Your Beneficiary Designations – Are They Correct?
May 28, 2019
Beneficiary designations are an extremely important component of an estate plan. They are found on many types of assets such as IRAs, 401Ks, life insurance and annuities and designate who receives the asset after the account owner passes away. The primary advantage of a beneficiary designation is that asset ownership transfers without the complexities and […]
Why Are You Looking to Sell?
April 23, 2019
“Hi my name is Chris, John suggested I call you regarding my book of business. I am wondering if you can help me understand what the value of my agency is and what buyers are paying the large multiples I keep hearing about.” Chris is not alone as this is a frequent question from both […]
InvestmentNews awards BDF 2019 Best Places to Work for Financial Advisers
April 10, 2019
Balasa Dinverno Foltz LLC has been recognized as a 2019 Best Places to Work for Financial Advisers as announced by InvestmentNews April 1, 2019. BDF was chosen as one of this year’s top-75 based on employer and employee surveys delving into everything from company culture, benefits, career paths and more. InvestmentNews partnered with Best Companies Group, an independent research […]
Tips for Buying Travel Insurance
April 9, 2019
With Spring Break on the horizon, many families are hustling to pack their bags, load up the family mini-van, and get out of Dodge for the week. And if they’re really in a hurry to escape the never-ending Midwest winter, hopping on the first flights out to the beach. With all of the planning that […]
Expensive Investment Lessons Learned
February 12, 2019
I recently sat down with “John” a thirty-year-old insurance professional who just received a large year-end bonus. This is the fourth year in a row he received a six-figure bonus from his agency. John was feeling good about his income and his potential to become wealthy but is very concerned and frustrated as to how […]
The Gift that Keeps Giving – Year-End Charitable Gifting
December 4, 2018
Hard working, well compensated, and generous are words we use to describe our insurance producer clients. These characteristics all lead to year-end tax planning opportunities around charitable giving. We recently completed year-end tax planning for an insurance producer (we will call him Mike) who works for a publicly traded agency. Mike and his wife Mary […]
“The Process” for Lawyers – Part II
November 20, 2018
It’s college football season, which is my favorite time of the year. When football season rolls around I tend to make everything into a football-based metaphor – even retirement planning. In my last blog post I wrote about “the process” for lawyers to help build a strong financial future which centered on a couple of […]
What Happened to Emerging Markets?
October 25, 2018
Emerging markets has had a tough year. Since Late January 2018, emerging market equities have shed over 20% in value and are likely the biggest red number in your portfolio. During the nearly two-year period from March 2016 to the end of January 2018, emerging markets returned over 75%. What happened? There are a number […]
Two Producers: Same Income, Different Outcome
October 16, 2018
Matt and Nick are the top producers for a mid-size insurance agency. Matt has been a wealth management client for several years and he recently introduced Nick to BDF. Both Matt and Nick are in their late 40’s, married with three children and live in the same town. They both have similar size books of […]
Volatility Strikes Again
October 12, 2018
Yesterday marked the second straight day of a Dow drop of more than 500 points. And while we have been talking about the return of volatility for quite some time, it still hurts when it actually shows up. So here we are with the S&P 500 having fallen over 7% in the last week. […]
BDF named to 2018 Financial Times 300 Top RIA
September 12, 2018
Balasa Dinverno Foltz is pleased to announce it has been named to the 2018 edition of the Financial Times 300 Top Registered Investment Advisers. The list recognizes top independent RIA firms from across the U.S. This is the fifth annual FT 300 list, produced independently by the Financial Times in collaboration with Ignites Research, a subsidiary […]
Impending Divorce: What the Health Do I Do Now?
June 19, 2018
A key issue keeping divorcing individuals up at night is often: “What will I do for health insurance?” It can seem like a daunting question, but knowledge is power. Using employer sponsored group coverage is typically the easiest and lowest cost solution. At home spouses sometimes decide to seek employment post-divorce in large part so […]