With times of high volatility in the stock market and questionable stability of the economy as a whole, many individuals may start to question the safety of cash they keep in their personal banks. Remembering their history lessons of the Great Depression of 1930 (accounts were partially or fully lost, banks failed) or remembering [...]
The letter took me by surprise. I was the treasurer for our volunteer fire department. We had a checking account for day to day activities and a savings account for future use. I had let the savings account sit untouched for several years and received a letter from the bank that the account was about [...]
Sometimes I wish summer had 8 days of the week! To be clear, I want the eighth day to be another Saturday, NOT another Monday. I also wish I got a “summer raise” every year, where I get paid more every summer to cover the expenses of all the exciting extra adventures that always seem [...]
By: Brandi B. Graham, CTFA, CFP® Reported fraud losses increased more than 70% from 2020 to 2021. The Federal Trade Commission received over 2.8 million fraud reports from consumers in 2021 representing more than $5.8 billion in losses to fraud. There are multitudes of methods aimed at unsuspecting citizens. Some of these include [...]
Written by: Jason D. Nickerson, CFP®, EA, Executive Vice President What is CWM? Well, the first thing to answer is, what does CWM stand for? Answer; Comprehensive Wealth Management. We have heard this similar phrase substituting similar words, but does it still mean the same? That may be the topic for another blog, but for [...]
Written by: Lynda Lander, Associate Advisor If you are a homeowner and you are above the standard deduction, chances are you or your tax preparer have itemized your deductions. These deductions include, but are not limited to: Home mortgage interest payments City/state/school property taxes Personal property taxes State income taxes Other miscellaneous deductions. First, [...]
By: Kelly M. Lewis, CFP®, JD, LLM “They don’t need any more money; they do just fine on their own.” This is an answer I occasionally hear in my job when beginning the estate planning and wealth transfer discussion. What does it mean? When I ask clients what their goals are for their money [...]
An explanation of how a few stocks can drive performance of the S&P 500 By JGUA Research Analyst Mark Abdalla, CFA Commentary by Associate Advisor Sarah E. J. Collier, JD The past few years for the stock market have been unique in terms of circumstances, returns and volatility. At John G. Ullman & Associates [...]
When asked several months after retiring from a long career in higher education how her retirement was going a client replied, “I made the classic mistake”. I asked, what was the mistake? “I retired from something instead of to something,” she said. She went on to explain that she really did not have a lifestyle [...]
Did you know that there is good debt and bad debt? Good debt is debt that you incur that will increase your overall net worth, while bad debt depletes your net worth. Good debt includes mortgages, home equity loans, and student loans. Bad debt includes credit cards, and sometimes auto and personal loans. While [...]
