October 12, 2020 (William Morgan) Clearly, 2020 has been a year unlike any other. The coronavirus pandemic and its impact on health and the economy has forced a lot of people to reassess their priorities and the financial life decisions tied to them. For some that means establishing or replenishing an emergency fund. For others…
Angela Muckler, Relationship Manager, 8/27/2020 Medicare is an area that practically every American will encounter when planning for retirement. It sits at the intersection of health and wealth in your financial life plan, and so often surfaces across a range of long-term planning conversations. Plus, Medicare and its associated costs can be a confusing topic,…
Connie Brezik, 8/27/2020 Diversifying your investment portfolio means putting together a mix of stocks, bonds and other investments with your financial goals, time horizon and risk tolerance in mind. Your mix is called your asset allocation. The idea behind diversification is that, overall, owning different kinds of investments should earn you higher returns with less…
The BAM ALLIANCE, 8/4/2020 On March 27, 2020, the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act was signed into law. Since then, the U.S. Treasury Department has issued guidance to clarify and, in some cases, expand the provisions of the CARES Act dealing with retirement accounts and the relief offered to retirement account owners…
Sheldon McFarland, VP, Portfolio Strategy and Research, 8/4/2020 What do you get when you assemble a dozen or so of nuclear science’s greatest minds, give them access to the world’s first electronic general-purpose digital computer, and spend $2 billion during the height of World War II? An atomic bomb of course, and a sophisticated simulation…
Jeffrey Levine, CPA/PFS, CFP®, AIF®, CWS®, 8/4/2020 For many, correctly answering the question, “When should I begin to take my Social Security benefits?” is a critical step toward making sure their retirement income and savings last at least as long as they do. For others, who perhaps are lucky enough to have accumulated a more…
Becca Craig, ABA, CFP®, 6/29/2020 Cultivating an “abundance mindset” might be far down your list of what needs attention today. In times such as these, you might even believe that the thing most in abundance right now is a mounting variety of very real financial stressors. That’s a fair point to make, and you most…
Connie Brezik, 6/29/2020 During this pandemic, you may have family or friends whose health has been directly affected by COVID-19. And the longer you live, the more people you know will face significant health concerns. Making sure you and your family are prepared for these situations – now and in the future – is an…
Doug Buchan, 6/29/2020 “Maximizing returns” is a phrase that you’ll hear bandied about ad nauseam on both Wall Street and Main Street. As in, “My goal is to maximize my returns.” Is it though? Is that really the goal? Bronnie Ware would beg to differ. More on her in a moment. Personally, I can’t remember coming across…
Jada Diedrich, Wealth Advisor, 6/3/2020 With so much financial information coming at us each day, and at a time when everything seems to be changing, trying to stay on top of the terminology can be overwhelming. It can be a daunting task even to begin figuring out whether you, personally, need to pay attention to…
Stan Purvis, CPA, CFP®, 6/3/2020 We all know that legal documents, at least for those of us who aren’t attorneys, can be complex and often overwhelming to digest. Your estate planning documents, for example, likely contain dozens of pages of unfamiliar jargon and language we simply seldom encounter – or would ever use ourselves –…
Susan Strasbaugh, CFP®, EA, AIF®, 6/3/2020 “Wealth is not his that has it, but his that enjoys it.” – Benjamin Franklin Contrary to the popular saying, money can buy happiness, but only if you spend it in the right way. Behavioral economists and social psychologists have studied this topic – the intersection between money and…
Tim Maurer, Director of Advisor Development, 6/3/2020 Few things in our lives have been so dramatically altered throughout the COVID-19 crisis as school and education. From online coursework to cancelled proms to a March devoid of Madness but full of uncertainty about whether or not college campuses would even reopen for the fall semester, there…
Tim Maurer, Director of Advisor Development, 5/4/2020 The coronavirus is dominating our attention so pervasively in the present moment that the notion of retirement seems even more distant for savers. That’s understandable—natural, even. But it’s precisely our fixation on the present that causes us to struggle to follow through on our intentions to secure our…
The BAM ALLIANCE, 5/4/2020 Financial elder abuse – defined by the National Committee for the Prevention of Financial Elder Abuse as the illegal or improper use of an elder person’s funds, property or resources – can take numerous forms and will cost seniors billions of dollars each year. Its impact on an elder person’s emotional,…