Tag: insurance

What Insurance Do My Accounts Have?

Currently there are two main forms of insurance for your accounts: FDIC and SIPC. FDIC is for your bank accounts and SIPC is for your investment accounts.

FDIC

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) is an independent agency of the US government that provides deposit insurance to protect depositors in case of bank failures. FDIC insurance covers deposits at member banks, including checking accounts, savings accounts, money market accounts, and certificates of deposit (CDs), up to $250,000 per depositor, per insured bank, for each account ownership category. This means that if you have multiple accounts in different ownership categories, each account could be insured up to $250,000.

What are multiple ownership categories? They are account types such as the following:

Single accounts
Joint accounts
Certain Retirement accounts
Revocable Trust accounts
Irrevocable Trust accounts
Employee Benefit Plan accounts
Corporation/Partnership/Unincorporated Association accounts
Government accounts

The FDIC has a detailed brochure explaining the different ownership categories and how the $250,000 limit for each category applies.

FDIC insurance is available to depositors at participating banks and savings associations, and it is backed by the full faith and credit of the US government. The insurance is automatic and does not require any action on the part of the depositor other than making sure the bank is a member of FDIC.

If a bank fails, the FDIC will typically step in to manage the bank’s assets and liabilities and pay out insured deposits to depositors as quickly as possible. According to the FDIC, in most cases, insured deposits are available to customers within a few business days after a bank failure. However, the actual timeline can vary depending on the complexity of the situation and the size of the failed bank. In rare cases, it may take longer for depositors to receive their insurance payments.

SIPC

SIPC stands for the Securities Investor Protection Corporation. It is a nonprofit organization created by Congress in 1970 to protect investors in the United States in case of a brokerage firm failure or fraud.

SIPC insurance provides protection for customers of member broker–dealers, up to $500,000 for securities and cash (including up to $250,000 in cash) held by the brokerage firm.

SIPC insurance does not protect against market losses or bad investment advice, and it is not the same as the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) insurance that protects bank deposits. Rather, SIPC insurance is intended to provide an additional layer of protection for investors in case of a brokerage firm’s insolvency.

Again, the brokerage firm where you have your account must be a member of SIPC for this added protection.

Financial Journey LLC is a registered investment advisor offering advisory services in the states of Alabama, Florida, Virginia and in other jurisdictions where exempted. Information provided is for educational purposes only and not, in any way, to be considered investment or tax advice.

Wrapping Up The Year

It’s that time of year again. Holidays are approaching and the end of the year is winding down. Before you get in full on holiday mode, make sure you wrap up any loose ends before the end of the year so that you can spend your time relaxing and being present with your loved ones. Here’s a quick list of items that may be helpful.

If there is anything that you need to do for taxes for this year, now is the time to do it. There are only a few retirement contributions that you can make after December 31st that will still be counted for this tax year. Everything else needs to be done during the tax year for it to count.
Have some extra money and you didn’t maximize your 401k this year? You have until December 31st to make any additional contributions for the year.
Employee Benefits—have you confirmed your employee benefits for next year? Don’t forget that you need to re-elect any FSA and HSA contributions, they do not automatically carry forward.
Gifting—the annual exclusion amount for gifts is $16,000. This means that you can gift anyone up to $16,000 without having to pay any gift tax.
- Charitable gifts are included on Schedule A-Itemized Deductions. Remember that in order to take your itemized deductions, they need to be more than your standard deduction. Check here to see what your standard deduction is.
- Because standard deductions are relatively high, some options for taking your tax benefit for your generosity could be to lump several years’ worth of gifts into one tax year by utilizing donor advised funds.
- If you are age 70.5, you are eligible to make gifts directly from your IRA to a qualified charity and never take that money into income at all. This is called a qualified charitable distribution.
- See this blog post for more charitable giving ideas.
Insurance Plan Deductibles—if you have met your insurance deductible for the year, try to squeeze in any last appointments that you can before your deductible resets on January 1.
Tax Loss Harvesting—do you have large capital gains that you may want to offset? Review your holdings to see if any changes should be made in your taxable accounts.
Address Changes—don’t forget to update your address, if necessary, with all of the people that may send you something in the mail—particularly any tax forms.
RMD’s-Required Minimum Distributions-you must take your RMD’s by December 31st to avoid penalties. Wondering who is required to take RMD’s? See this article.

Financial Journey LLC is a registered investment advisor offering advisory services in the states of Florida, Alabama, Virginia and in other jurisdictions where exempted. Information provided is for educational purposes only and not, in any way, to be considered investment or tax advice.

charity deductibles donations employee benefits fsa gifting hsa insurance Required Minimum Distribution Retirement RMD's taxes

How I Choose a Health Plan

It’s that time of year again when employees must renew their employee benefits and health insurance is always top of mind. Your company may or may not have made any changes, but it is important to note that there are certain things that must be elected each year and are not automatic, such as Flex Spending Account (FSA) elections. FSA elections do not carry over each year and the limits usually increase slightly.

Compare plans

On to health insurance and how I look at plans for comparison. I have compared numerous plans over the years and the first thing I start with is the worst-case scenario which is comparing how much the insurance company pays vs. how much you must come out of pocket. Insurance companies and their actuaries are smart and usually when looking at the different levels of coverage offered, typically the worst-case scenarios are the same. So, if something catastrophic happens, you most likely will be coming out of pocket with same amount of dollars (premiums plus deductibles and coinsurance).

Transfer of risk

This makes sense because insurance is actually the transfer of risk, and we just must decide how much risk are we willing to transfer to the insurance company. If we want to transfer more of the risk, then we choose a plan with higher premiums. If we are willing to take some of that risk ourselves, then we take on a little less insurance. The goal with insurance is to NOT use it.

Now that we understand the concept of transferring the risk, look at your current situation and family set up. What is the likelihood of you using your insurance? A young, single person who doesn’t take any medications and rarely goes to the doctor probably does not want to choose the most expensive health plan. They may want to choose one with lower premiums and higher deductibles because they are not likely to use the insurance. Instead, they may want to leverage a high deductible plan with an HSA (Health Savings Account).

If you have a large family with kids playing sports or a known surgery coming up, then you may opt for the plan with the higher premiums and lower deductibles because you are likely going to utilize your insurance a lot more. You may also have access to a Flex Spending Account (FSA) where you can have some money set aside each paycheck to help with additional medical expenses throughout the year.

Evaluate your own family situation

In summary, when choosing a health plan, you should start with evaluating your own family situation, then decide how likely it is you will be utilizing your insurance. Once you understand this, then you can look at the premiums, copays and deductibles to see what makes the most sense for your family situation. Then you may be able to supplement these choices with other employee benefits that may be offered, such as HSA’s and FSA’s. If you need help reviewing your employee benefits, this is something we do here at Financial Journey. Set up a free introductory call to see how we can help!

fsa health insurance hsa insurance

5 Questions You Should Ask When Hiring a Financial Advisor

Finding the right Financial Advisor for the job is so important! You need someone who is trustworthy, competent, and affordable.

Questions To Ask Yourself

Before you interview a financial advisor, you need to ask YOURSELF a few questions:

What are you looking for in a financial advisor?
What services do you need?
What are you willing to pay for them?
How often do you want communication (frequent in-person, occasional call, or email)?

Knowing your goals and communication style will help you to quickly determine which financial advisor is the right one for you.

Questions To Ask a Financial Advisor

Are You a Fiduciary?

You want your financial advisor to say yes! Fiduciaries are financial advisors who are required to:

Put the client’s interests first
Disclose important information, including their fees
Reveal any conflicts of interest

How Do You Get Paid?

Financial advisors can make their money in several different ways:

Hourly
A fee based on a specific service
A percentage of the managed assets
A sales commission on investment products

To avoid any conflicts of interest, look for an advisor who is “fee-only.”

What Services Do You Provide?

Different advisors may only support you in certain financial areas, such as:

financial plans
managing assets
investment advice
retirement
insurance
tax planning

Before you hire a financial advisor, know what services are offered and if there are any extra costs for additional services.

What’s Your Philosophy on Investing?

A good financial advisor should fit your needs. You want someone whose investment philosophy matches yours and uses strategies that you understand. This will help you feel more secure through the ups and downs of the market.

Who Are Your Typical Clients?

You want to work with a financial advisor who has experience working with people in your situation.

Conclusion

A good financial advisor should expect questions like these. They understand how important the relationship is between the advisor and the client and want a good fit for both parties which is why you should interview more than one.

Your financial advisor is an important person in your life. Take your time to consider all the candidates and choose the one who’s best for you.

If you are looking for a trusted partner to help you navigate financial decisions, we are here to help. Schedule a meeting with us today to see how we can help you with your own financial journey.

Financial Journey LLC is a registered investment advisor offering advisory services in the state of Virginia and in other jurisdictions where exempted. Information provided is for educational purposes only and not, in any way, to be considered investment or tax advice.

fiduciary finances financial advisor financial plan insurance investments Retirement tax planning

Disability Insurance

Do you need disability insurance? Would you want to protect your largest asset? If so, then I would say yes, you need disability insurance. Your largest asset during your working years is your ability to make money. According to the Council for Disability Awareness, more than one in four of today’s 20-year old’s will be out of work for at least a year due to a disability before they reach full retirement age. That is an alarming statistic.

disability insurance insurance long term disability insurance short term disability insurance

Life Insurance

Why do you need Life Insurance? Not everyone does need life insurance. You need to think about your current situation. For example, if you own a home with your spouse and you pass away tomorrow, would you want to make sure your spouse has enough money to not worry about the mortgage payment? What if you have kids—would you want to make sure there are some assets available for childcare while your spouse works in addition to having funds for the mortgage payment?

insurance life insurance