount of money buys fewer things. And from an investment point of view, a portfolio worth a certain amount of money will buy less as inflation rises. Inflation is measured […]
The Bitcoin Bubble
If I say the 2000 dot-com bubble or the 2007 housing bubble, you immediately have a pretty good idea what a bubble is. Basically it’s when the price of some asset strongly exceeds the asset’s intrinsic value. The first recorded asset bubble occurred in the 1600s when the price of Dutch tulip bulbs went through […]
2018 Financial Resolutions
Happy New Year! As we welcome in 2018, we might want to set a couple of financial resolutions so that we have plenty of time to realize our goals. Typically, people have similar resolutions in mind. Common ones are increasing your 401(k), preparing a spending plan, reviewing the new tax rules, increasing your emergency fund, […]
As 2017 Winds Down…
Can you believe it, we’re only a month away from the end of the year! For many of us, we’re pretty busy with our normal activities (work, school, etc.) and then we have the holidays to prepare for too. It seems like there’s no time for anything else and yet there may be some very […]
Retirement Checklist
There are many, many decisions to be made as you move from the working phase of your life to the retirement phase. Retirement planning is a common discussion that we have with our clients – regardless of their age. This article talks about some retirement considerations that seem to be universally applicable. Retirement Date. You […]
The Three Phases of Retirement
Congratulations if you’ve already reached retirement! This can be a wonderful time in your life. But just like pre-retirement, there will be different phases in retirement. In this article, I’ll introduce you to what many people call the three phases of retirement. Phase One. For many of us, this is the first decade or so […]