Financial News and Updates

Stay On Track

Stay On Track

There are many factors to understanding whether you are on track to meet your financial goals for retirement. These not only include what you have set aside in savings and investments, but your rate of return, and inflation. If factors you can’t control such as the market or inflation have

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Tax Refund

Tax Refunds

We are well into tax season, which means more and more individuals are beginning to think about their tax refunds and what they can do with them. The solution relates to how healthy the individual’s cash flow is. If you like the feeling of getting a “windfall” in the form

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Social Security Tax

How is Social Security Taxed?

With tax season approaching, some of you have asked if the social security payments you receive are taxed. The answer is yes, if your annual income is above a certain amount when you’re receiving those payments. And because that income threshold is relatively low, it’s likely that some of your

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Not Enough Time

Not Enough Time

We often think of retirement in terms of years. We think about how there isn’t enough time left in our lives to do all the things we planned on doing. That same thought of ‘not enough time left’ also comes to mind when we lose some of our life savings.

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Social Security

Social Security Survivor Benefit

We are often asked, “When is the best time for a widow or widower to collect the social security survivor benefits, they have become entitled to?” If you or someone you know have questions about this, we may be able to help. There is a process of applying for those

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retirement can sneak up on you

Retirement Can Sneak Up on You

We’ve all read so many articles reminding us to start early with our retirement savings. But, considering all of the different financial obligations that seem to happen along the way, some of them expected and some not, sometimes retirement sneaks up on you. Before you know it, you may realize

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Reevaluate your budget

Reevaluate Your Budget

A new year often means a fresh start! Reevaluating your financial needs, budget, and savings is also often done now. Building a budget or adjusting the one you already have is one step, as is looking honestly at any debt. Another important step is making sure that your emergency savings

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COLA

The 2022 Cost of Living Adjustment

With 2022 just beginning, we thought we’d share with you some of the changes to Social Security. The Social Security Administration has issued a 5.9% cost-of-living adjustment (known as a “COLA”) for 2022, the largest COLA in nearly 40 years. How much of a difference this will make in your

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2022

Review Your Strategy for the New Year

Over the past few weeks we’ve made posts regarding some of the things to think about when providing for your family’s future and protecting what you’ve worked for. As we enter the New Year, there are also strategies you can think about putting in place to pass on your legacy.

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retirement goals road map

Retirement Road Map

Take the first step to protect yourself. The pandemic has created a lot of unexpected events, has impacted the markets, and has caused each of us to adapt to the changes. Now is a good time to review how your needs may have changed and what you’ll need to adjust

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Stock market

Protecting Yourself From Risk

As we’ve talked about before, investment risk is a risk that everyone shares. Having a portfolio of products aligned with your risk tolerance and time horizon is important to protect against market risks. As you age, your time horizon and risk tolerance will most likely change. It is important to

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Inflation

The Cause of Inflation

A recent article in the Wall Street Journal states “Last April, economists thought inflation would be around 2.5% right now. Instead, it’s over 6%. Even by the forgiving standards of economic forecasting, that’s a miss of epic proportions.” So, what’s the cause of this increase, and what does it mean?

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Long-term care

What Does Medicare Cover?

As a recent article indicates, Government data shows “nearly 70% of individuals who reach age 65 will need long-term care at some point.” Further, “while the median cost of an assisted living facility was $4,300 a month as of 2020, what most Seniors don’t realize is that Medicare doesn’t pay

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Prepare to Live on $33,000 a Year If You Retire With a $1 Million Portfolio

Preparing For a Reduction

A recent article tells us “People retiring in the next few decades should only count on withdrawing 3.3% of their savings a year, down from the well-established number of 4%” according to a recent report by Morningstar. Inc.  The withdrawal rate refers to how much a retiree can “safely” withdraw

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Federal Tax Brackets

Adjusting For 2022 Tax Rules

Soon it will be time to file your 2021 taxes. But did you realize that the 2022 tax rules will “differ substantially from 2021”?  Your tax brackets will be higher, and so will your standard deduction.  There is still time to reduce your 2021 tax bill, but time is running

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Retirement savings

Developing a Retirement Income Strategy

When building the foundation for your retirement income strategy, it’s important to consider ways to ensure your money lasts as long as you need it.  Speaking with us about the following six questions can be a good starting point: How much of your necessary expenses are covered by outside income

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“Retired” definition

Are you Ready to Retire?

If you’re able to easily determine your own retirement date, be thankful that circumstances haven’t led to that date having to change. Also, be aware that determining when to retire isn’t a simple choice. Are you sure you’re emotionally ready? You don’t want to end up regretting retiring earlier, or

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FIRE

Financial Independence, Retire Early

Do you know what FIRE is? FIRE, in financial terms, stands for “Financial Independence, Retire Early.” The goal of FIRE is to save or invest enough of your money that you can retire earlier than traditional retirement plans would permit. Essentially, you need to keep your expenses low so that

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