The younger a child is when you contribute to their 529 plan, the longer the account has to potentially benefit from compound growth. In 2023, individuals can contribute up to $17,000 per year (and couples up to $34,000 per year) without eating into their lifetime gift and estate tax exemption.  For older kids or grandchildren, you could also make tuition payments directly to the school. A benefit of doing this is that direct tuition payments are exempt from the gift tax, which may not be the case with 529 contributions beyond the annual gift tax exclusion.  If you’d like more

In 2022, social media-based scams cost Americans a total of $1.23 billion, a 54% increase since 2021, according to the Federal Trade Commission.  Typically, these sorts of scams start with someone claiming to be a mutual acquaintance of someone you know, or relative. Then, they either ask for financial assistance, or claim they can offer you help, such as providing a “new investment opportunity.” If you’re approached by someone online with an offer that seems “too good to be true,” it very well might be. 

Did you know that the older you are, the more susceptible you are to telephone or internet fraud? One of the most common tricks scammers use is impersonating a child or grandchild, asking you for financial assistance. According to the FBI, Americans lost over $10 billion to scams last year. While people in their 30s filed the most complaints, seniors are the most susceptible: last year they lost $3 billion.  Con artists can be very convincing: We recommend asking them questions only that family member would know (and nothing a scammer could find online) or even giving your family members

We’ve provided some online tools to help estimate life expectancy, a topic we discussed last week. We found three we thought we’d share, each with varying degrees of specificity:  Go through one or all three to get an estimate. It may be able to help you with your financial retirement strategy. Did you know there are options out there that can provide you with income for life? Reach out to us to learn more. 

When is the right time to retire? The answer to this, like every other decision you have to make in retirement, depends on your own personal needs and circumstances. The National Bureau of Economic Research found that “retirement improves both health and life satisfaction” but the age at which you retire impacts your quality of retirement.  The age at which you retire will also, naturally, affect your finances. Your retirement strategy may lend itself more to retiring later or earlier. We may be able to help you decide what time makes the most sense. Reach out to us, we’d be

Here are a few factors to consider when you making your retirement income strategy: When it comes to paying taxes on contributions, Roth IRAs and traditional IRAs differ from one another. While both are tax-advantaged accounts, your choice will impact when you pay taxes on the money: With a traditional IRA, you’d pay taxes in retirement when you begin taking payments. With a Roth IRA, however, you’re required to pay taxes on the money in advance.  Furthermore, Roth IRAs do not require RMDs (required minimum distributions) during the owner’s lifetime. This makes a Roth IRA a “wealth-transfer vehicle” because you

We sometimes are asked who a fixed indexed annuity might be a good choice for, versus who might be suited to a variable annuity. And to answer that question, our attention was drawn to a very simple article published by the Insurance Information Institute (Which you can read by clicking here).  In short, fixed annuities or fixed indexed annuities may be a good choice for conservative investors who value safety and stability, and those nearing retirement who want to shelter their assets from the volatility of the stock market. You should only consider a variable annuity, meanwhile, if you are

Late Boomer’s Retirement A study from the Center For Retirement Research looked into the decline in wealth for late boomers, and explored what may have contributed to it: “The results show that two factors were at play – a shift in the population towards lower-wealth households and, more importantly, a weakening of the link between work and wealth accumulation.”   This brings to light the need to examine alternative sources of income. Most individuals use their accumulated savings to fund retirement income, and if work is having an impact on that accumulation, it might require us to examine different savings options.

When we think of retirement, we often focus on how much money we have in savings. We often forget that retirement doesn’t necessarily mean having to deplete our savings, it means creating a retirement income strategy off of those savings. Call us, we have some ideas that could allow you to obtain an income stream in retirement you can’t outlive, and even leave something behind for your beneficiaries. We’re always here to help.