Despite the first thing you probably thought of when you saw the title of this post, this is not a political article. While I am a self-admitted news junkie and very interested in politics, this post is about the damage that headlines can cause to your investment portfolio—if you allow them to. Over the last […]
Category: Blog Posts
Roth IRAs and 401(k)s—Why All the Fuss Lately?
Have you noticed the increased attention to Roth IRAs and 401(k)s recently? It seems that, every day, I see a new article promoting the advantages of using a Roth for your retirement planning. Sure, a Roth is a great way to fill up the tax-free bucket of funds available for you at retirement. But as […]
We Are Team Florida 2018!
Usually my posts are on a topic related to money. This one is not. If you’ve known me or my family for any length of time, you know that we have a very strong tie to the Special Olympics program in our area. We just completed our 12th year of coaching the central Brevard County […]
Should You Make Traditional or Roth Contributions to Your 401(k)?
More and more 401(k) plans are offering a choice on how you make your contributions. You can make deposits into the plan in the traditional way, which means that your money goes into the account before taxes are paid on that money. In recent years, many plans have begun offering another choice. If your plan […]
If You Only Knew This, Planning Would Be Easy
How long are you going to live? That’s an impossible question to answer. But when you are planning for your financial future, it’s a very important question that needs an answer. Well, maybe not an answer, but as least a good guess. One of the main reasons for putting together a financial plan is to […]
Find A Penny, Pick It Up?—How Little Things Add Up for Financial Success
You probably remember the children’s rhyme “Find a penny, pick it up, all day long you’ll have good luck.” Ever wonder where that originated? There’s a surprising amount of information on that rhyme available with a simple Google search. It turns out that it may have originated from the belief in ancient times that metals […]
Improve Your After-Tax Return with an Asset Location Strategy
You know how important it is to diversify your investment portfolio. You spread your investment dollars across several types of investments because you don’t want to have all of your proverbial eggs in the same basket. We suggest diversifying across several categories, or asset classes, because the different asset classes perform differently. But it’s also […]
Retiring with a Pension? You Have Some Decisions to Make
It used to be that a retirement pension was common. It was typical for someone to work for a company for 20 or 30 years and retire with the proverbial gold watch and a pension. The so-called “three-legged stool” of retirement income was made up of personal savings, Social Security benefits, and a pension. The […]
The 3-Bucket Approach to Retirement Savings
What tax bracket will you be in when you retire? Unless you are retiring within the next year or two, this question might be a difficult one to answer. Predicting future tax rates can be as difficult as predicting the stock market, interest rates, and the weather. Taxes can have a huge effect on your […]
How Do I Replace My Paycheck When I Retire?
While it doesn’t seem like it, saving for retirement is easy. You set aside a certain amount each month, or each paycheck, and invest it in your IRA or 401(k). That is, of course, an oversimplification. But once you retire and need to figure out how to replace your paycheck, the process becomes a lot […]