2013 Tax Tips
On January 1st, Congress put together a tax deal that allowed most of the Bush-era tax cuts to remain in place. This means that most taxpayers will see little change to their income taxes. However, Congress did allow the payroll…
Asset Location and Withdrawal Sourcing
While the Morningstar Gamma research found that a dynamic withdrawal strategy has the greatest impact on retirement income, the strategy above was a close second. Asset Location Asset Location refers to where asset types are held. For example, a general…
Annuity Allocation
The Morningstar Gamma research cites Annuity Allocation as one of the five ways to increase retirement income. They assume 25% allocation to a fixed annuity with a payout rate of 5.71%. What’s the catch? The most important thing to note…
Student Loans? Pay as You Earn Can Help
Did you know that the amount of outstanding student debt in the US increases each year? In an effort to help with the ever-increasing weight of this debt, a new income assistance payback program for federal education loans, named Pay as…
Inheritance – 3 Steps to Handle the Details
You find out you’re receiving an inheritance and the first thing that comes to mind is – What next? Inheritances can provide incredible flexibility but without effective financial planning, you may miss some of the organized steps needed to get…
Contribution Limits Increase for 2013
Have you made your 2012 Roth IRA contribution? If you have not yet made the maximum contribution, you still have time! Tax payers have until Monday, April 15th of 2013 to make their Roth contributions for the 2012 tax year….
Seven Tax Tips for 2012
Tax planning is an essential part of financial planning. With all of the talk about the fiscal cliff dominating the headlines, it’s important to remember that there’s still some time left before this year’s tax laws expire. Here are a…
College Planning
Are you trying to save for a child going to college? If so, keep in mind the cost of college continues to increase faster than inflation with the largest increases at public universities: Percentage cumulative change over the last 10…
Benefits of Tailored Investment Advice
The value of investment advice can make a real difference over the life of your portfolio. In our previous post we noted that the research on Gamma identifies 5 financial planning strategies that add to retirement income. The first of…
Where do Stock Returns come from?
What is a stock? It is an ownership of a company which represents a claim on future earnings. Many have been told to buy stocks because they are the best long-term investment, but few know where these returns actually come…
