Investments

As parents, most of us have kids that participate in extra-curricular activities whether its soccer, band, gymnastics, drama or anything in between. In all of those activities our kids have a coach; someone who is teaching them and guiding them toward mastery of that activity. But something is missing from this picture of teaching and…

As a retirement savings vehicle, almost everyone has at least one IRA. And the Roth IRA has become a very popular option when it comes to planning for your children’s future. Let’s take a closer look at how to use these products to the best advantage for college and adulthood planning for your kids. We’re…

To be honest, we are not huge fans of the Coverdell ESA. Beyond limiting you to funding educational endeavors alone, there are some other pitfalls that people can fall into if they don’t understand the Coverdell rules. That said, it remains a popular instrument. It can be used not just for college expenses, but for…

What if you could teach your kids about investing with a real-life, real-time investment instrument? That’s what Uniform Gift to Minors Act (UGMA) and Uniform Transfer to Minors Act (UTMA) accounts are. As you can imagine, we love to educate our kids about money. So, for that reason, we find UGMA and UTMA accounts fascinating.…

If you are planning on sending your children to college, you have probably heard of 529 plans. Named for Section 529 of the Federal Tax Code, a 529 plan is a college savings account that’s exempt from federal taxes. They have become wildly popular. While they can only be used to fund higher education, there…

We are producing several articles right now that have to do with helping you and your kids save for their potential college education or for wherever life takes them after high school. One of the unique ways we have to do this is through a tool we refer to as Uncommon Banking. If you follow…

You are thinking about having kids in a few years. Is it too late to start planning for their college education? That’s actually not an extreme exaggeration of the anxiety we hear from young families when it comes to saving for their children’s future. And it’s not just about higher education. We like to think…

“Buckets of money” has a nice ring to it, doesn’t it? It may sound like wishing to win the lottery, but it is a serious strategy for managing your retirement income. With this strategy, you segment your retirement investment money designed for lifetime income into buckets of time, let’s say 5-year increments. So, instead of…

When it comes to retirement income, most people like to imagine having so much money that they can just live on dividends and interest. The reality is that most people will never have enough money to simply live off dividends and interest in retirement. Several factors make dividends and interest income in retirement a challenge:…

Traditionally, there are four pillars to retirement planning: Interest, Dividends, Capital Gains, and Principal. In this series of retirement income articles, we want to explore the best way to balance these pillars. In this article, we’re going to take a closer look at how systematic withdrawal plans (SWPs) work and some pros and cons to…

There are many ways to structure retirement income. Some come with more risk and uncertainty than others. So, what if you are very risk-averse? What are your options for retirement income? One strategy that is popular (especially with the broker collecting the fees) is flooring and income guarantees. But understand, it can be an expensive…

See no evil, hear no evil. One of the biggest threats to retirement income is inflation, largely for two reasons: It’s not something that registers in your mind year after year Nobody talks about it So if you don’t think about it or talk about it, it’s not really there, right? Nope, that is definitely…