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Categories for Financial Planning

  • How To Maximize the Potential of Your 401(k) Plan

    Posted Date March 1, 2022 Posted Time 12:00 am Published in

    🖨 Print⏱ 4 min readOne of the easiest ways to save for retirement is to participate in an employer-sponsored retirement plan. You simply select a percentage of your paycheck that you would like transferred to your 401(k) (or similar) account. Not only does your employer make the transfer for you, but it comes out of your paycheck before income taxes are taken out. This way, you avoid paying taxes on that income from each paycheck, and those taxes are not due until you withdraw the money from your retirement plan. This usually happens once people retire and enter a lower... View Article

  • Create a Healthcare Plan for Retirement

    Posted Date February 1, 2022 Posted Time 12:00 am Published in

    🖨 Print⏱ 4 min readIf you pay $250 a month for cable and premium channels, that’s $3,000 a year. Over a 30-year period, the total cost would be $90,000. We don’t tend to think about how much we pay in regular expenses over the long term. However, that’s how various industry analysts report the cost of healthcare during retirement. Recent estimates for a retiring 65-year-old couple fall between $300,000 and $400,000 to cover healthcare expenses in retirement. At first glance, that’s an intimidating number and implies that pre-retirees need to have this much saved by the time they retire. Fortunately,... View Article

  • Long-Term Investment Opportunities Presented by the Infrastructure Bill

    Posted Date January 1, 2022 Posted Time 12:00 am Published in

    🖨 Print⏱ 4 min readIn November, President Biden signed legislative funding that represents the largest transportation spending package in U.S. history. The $1.2 trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act authorized funding for roads, highways, bridges, public transit systems, utility systems, electrical grids, energy projects and broadband infrastructure. Because the funding extends over a five-year period, it should not have a major effect on the fiscal deficit. This is not only good news for taxpayers, but also investors. Those long-term investments offer the potential for shareholders to get in on the ground floor of reliable and well-capitalized government projects by hundreds... View Article

  • Venture Capitalism and ‘Unicorns’

    Posted Date December 1, 2021 Posted Time 12:00 am Published in

    🖨 Print⏱ 3 min readVenture capitalism comes from an investor who offers money to start-up companies in exchange for an equity stake – much like you see on the ABC television show, Shark Tank. As a general rule, a venture capitalist (VC) invests after the new venture is up and running and looking for additional capital to further commercialize its product. Once a privately held enterprise reaches a value of $1 billion, it is referred to as a “Unicorn.” This is because new start-ups that reach this level of success are so rare that they are considered comparable to the... View Article

  • Flood Insurance: Insuring Your Home

    Posted Date November 1, 2021 Posted Time 12:00 am Published in

    🖨 Print⏱ 3 min readDid you know that homeowner’s insurance doesn’t cover flood damage? Because of this, homes located in a Special Flood Hazard Area (SFHA) are required by lenders to purchase a separate flood insurance policy. However, there are millions of homes at risk that also experience periodic flooding but are not located in the most hazardous zones. Regardless, any homeowner can purchase flood insurance and the good news is that, for some, rates will be reduced this year. Starting on Oct. 1, the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) launched a new program called Risk Rating 2.0. This program... View Article

  • Strategies for Paying Off Student Loans

    Posted Date October 1, 2021 Posted Time 12:00 am Published in

    🖨 Print⏱ 3 min readToday, 70 percent of college students graduate with an average of $30,000 in student loan debt. The average payment is nearly $400 a month and will take about 20 years to pay off. On an individual level, paying off high debt can delay hopes of saving to buy a house, start a family, launch a business or invest for retirement. On a broader level, the national burden of student debt could impact America’s economic future. When young adults are unable to afford home ownership, that reduces spending on all types of consumer products that accompany home... View Article

  • What is a Net Zero Economy?

    Posted Date September 1, 2021 Posted Time 12:00 am Published in

    🖨 Print⏱ 3 min read President Biden re-entered the United States in the Paris Agreement. This is an international treaty first signed in 2015 in which countries around the globe committed to mitigating climate change. Specifically, the goal of the Paris Accord is to limit global warming to no more than 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. This objective would generate what is called a net zero global economy, which means creating a balance between the amount of greenhouse gases produced and the amount of greenhouse gasses removed from the atmosphere. The main engine that places carbon back into the... View Article

  • HSA: Save it for Retirement

    Posted Date August 1, 2021 Posted Time 12:00 am Published in

    🖨 Print⏱ 4 min readAccording to Fidelity Investments, the average 65-year-old couple retiring today will need about $300,000 for out-of-pocket healthcare expenses during retirement. And that doesn’t even include long-term care. One way to help pay for this enormous cost is to open a health savings account (HSA), which is a savings and investment vehicle designed to help people pay for medical-related expenses on a tax-free basis. To open one of these accounts, you must be enrolled in an HSA-eligible, high-deductible health insurance plan (HDHP). These are offered by many employers and also are available on the individual insurance market.... View Article

  • Wishing on a Star: Investors Pour Billions in to SPACs

    Posted Date July 1, 2021 Posted Time 12:00 am Published in

    🖨 Print⏱ 3 min readA SPAC is a special purpose acquisition company. It is typically sponsored by a venture capitalist or a private equity firm that has expertise in a specific sector or industry, such as green technology. A SPAC launches as an IPO, but it is nothing more than a shell company that raises money from investors. Post-IPO, it has a limited amount of time (one to two years) to merge with an existing company, where the capitol is deployed. Once that happens, the private operating company trades publicly under the SPAC name. While SPACs have been around for... View Article

  • Real Estate Opportunities in 2021

    Posted Date June 1, 2021 Posted Time 12:00 am Published in

    🖨 Print⏱ 4 min readEven before the pandemic began, the U.S. residential real estate market was short on houses, with more people looking to buy than those who were selling. And yet, unlike the 2008 recession, any economic woes related to the pandemic did not undercut housing prices. If anything, real estate had a banner year as home prices continued to rise. In April of this year, the median sale price of existing homes rose by 19.1 percent to a record high of $341,600. There are several reasons we haven’t seen a repeat of the housing crisis that we experienced... View Article

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