Category: Financial Planning View all
What Could Millennials Do With Gifts?
Gift money is an especially dangerous opportunity. An opportunity that can have big rewards or just blown and wasted in a minute.
Begin the Long Term Care Conversation
I recently had a conversation with a client about their long term care insurance premiums. The difficulty with any insurance is paying for it with the hopes of never having to use the insurance benefit. This is particularly difficult with long term car …
College Student Money Mistakes
As my oldest son is finishing his second year of college I am always aware of the mistakes that he could have made. To his and his parent’s credit he hasn’t made any yet.
Gifting College Aid to your Grandkids
I posted this blog a couple of months ago about gifting to the next generation via college savings plans, specifically the 529 plan for a couple of my clients. I read this article and watched the short video. It has some good tips. And, by gifting to y …
Tax-Free Gift to Great Grandchild’s Future (Investing in a 529 Plan)
I recently had the pleasure of opening two 529 plans. One for a client’s grandchild and another for a client’s great grandchild. These clients are using the 529 plans to gift to their heirs in a tax efficient manner. When distributions from the 529 pla …
Millennials (and others) Avoid These Investment (Financial) Mistakes
I’ve been helping my younger third generation and millennial) clients establish good financial habits. It part, I’m their financial coach, guide, and counselor. I help them through their planning process, guide them in some of their financial decisions …
Back to School and Tuition Costs
School for many kids started earlier this month. My kids are in their fourth week already. They are already looking forward to getting out in May next year. Tuition is in the air.
An Issue of Insurance: Lack of Faith?
You may be asking, “Does having insurance indicate my lack of faith?” Or, “Isn’t non-required insurance a waste of money? I mean, if the government doesn’t require it, it must not be important.” No, to both questions. My third guiding money principle s …
An Issue of Insurance: Why You Need an Umbrella Policy
I’ve recently met with and had conversations with several people about one of the most basic types of insurance; an umbrella policy. Sometimes called an additional liability policy. One day, two conversations were with men in their 50s. During our conv …
Doing Good For The Poor
“I am for doing good to the poor, but I differ in opinion of the means. I think the best way of doing good to the poor, is not making them easy in poverty, but leading or driving them out of it. In my youth I traveled much, and I observed in different …
How Much College Debt is Enough?
This is the first time I’ve seen a rule of thumb for how much college debt it enough. Here’s the rule: Borrow less than that first year’s salary. Here’s more on the topic by Susan Tompor.
Borrowing From Your Future Self
I ran across this TED talk video the other day; Why 2.5 billion heartbeats might change the way you think about money: Preet Banerjee at TEDxUTSC. While some of the numbers are not realistic today, the concepts are very much so. My favorite quote is “T …
