Posts Tagged ‘Financial Planning’

As a recent Bankrate.com article noted, 43% of Americans have no life insurance. Some view it as optional; some have simply procrastinated when it comes to buying a policy. Others believe that they can’t afford it. In reality, life insurance is cheap today. If you just want term life coverage – essentially life insurance that…

An IRA is a retirement savings account, right? Indeed it is. IRA stands for Individual Retirement Arrangement. Even with that definition, however, there is no prohibition on using an IRA to save for other purposes, such as funding a college education. Why would anyone choose an IRA as a college savings vehicle? At first glance…

Investors are routinely warned about allowing their emotions to influence their financial decisions.  They are less routinely cautioned about letting their preconceptions and biases color their financial choices. In a battle between the facts & our preconceptions, our preconceptions may win. If we acknowledge this tendency, we may be able to avoid some unexamined choices…

Americans do many things with their money and invested assets, most of them on the up and up. There are exceptions, however – cases in which people unintentionally break the law, flirt with illegal behavior, or pay federal tax penalties for their indiscretions. Here are a few examples, from the cavalier to the ridiculous. Rounding…

Life insurance is hard. It’s hard to know if you have the right kind. It’s hard to know if you have enough. And it’s hard to know if you need any at all. The insurance companies have made it even harder by coming up with bewildering names: whole life, term life, universal life. Some life…

Between the ages of 40 and 60, many people increase their commitment to investing and retirement saving. At the same time, many fall prey to some common money blunders and harbor financial assumptions that may be inaccurate. These errors and suppositions are worth examining, as you do not want to succumb to them. See if…

If you have a child with special needs, you face long-run financial demands that cannot be fully met through federal and state assistance. What can you do to try and meet them? A special needs trust may provide an answer to this dilemma. This is a trust designed to provide for assorted care and lifestyle…

Who should manage significant wealth? In recent years, more and more high net worth households have found their answer to that question: a Registered Investment Advisor.     What is the RIA difference? RIAs have a fiduciary duty to act in your best interest. That is a legal obligation, and it is expressed in the investment…

Many younger Americans lack life insurance. A 2014 report from insurance industry analyst LIMRA found that only a third of Gen Y Americans have any life insurance coverage. In the same survey of 6,000 respondents, six in 10 Gen X and Gen Y Americans said their households would be hard pressed to make ends meet…

Elders are financially defrauded daily in this country. Just a tiny percentage of these crimes are made public. In fact, the National Adult Protective Services Association (NAPSA) estimates that only 1 in 44 cases of elder financial abuse are reported. A recent NAPSA study found that 11% of seniors had been financially “abused, neglected or…