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2021 End-of-Year Financial Planning
Okay, the leftover turkey has been dealt with and there are still 31 days until the end of the year. So, maybe it’s a good time to think about end-of-year financial planning. Here are a few of the more common things you might want to consider. Withholding. Ideally, the taxes withheld from your paychecks add […]
How to Title Your Assets
Asset titling is often overlooked and can be one of the most important elements of an estate plan. If asset titling has not been correctly coordinated with your estate plan, your plan may not turn out as you intended. Most of us would like to specify how the assets we accumulated over our lifetime are […]
Top Reasons to Become Debt-Free
For most of us, debt is a necessary part of life. It’s the only way we can afford big-ticket items such as a home. Unfortunately, many of us get too attached to using debt to obtain things we want (but may not actually need). So, how bad is this, really? Well, studies have shown that […]
Document Retention
Who hasn’t wondered how long we should keep various documents? Keep them too long and it becomes unwieldy and makes it hard to find what you want. Don’t keep them long enough and you may not be able to respond to the tax man or some other authority. Is an electronic copy good enough or […]
How to Recognize and Address Cognitive Impairment
Many of us have experienced our own “senior moments.” Where are the car keys? Why did I come into this room? What’s the name of that person? Most of these memory lapses are a normal part of life and are very manageable. On the other hand, cognitive impairment can progress to a point where it’s […]
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 […]
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 […]