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…
Making Cents: Beneficiary Planning for Senior Citizens
It is second nature for many senior citizens to save as much as possible. These same seniors are such savers, that they are equally reluctant to spend any of their savings. This natural aversion to spending also applies to their retirement accounts. Whether the retirement account is a pension, 401K or an IRA, holding on…
Making Cents: Newlyweds Need to be on Same Page Financially
We are currently in peak season for weddings. If one were allowed to give a financial toast to the newlyweds, here’s what I’d say. Money is the root of all evil, but like any tree, a good root system is necessary for anything constructive to happen. Have a conversation about money to begin to understand…
Making Cents: Divorce and Money
It’s no secret that many couples end up airing their grievances in court. About 50% of our married population ends up in divorce, with second marriages showing a higher rate of divorce at around 65%. Rarely looked back upon with fond memories, the battling and legal costs associated with divorce brings anguish. Almost as rare…
Making Cents: Real World Finance for your College Graduate
As another college graduating class enters the real world, please use this opportunity to give them the only formal lesson they likely didn’t get in college. That lesson is real world finance 101 and how to live fiscally responsibly and within your means. There are many new grads looking for work related to their newly…
Making Cents: Planning for Children with Special Needs or Dependency Issues
Between what appears to be a larger percentage of children born with special needs and the recent epidemic of opioid addiction and dependency, many parents need specialized guidance in order to best assist these children and ultimately, protect their assets from the issues that can easily drain any estate. The core issue is the child’s…
Making Cents: Price Inflation may be Higher than you Think it is
Calculating the rate of inflation seems rather simple. If you pay $10 for something today and one year later that item costs $11, you would think that the item has inflated by $1 or 10% over the past year. But when it comes to the rate of inflation, there is yet another variable to factor…