Integrated Decisions: Merging Business and Personal Finances
Do you know the #1 reason small businesses eventually fail? Up to 82% of failures directly result from owner-related cash flow problems. When you drill down into this group, a common trend emerges. It reads like this: Owner invests in growth, despite risk. Risk turns out to be riskier than thought. The owner’s personal finances…
Opening Financial Conversations with Aging Parents
When it comes to discussing finances with aging parents, it’s often a child, niece, or nephew who broaches the topic. This person is usually comparatively successful, organized, or deeply concerned. More often than not, they also witnessed estate planning or long-term care play out poorly in someone else’s life. Now, their parents are starting to…
Using Roth IRAs to Teach Financial Literacy
It’s no secret that Roth IRAs are one of the best, if not the best, financial vehicles for young savers to start saving in. The earlier you begin, the more time you have for tax-free compounding. That’s only magnified when our kids or grandkids can begin saving as early as their teenage years. We have…
Adjusting to Life Post-Income
You might be surprised how often wealthy families experience anxiety when they exit their businesses or careers. It centers around a shift away from income to living off of assets. We have clients who have been earning an income since they were 14 working a paper route. Looking forward to the next paycheck is all…
What We Really Mean When We Ask, “How Am I Doing?”
By: Alex Weiss CFP® | President & Wealth Manager When someone asks their financial advisor, “How am I doing?” They usually mean, “How’s my portfolio doing?” I understand why that’s the case. Financial advisors have put much effort into being known as the investment people. Unfortunately, it also means a disproportionate amount of their conversations…
Making Cents: Joint Ownership Can Create Problems
Let’s start by defining to two most common forms of joint ownership. First is the joint tenants in common form of ownership. Joint tenants in common mean that each individual owner has an undivided ownership interest in the property, be it a coin collection, bank account or real estate. So if you’re a joint tenant…
Making Cents: What If You Can’t Work?
Many people spend a lot of time planning and worrying about what may happen to their stakeholders if they pass away pre-maturely. Stakeholders for purposes of this discussion are considered loved ones such as a spouse, partner, children and family, your fellow shareholders of the business or the clients of your business for whom you’ve…
Making Cents: Your Own Team Assessment
Just like a professional sports team, it would be a wise idea for you to review your entire team of service providers. There is no time like the present to evaluate that you have assembled the right professionals to help you keep your financial house in order. The hardest part about this evaluation is judging…
Making Cents: Making the Most Out of Your Financial Review
Your review meetings with your financial advisor should be about a lot more than your portfolio. Anyone can review investments and tell you why they went up or down. That service alone is not often worth the price of admission. A productive review meeting will have a detailed agenda to ensure that your whole financial…
Making Cents: Stress Test Your Forecast
With an eye toward the dog days of summer vacation, this is a good time of year to think about how you would spend your time if every day was vacation. For many, the goal of not working some day is still alive. Retiring isn’t what it used to be, however. Today, retirees want a…