Insights

Have you wondered what you could gain by working with a financial professional? Many people consider working with an advisor when their finances have reached a certain point of complexity – they want someone else to step in to evaluate their situation and weigh in on what’s next.

The most solid strategy is to build an emergency fund – accessible, ready and able to support you and your family when you hit a rough patch. Let’s look at a few essentials on creating and protecting your rainy-day money, and how this fits into your overall wealth plan. 

When thinking about money – do you feel stressed, tense, controlling, confused, like you have an abundance of it or a lack thereof? If you relate to any of these questions, you have an unhealthy relationship with your money.

Your financial advisor may not be the first person you call when considering splitting up, but they should be somewhere on the list. One of the concrete things you can do to help with the process and the healing to follow is to plan ahead. 

For most students, experts say it remains financially worth it to go to college, despite rising tuition and opportunity costs in relation to increasing wages for workers holding only a high school diploma. The average rate of return (net gain or loss on college investment across a career) is 14%. 

Your Health Savings Account (HSA) is a cornerstone of your benefits planning. The money is triple tax-advantaged – contributions, growth and withdrawals for qualified expenses are not taxed. This account is like nothing else, and you need to take full advantage of it. 

There’s more to this central question – rent/lease versus buy – than simply the numbers in your bank account. What you don’t spend in cash, you may spend in time and energy; what you save in this market you may pay for a year from now when the market is depressed.

No single strategy works forever, but you also don’t want to change your approach every time the markets shift slightly. How does investing work – not just for a season or a year or two, but for a lifetime? Time is a major factor when it comes to successful investing.

Deciding on the appropriate financial advisor is critical to one’s financial success. But, which qualities would you like to see in your financial advisor? Read our blog to see what we feel are the most important qualities to consider when selecting a financial advisor.

Identity theft is increasingly common and severe in today’s digital world. Although many organizations now provide services for credit monitoring, how can you make sure you’re adequately protected? Also, if you work with industry professionals, how can you feel confident your information is …

I have always loved the feeling of summer. Once Memorial Day celebrations kick off, the atmosphere seems to relax. Sunshine, water and sunscreen seem to be everyone’s focus. Long, warm nights are filled with the sounds of lawn mowers and children laughing.