My Comments: I describe myself as a financial planner and investment advisor. I use this blog to attempt to bring my ideas to the general public, some of whom will from time to time contact me for advice. (at least that’s the plan...) Meanwhile, members of the general public are faced with a choice of …
Continue reading SEC Offers Primer on Selecting a Financial Planner
My Comments: As a financial planner for longer than I can remember, there has always been tension around the question of whether or not to have an individual retirement account, or IRA. The IRS makes the rules that allow someone to put earned income in a special account with tax advantages. You know what I …
Continue reading Are Richer Clients Getting Outsized Benefits From Tax Deferral?
My Comments: The word “bubble”, in the context of investments, has come to mean a time when values are overstated, and many people are going to suffer financial disaster. The classic examples include the Tulip Mania, where in February 1637 in Denmark, some single tulip bulbs sold for more than 10 times the annual income …
My Comments: Social Security can be a hot button issue from time to time. Proponents of small government decry the socialist trends foisted on this country by Democrats over the years. And while I've been a Democrat all my life, and a proud recipient of checks from the SSA for about six years now, I've …
Continue reading Ignore The Deficit Hawks: Social Security Is Easy To Fix
My Comments: I’m a small business owner and have been for almost forty years. I’m in the business of helping others retire, and I have to confess to you that I’ve done a poor to average job preparing myself for retirement. Fortunately, my health and my profession allow me to continue to work, never mind …
Continue reading Forty Percent of Small Business Owners Don’t Save For Retirement
"Money isn't the most important thing in life, but it's reasonably close to oxygen on the "gotta have it" scale." Zig Ziglar So I asked my clients, "which would you prefer; a plan that has a 70% chance of success or one that has a 90% chance of success?" We had been discussing how to …
My Comments: Many of my clients are widows. They became my clients when their husbands were alive and over the course of time, we are where we are today. Today, I do my best to help them manage their financial lives and provide some measure of assurance about their financial future. Clearly, women live longer …
Continue reading 5 Crucial Pieces of Retirement Advice for Women
My Comments: Oceans of ink will be used in the next several weeks as pundits from across the spectrum weigh in on the likelihood of their favorite candidate winnning the White House. My sense of the issue when it comes to investments is that there are forces way beyond the influence, much less control, of …
Continue reading How Will the Presidential Election Impact the S&P500?
My Comments: I continue to be puzzled why parents are not interested in the free money available from college admissions offices as they prepare their children for high school graduation and preparations for college. There are billions of dollars out there that don't have to be paid back. The only catch is knowing how to …
Continue reading Financial Aid Letter Would Provide College Cost Comparison
My Comments: Yes, the last few years have been very frustrating for those of us concerned about jobs, earning a living, having confidence that life will return to normal. The stock market has done OK, but you don't have to listen to politicians to notice all the empty buildings around town. To those who will …
Helping Define Your Financial Future 