As Sam enjoys their Sunday evening, Sam gets a call from their sister Maya. This is unexpected since Sam hasn’t talked to Maya in years. “Hi, Maya”, Sam answers the phone. Maya responds, “Hi, Sam. I have some news for you.” Maya proceeds to tell Sam that their Aunt Gertrude passed away and as the executor of her estate, Maya lets Sam know that they are one of the beneficiaries of Aunt Gertrude’s...
BFSG Blog
Financial Resources & News
Explore the Types of Retirement Accounts and What is Best for You?
Pretend for a while that you are 40 years old and about to make an additional $10,000 per year with your new job that just started today, January 2, 2024. You are ecstatic about your future, and you go into your new HR manager’s office with all smiles ready to discuss details of your benefits package. You sit down and see that you have a 401(k) available with a Roth option and the ability to...
New Qualified Charitable Distribution (QCD) Rules
As we stand waist-deep in tax season, most Americans are scouring the earth looking for legal ways to reduce their tax bill or increase their refunds before they file their taxes. It seems like this scouring has become more voracious as time goes on and is probably correlated to the overwhelmingly negative U.S. Congressional Job Approval highlighted below. This mindset most likely explains why...
Financial and Investment Products You Should Avoid
When it comes to trustworthy professions, what professions would you typically think of? Take a second to think about some professions. Ok. What professions did you come up with? What might be top of mind for you could be “doctor”, “accountant”, or maybe “firefighter”. Much to my chagrin, I doubt that “financial advisor” came up for you during this thought exercise. Don’t feel bad, I’m used to...
Financial Planning Tips for Mid-to-Late Career Professionals
You’ve entered your 40s and 50s and retirement no longer feels like a pipe dream. It’s far enough away that you can’t quite visualize it, but it’s close enough around the corner to have you thinking about taking your retirement plan more seriously. Maybe you have an average 401(k) balance for a 40-49 year-old of $100,300, or maybe you have the median 401(k) balance in a 401(k) for a 50-59...
Is Investing in the Stock Market Akin to Gambling?
Many prospective clients that we work with do not have any investments saved since they believe that the stock market is akin to gambling. I would like to take some time to illustrate why that sentiment is wrong and how probability, Roulette, and financial planning are all (somehow) related to each other. The chart below highlights the fact that the stock market had a 53.6% chance of having an...
Important Medi-Cal Changes Effective in 2024
As we wrap up 2023, it’s important to be introspective and think about what’s on the horizon for 2024. If your brain associated “2024” with “the November 2024 US presidential election”, don’t worry. I’m not going to be discussing that because I don’t want to go down that rabbit hole and I’m in a good mood today. What I do want your mind to associate “2024” with is the positive change to Medi-Cal...
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