The financial planning and investment landscape changes at a dizzying speed – and often with conflicting messages. Read our team of experts’ advice on saving, spending, investing, retirement, taxes, giving and more to help you enjoy a full life.
The financial planning and investment landscape changes at a dizzying speed – and often with conflicting messages. Read our team of experts’ advice on saving, spending, investing, retirement, taxes, giving and more to help you enjoy a full life.
December 10, 2019
The Social Security administration gives benefits to surviving spouses based on the deceased’s retirement benefit. If the survivor is already taking retirement benefits, they can take the higher of either their own or their deceased spouse’s benefit. Rules on these benefits are based on the age of the survivor and if the deceased had begun […]
December 3, 2019
As 2019 comes to an end, take a few minutes to put a bow on your financial life for the year by running through this quick checklist: Maximize Employer Benefits: Spend flex dollars – Many employers offer Flexible Spending Accounts for health expenses or dependent care. Often times, balances must be spent before year-end or […]
November 26, 2019
The ending of anyone’s marriage often has far-reaching ripple effects and it’s difficult to know how to support a loved one without getting too involved or picking sides. Although the road to divorce is well-traveled, the stages of divorce most individuals experience are rarely well understood. There is a relatively predictable pattern of emotional responses […]
November 19, 2019
Our three-year-old son, Nate, is a cannon-baller. If you’re not familiar with that term, it just means that he’s a mini-lunatic when it comes to bodily safety and decision making. For example, last weekend, as my daughter and I reclined on the floor reading a book together, Nate decided to run at us full speed […]
November 12, 2019
Recently I spoke at the Independent Insurance Agents (IIA) of Illinois annual conference on financial planning for agency owners. After the presentation which included a discussion on taxes, an owner approached me about the tax structure of his agency. He is currently structured as a C Corporation and wanted to know if that was the […]
November 5, 2019
The leaves are changing colors and a cool breeze is in the air, which means many retirees are securing their winter travel plans. However, before jumping on the plane to escape the cold winter months that lie ahead, it is also time for Medicare participants to decide if changes should be made to their health […]
October 29, 2019
The cobbler’s children have no shoes and financial professionals (private equity professionals, investment bankers, asset managers) have no financial plan. This paradox seems to consistently plague the individuals I meet who work in the finance industry. One would think that those in the industry are buttoned up in terms of their own financial needs; however, […]
October 22, 2019
Preparing an estate plan can be an intimidating process, since final instructions for a family’s assets are memorialized. Upon death, those instructions are fixed – forever. Estate plans should be reviewed frequently as family circumstances change – children mature into adults and in-laws are introduced into a family. When children are very young, parents focus […]
October 15, 2019
As Financial Advisors, we put a lot of thought and effort into making sure that we have the proper beneficiary designations and titling on accounts for clients so that they are passed on appropriately someday in the future. Much of our focus is on investment accounts, bank accounts, houses, etc. – but what happens to […]
October 8, 2019
The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 (TCJA) put into place new tax legislation for Americans, officially taking effect for the 2018 tax year. The full effect of the changes was not felt by most individuals and families until they filed their returns in April of this year. If proactively planned for, below are […]
September 24, 2019
We get the opportunity to work with BDF clients in all stages of their personal financial planning. Those stages include building wealth, accumulating wealth and eventually consuming that wealth. That last stage is probably the most interesting as it appears to be the most difficult from a behavioral level. That’s right—spending one’s retirement savings is […]
September 17, 2019
When I decided to get remarried, it was an exciting time for me and my (now) husband. What we quickly found, however, was that decisions we had made prior to our previous marriages, such as where we would live, financial decisions and now, disciplining and raising kids from our previous marriages, were not as straightforward […]