Blog
How Women Can Prepare for Retirement
When our parents retired, living to 75 amounted to a nice long life, and Social Security was often supplemented by a pension. The Social Security Administration (SSA) estimates that today’s average 65-year-old woman will live to age 86½. Given these projections, it...
Should You Borrow from Your 401(k)?
The average household with revolving credit card debt had a balance of $6,006 in 2021. For the average household carrying credit card debt in 2021, this equated to an annual interest of $1,029. With the average credit card annual percentage rate sitting at 20.48%, it...
Eight Mistakes that can Upend Your Retirement
Pursuing your retirement dreams is challenging enough without making some common, and very avoidable, mistakes. Here are eight big mistakes to steer clear of, if possible. No Strategy: Yes, the biggest mistake is having no strategy at all. Without a strategy, you may...
IRA Withdrawals That Escape the 10% Tax Penalty
The reason withdrawals from a Traditional Individual Retirement Account (IRA) prior to age 59½ are generally subject to a 10% tax penalty is that policymakers wanted to create a disincentive to use these savings for anything other than retirement.1 Yet, policymakers...
Healthcare Costs in Retirement
In a 2021 survey, 32% of all workers reported they were either “not too” or “not at all” confident that they would have enough money to pay for their medical expenses in retirement. Regardless of your confidence, however, being aware of potential health care costs...
Four Really Good Reasons to Invest
Forty-four percent of Americans do not own any stocks or stock-related investments, according to a recent Gallup poll.1 Individuals may cite different reasons for not investing, but with important long-term financial goals, such as retirement, in the balance, the...
A Decision Not Made, is Still a Decision
Whether through inertia or trepidation, investors who put off important investment decisions might consider the admonition offered by motivational speaker Brian Tracy, “Almost any decision is better than no decision at all.”1 This investment inaction is played out in...
Getting a Head Start on College Savings
The U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates the cost of raising a child to the age of 17 for a middle-income family will be about $285,000.1 That’s roughly equivalent to the median value of a new home in the U.S.2 And if you’ve already traded that supercharged...
Donating Art: Taxation Abstraction
The varied reasons to donate art include a personal affinity for a museum, the desire to create a legacy, and the tax consideration that may come with the donation. The tax rules surrounding the tax deduction of art are complex and confusing.¹ When donating...
Trends in Charitable Giving
According to the most recent report by Giving USA, Americans gave a record breaking $471 billion to charity in 2020.1 Americans usually give to charity for two main reasons: to support a cause or organization they care about, or...