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 18, 2018
With the New Year comes many things: fresh starts, new beginnings, and resolutions to improve and better ourselves. Above all, this New Year’s Day brings changes to the tax code that could greatly impact families going through a divorce. So, what changes are coming, and how can you best prepare and position yourself financially? Alimony […]
December 11, 2018
Sending your young adults off to college, especially when it is for the first time, can be hectic. The focus is usually on getting signed up for the right classes and moving a car load of belongings into a small dorm room. These are really important and the to-do list for setting up your college […]
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 […]
November 27, 2018
Over the course of the last few years, I have spoken with hundreds of financial professionals ranging from private equity professionals to investment bankers to asset managers. These conversations uncovered both the trials and the tribulations of their personal wealth management. Although plenty of individuals confessed their missteps, the tribulations they shared contained a few […]
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 […]
November 13, 2018
Married couples finally have the opportunity to make their estate planning documents simple, yet more effective! Two recent developments dramatically changed estate planning: the new, higher estate tax exemption under The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 and the portability of the exemption. Since 2010, estate tax exemptions are now portable between spouses, which […]
November 6, 2018
As year-end approaches, many people tend to revert to the old tax planning adage “defer income, accelerate deductions.” But does that always work? With the new tax law in effect, should taxpayers change the way some planning items are viewed? Here are a few tax planning tips that should be reviewed prior to year-end. Capital […]
October 30, 2018
I was chatting with a friend over the weekend, and a common theme kept surfacing in our conversation. We covered a lot of ground—history, politics, finances and jobs to name a few. The one idea that kept coming up in our wide-ranging conversation was knowing when enough is enough. I couldn’t help but notice that […]
October 23, 2018
Have you ever had someone tell you that you have to be strong? You most likely have. The thing with Divorce is, that while you do need to be strong, you also have to know when it’s time to be vulnerable and reach out to others for help. Even (and sometimes especially) if you are […]
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 […]
October 9, 2018
For those 65 and older, fall not only brings with it apple picking, leaves changing colors and securing travel plans to escape the cold Midwest winters, it is also the time of year for Medicare participants to decide if changes should be made to their health insurance plans. Below, are the key enrollments dates […]
September 25, 2018
My wife and I are preparing for the arrival of our first child. We are busy researching day care options, searching for nursery furniture, and envisioning our new lives with a little one in the house. With all these tasks to complete, there is not much time for anything else. However, I would not be […]