I absolutely love to travel. I even have different folders in my email for reservations and plane tickets. These folders are rarely empty because I love having a trip to look forward to. Travelling is not cheap when you think about hotels, airfare, eating every meal out, car rentals and spending money for sightseeing. People approach budgeting for travel in different ways-some save up and purchase everything at once; others pay for things along the way.
Continue reading
Over the years I have gained lots of experience in financial planning with seeing so many different scenarios-not one person’s situation is the same. Also, the CFP(R) curriculum consists of an education piece that really lays out a great framework in the Financial Planning process. When you start with a good framework that has pieces that can be replicated and add real life situations to this framework, it becomes second nature.
Continue reading
You may have seen headlines recently about proposals to crack down on IRA’s with large balances and alternative assets. More specifically, Paypal founder Peter Theil has really been in the spotlight with his ROTH IRA balance of $5 billion due to the appreciation of his Paypal stock and then subsequent investments.
Continue reading
If you are charitably inclined, what is the most tax efficient way to give to those charities?
Let us start with standard deduction versus itemized deductions. Your itemized deductions must exceed your standard deduction for any tax benefit. There is a caveat for 2021, cash donations up to $300 for single filers and $600 for Married Filing Joint are allowed as above the line deductions.
Continue reading
Wow, I cannot believe it is November already. This means the winter holidays are approaching, cooler weather is coming and so is the end of the tax year. Following is a list of items to consider when wrapping up the year:
Continue reading
According to the Forbes article, “The Four Things Women Want (in Financial Services),” women want the following: – more confidence with their finances, more convenience, better communication, and better collaboration.
Continue reading
Let’s start with what FIRE stands for—Financial Independence, Retire Early. Isn’t this what everyone wants? I have a theory about how this movement started. There has been a lot of research in the financial planning space and trying to figure out how much you need in investment assets and how much you can take out over the course of your retirement (safe withdrawal rate) without running out of money.
Continue reading
The first step to deciding which retirement plan to choose for your self-employment income is figuring out the amount that you think you will be able to contribute. From that point, then you can choose which vehicle may work best for you.
Continue reading
Tax planning is considering your whole situation and making any necessary changes or decisions before the tax year is complete. Think of it as forward looking. When you prepare your tax return, you are looking backwards at things that have already happened and figuring out any credits or deductions that you can take based on things you cannot change.
Continue reading
Health Savings Accounts (HSA’s) are not a new thing, but many people still are not that familiar with how they work. Flex Spending Accounts (FSA’s) are still around and there is still confusion between the two because they do have similarities. One of the biggest differences between the two types of accounts is that the HSA does not have to be used by a specific time. (With FSA’s you have specific time to use the money for medical expenses or you lose it).
Continue reading