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…

You can prepare for your retirement transition years before it occurs. In doing so, you can do your best to avoid the kind of financial surprises that tend to upset an unsuspecting new retiree. How much monthly income will you need? Look at your monthly expenses and add them up. (Consider also the trips, adventures…

HIRING REBOUNDS IN APRIL Employers added 223,000 new jobs last month, the Labor Department noted Friday. That news made the March payroll gain of 85,000 look like an aberration. The main jobless rate fell to a 7-year low of 5.4% in April, and the U-6 rate tracking the total unemployed ticked down to 10.8%; the…

Will bond investors soon suffer major losses? In the last few years, Bill Gross, Jim Rogers and other pundits have warned of a bond bubble. While it has yet to occur – the broad bond market yielded an annualized 4.42% from 2010-2014 – the threat remains. Quality bonds have a place in a portfolio, but…

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…

All too often, family wealth fails to last. One generation builds a business – or even a fortune – and it is lost in ensuing decades. Why does it happen, again and again? It is because families fall prey to serious money blunders – old and new. Classic mistakes are made, and changing times aren’t…

Many are the stories of family wealth lost. In the late 19th century, industrial tycoon Cornelius Vanderbilt amassed the equivalent of $100 billion in today’s dollars – but when 120 of his descendants met at a family gathering in 1973, there were no millionaires among them. His fortune eroded within two generations of his passing.…

PERSONAL SPENDING IMPROVES, Q1 GDP POOR Consumer spending rose 0.4% in March, the Commerce Department noted; that doubled the February advance. Personal incomes were flat, however. The Bureau of Economic Analysis said the economy grew 0.2% in the first quarter; in better news, private-sector wages rose 2.8% in Q1. Another major indicator stayed flat in…

Who will retire with substantial debt? It seems many baby boomers will – too many. In a recent Employee Benefit Research Institute survey, 44% of boomers reported that they were concerned about the size of their household debt. While many are carrying mortgages, paying with plastic also exerts a drag on their finances. According to…