By: Henry VanBuskirk, CFP®, Wealth Manager If you are a new parent, your mind is probably swirling with a myriad of thoughts about your child’s future. Your head is likely ringing with questions that you need answers to like: Do I have enough life insurance coverage? What changes to my budget do I have to make to maintain our lifestyle? How do I save for my child’s future education needs? While...
By: Michael Allbee, CFP®, Senior Portfolio Manager Last week, we tackled one of America’s largest mandatory spending programs, Social Security (forecasted to account for 21% of total government spending in 2023) and answered the question, Is Social Security on life support? However, did you know Medicare and Medicaid are projected to account for 26% of total government spending in 2023?...
BFSG’s CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ professionals, Michael Allbee, CFP® and Paul Horn, CFP®, CPWA®, were invited to be guest speakers for the “It’s Your Money!” workshop series. For the “Investment World” session, Mike and Paul focused on how the investment world gets compensated. Learn the differences between brokers versus advisors, what does the word “fiduciary” mean, how to find an advisor,...
By: Michael Allbee, CFP®, Senior Portfolio Manager Social Security isn’t in danger of going broke since it’s financed primarily through payroll taxes, but the financial health of the Social Security trust fund is declining, and benefits may eventually be reduced unless Congress acts. The Social Security Board of Trustees has estimated that its trust fund has reserves to pay all scheduled...
By: Paul Horn, CFP®, CPWA® Senior Financial Planner For most couples, the leading cause of fights is over finances. To best handle finances it is best to have open and honest communication and to work with a Certified Financial Planner™ professional who can be a neutral third party. In my experience, many fights over finances are over minor things that can be easily avoided. Below is a...
By: Paul Horn, CFP®, CPWA® Senior Financial Planner In our last blog post, we mentioned the importance of automating your budget. This blog post will look at some different tools and resources available to make managing your finances much easier and less scary! Take a look at the different options below. These are merely a starting point and by no means an exhaustive list. We do not have any...
By: Paul Horn, CFP®, CPWA® Senior Financial Planner One of the biggest challenges of working with individuals is discussing their budgets. The simple reality is people are busy and we are not taught how to budget. Another challenge is that budgeting is like doing taxes – it’s necessary but no one wants to do it! Let's take a look at some of the more common mistakes we see when helping people...
Approximately 78% of people who work for companies with fewer than 10 employees and about 65% of those who work for companies with 10 to 24 employees do not have access to a retirement plan at work.(1) That's unfortunate, because workers with a retirement plan are far more likely to save for retirement than those without a plan. In 2022, 62% of those without a retirement plan had accumulated...
Wall Street closed out a winning April after more companies said their profits at the start of the year weren’t as bad as expected. Here are 3 things you need to know: US real GDP rose 1.1% annualized in the first quarter, 0.8% below consensus expectations. While below expectations on the surface, a deeper look reveals a degree of underlying resiliency. Much of the slowdown can be attributed to...
The SECURE 2.0 Act, passed as part of an omnibus spending bill in December 2022, added new exceptions to the 10% federal income tax penalty for early withdrawals from tax-advantaged retirement accounts. The Act also expanded an existing exception that applies specifically to employer plans. These exceptions are often called 72(t) exceptions, because they are listed in Section 72(t) of the...
By: Tina Schackman, CFA®, CFP®, Senior Retirement Plan Consultant With approximately 94% of American workers covered by Social Security and 65.2 million people currently receiving benefits, keeping Social Security healthy is a major concern.1 Social Security isn’t in danger of going broke since it’s financed primarily through payroll taxes, but the financial health of the Social Security...
By: Henry VanBuskirk, CFP®, Wealth Manager Most Americans know that the Defined Benefit Pension Plans are mostly a thing of yesteryear, usually something that only retired Teachers or Law Enforcement get now. The Bureau of Labor Statistics has been tracking this downward trend over time and it’s not a secret why pensions are starting to fade away from most Americans’ collective...
By: Henry VanBuskirk, CFP®, Wealth Manager One of the most crucial financial planning topics that almost nobody likes to talk about is life insurance. In our line of work, it’s akin to discussing politics or religion. Don’t worry, I’m not going to discuss politics or religion here. There are enough outlets online that proselytize on those topics already and you are free to find your preachers...
The tax filing deadline is fast approaching, which means time is running out to fund an IRA for 2022. If you had earned income last year, you may be able to contribute up to $6,000 for 2022 ($7,000 for those age 50 or older by December 31, 2022) up until your tax return due date, excluding extensions. For most people, that date is Tuesday, April 18, 2023. The IRS has postponed the deadline to...
Despite the banking-sector turmoil seen in March, the S&P 500 rose in March, helped by strong returns from growth stocks that were buoyed by falling bond yields. Here are 3 things you need to know: The Federal Reserve continued to hike interest rates by 25 bps in March bringing the Federal funds rate range to 4.75% to 5.00%. U.S. Fed Chair Jerome Powell admitted, the current bank stress will...
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