Homeowner’s Insurance – Protecting your financial future by reducing risks in the present
Imagine that you have decided to go buy a new couch; you know the one you want and have the money saved and ready. The day arrives and you go to the store to get the couch only to find out that the price has jumped 40%. You go ahead with the purchase, but because […]
Consumer Awareness: Is your Cash Safe in the Bank?
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 […]
Beware Escheatment
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 […]
Five Budget-Friendly Summer Day Trips for You and Your Girlfriends
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 […]
What you can do to Prevent Identity Theft and Fraud
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 […]
What is CWM?
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 […]
MAKING SENSE OF ITEMIZED DEDUCTIONS
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, you […]
You Can’t Take it With You: Spend it!
“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 when they die, there are two general avenues […]
Who is Leading the Races in Your Investment Portfolios?
An explanation of how a few stocks can drive performance of the S&P 500 Updated on July 27, 2022 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 […]
I’ve Retired. Now What?
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 […]
