Part II
Well we made it back in one piece, fully rested and ready to take on the world. Well at least our decision on what to buy and where to buy. So here’s our verdict: we are going to purchase a house that we can visit occasionally (vacation) and also retire to. (Remember, my wife wants to retire ideally in 5-7 years.) This creates an additional component to our decision. We don’t want to necessarily foot the entire bill for the mortgage, insurance, possible HOA, etc, so this home will also need to be in a location that will provide us with rental income from other vacationers. And who said financial decisions like this were easy? Continue reading →
Recently my family and I went on vacation. Well, actually it was two vacations; one right after the other. The first was a working vacation—I worked while my family vacationed. I travel quite a bit in my line of work so whenever the kids are out of school and I’m going to be away for a few days I like to bring the family along with me. It gives them something to do, and to be honest with you I really enjoy the company. It also saves us money. I have to get a hotel when I travel, and I have to get to and from the hotel, so at least part of the travel expense is covered. It also gives my children an appreciation of what their dad does for a living, and after a long day of work I enjoy hearing about the fun things they did that day. And who doesn’t enjoy sitting in a hot tub with their significant other watching the kids jump into the hotel pool? Continue reading →
Most employees know every year to expect to make key decisions about their health insurance coverage, usually each fall. But, are they aware that there are other critical decisions regarding voluntary benefits that may not even be subject to an open enrollment timeframe?
I recently facilitated a Retirement Readiness workshop for a group of pre-retirees in Chicago, where the biggest buzz centered around the group LTC policy available. I try to encourage open dialogue during my financial education workshops, so when I began to talk about some of the risks in retirement, Continue reading →
When you go to the grocery store today to pick up a gallon of milk you have the opportunity to choose between whole milk, 2%, 1% or fat free and don’t forget that you can choose organic milk or even soy or rice milk. We have multiple choices in just about everything – bread, cereal, jam, coffee, tea, etc. It is an endless journey of choices!
Think back to our grandparents or parents and the choices they had. You went to the store to buy milk and you picked up your gallon and walked home. In terms of investing, there weren’t as many choices either. Investments consisted of Treasury bills, bank accounts, stock and bonds – pretty simple. In some ways, those days were easier without so many choices and some of the choices they did have were pretty good! Continue reading →
Wesley Snipes was recently sentenced to three years in prison for failing to pay over $15,000,000 in taxes. It could have been worse for him; the sentence was considered light because “jurors accepted his argument that he was innocently duped by errant tax advisers.”
That makes me ask a few questions: Wesley, what exactly were you thinking? You hired tax advisors who told you it was acceptable to NOT FILE TAX RETURNS??? Did that not sound suspicious? Continue reading →
Somehow I found myself in a conversation the other day concerning what we perceived were the most interesting investment choices we knew friends/family to have made. The one that immediately came to my mind was the one a family member had the misfortune of being a party to.
At the time, I was working as a financial advisor and had as some of my clients my family members. (FYI this can be very interesting and demanding!) So I was researching a particular stock for a client when my phone rings. On the other line is a very excited family member. Once I get him calmed down so I could understand him, I listened to the cause of his excitability. Evidently he was walking home from the store when this piece of paper fluttered effortlessly in front of him. Continue reading →
As some of you may know, I used to be a financial advisor with the brokerage affiliate of a national bank. As a financial advisor, I made a living by providing advice and selling investment products and services. Since the only way I would make money is if I sold investment products or services, it did not make much sense for me to spend time helping bank customers that did not have assets to invest or a need for my services. That, however, did not stop many of the bankers from referring their customers to me when they needed financial help. Whether it was helping someone to get out of debt, or to simply create a budget, the bankers figured that since I was a financial planner it was my job to help their customers with these issues. The truth is I loved to help, but the reality was I could not afford to help as much as I wanted to. Continue reading →
Effective as early as next year, the IRS will begin to limit the advantages of the Flexible Spending Account (FSA) on two fronts. First, a cap of $2,500 will be imposed for 2013 and later FSA contributions which will reduce the pre-tax savings for those who had previously contributed higher amounts. Second, over- the- counter (OTC) drugs and medications will no longer be eligible for reimbursement in 2011 unless accompanied by a doctor’s prescription or letter of medical necessity. So items such as cough syrup, acne cream, pain relievers, diaper rash ointment, and other common OTC medications now need a doctor’s stamp of approval. Continue reading →
I was wondering why he would want to take a 50% lump sum distribution on his pension and take the rest as income when he was only 54 (going to retire at 55) and had a lump sum already – a fairly large balance in his 401(k). Normally when I counsel people who have a substantial 401(k) balance, they want to take full advantage of the pension distribution – guaranteed for life with a steady stream of payments every single month that gets deposited directly into a bank account. What could be sweeter and why wouldn’t he want that? A pension is like the goose that laid the golden egg. Continue reading →
In the last few months, I have fielded calls about paying off debts, and which of the many theories about debt pay off works the best. There are 3 primary theories out there that are being pitched to individuals looking to get out of debt. I will use the same sample debt with each of these methods, for the sake of comparison. ($10,000 debt at 24.9%, $8,000 @ 15%, $2,000 @ 5%, and $50 above minimum payments to add to principal.)
1. The most common advice I see given in the financial media is to pay off the highest interest debt first. Why? Continue reading →
