Social Security was originally intended to provide older Americans with continuing income after retirement. As people approach retirement, they generally have questions about Social Security and the benefit it provides.
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Disorganization can generate months of hassle as well as unnecessary attorney or advisor fees. In addition to making sure that the distribution of your assets is in line with your objectives, taking a proactive approach when planning your estate can save your grieving family a significant amount of time and hassle.
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Have you confirmed the beneficiary designations of your 401k, IRA, or life insurance policies recently? If not, you should! Find out why.
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While both mutual funds and exchange traded funds (ETFs) can be effective tools when creating a diversified portfolio, it is important to understand attributes of each of these investment options.
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How good is your 401(k) plan at work? We looked at Brightscope which measures 401(k) plans and gives them a rating.
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Brokerage firms Charles Schwab & Co. and TD Ameritrade recently announced that they would stop charging brokerage commissions on trades for exchange traded funds and even stocks. Some of you may have wondered what impact this will have on you and also will we (Beacon) make any changes to your portfolio as a result.
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The Millionaire Next Door is a classic book that surveyed over a thousand millionaires to try and identify common attributes that made them so successful at accumulating wealth. And the results may surprise you.
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In our previous article, we provided some insight and listed the benefits of utilizing donor advised funds as a component of a charitable gifting strategy. As a follow up, we wanted to provide some information that could be helpful when vetting custodians who offer donor advised funds.
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With the new tax law, bunching charitable donations may make sense. Donor advised funds can be a great tool in your charitable gifting strategy. This article discusses attributes and unique features of donor advised funds.
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Is retirement on your horizon? Have you thought about what it will take to be prepared financially to retire? This article provides a number of common financial decision points and action items that you may need to evaluate during your “pre-retirement” period.
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Many people have questions regarding their Social Security retirement benefits. This article addresses several of the more common questions that people often ask us.
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In this tutorial, you will learn how to connect your 401k, bank accounts, annuities and other accounts to your WelathConnect portal.
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Is retirement on your horizon? Have you thought about what it will take to be prepared financially to retire? This article provides a number of common financial decision points and action items that you may need to evaluate during your “pre-retirement” period.
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It’s almost Election Day in the US once again. While the outcomes of the elections are uncertain, one thing we can count on is that plenty of opinions and prognostications will be floated in the days to come. In financial circles, this will almost assuredly include any potential for perceived impact on markets. But should long-term investors focus on midterm elections?
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You will note in the table below that over the last year the S&P 500 (U.S. stocks) has outperformed its international counterpart by more than 22%! This disparity in performance becomes even more magnified when considering 10 year and 15 year performance numbers. In fact, U.S stocks have outpaced foreign stocks by about 2.5% annually for the last 15 years! So why is it important to take a global perspective when investing for the long term?
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For many, the largest unknown during retirement and a source of much concern and worry is the potential for “extraordinary” health-related expenses
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What was going on in 1987 to cause such market uncertainty? Well, there were a number of things. Uncertainty in the Middle East. Oil price volatility related to an OPEC collapse. An economy that had expanded rapidly, but was now beginning to slow.
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In this article, we provide some insight into managing those retirement expenses that pre-retires are most concerned about: taxes and health-related expenses.
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In this article, we wanted to spend some time addressing pension decisions, ideas for strengthening your personal balance sheet and helping you think through how much money you will likely need during retirement.
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Many of our clients have asked how what will happen to the stock market if Candidate(X) wins the election. Get a historical perspective of the impact an election may have on the stock market.
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