I’m hearing more about telephone scams where the scammer is pretending to be a government employee. Scammers will try to scare and trick people into giving them their personal information and money. The scammers may threaten victims or their families and may demand immediate payment to avoid arrest or other legal action. What should I …
Independent Financial Planner
What happens if my financial advisor dies?
I was talking with a client recently and was reminded of how important a business succession plan can be. My client called to talk to her trusted personal banker at the local bank. She was told that he had retired. She was directed to a replacement banker and she left a voice mail. A week …
Three ways to protect yourself against a recession
We’ve been hearing conflicting reports about whether a recession is looming. A recent survey of 500 Americans shows many are worried about a recession and plan to adjust. If you’re in that category—or even if you’re not—now is a good time to take action to protect yourself in case of a recession. Almost four in …
What is the 5-year rule for Roth IRAs?
Roth IRAs have been with us for more than 20 years. That’s about as long as we’ve had Google, and the same amount of time since the last presidential impeachment hearings. Some things have changed a lot in that time, and some things are the same. The Roth IRA was an unusual idea when introduced …
10 IRA mistakes to avoid
Humans make mistakes. And the Required IRA Distribution rules can be tricky, especially if you’re new to retirement distributions. So if you are better than 70 ½ years old and you own an IRA, you may want to review this list. Remember, the penalty for failing to meet your Required Minimum Distribution (RMD) is a …
Why is insurance needed?
Part of my job is to help families think about—and prepare for—bad things. It can be tricky because humans mostly don’t like to think about bad things. After all, they’re bad and it’s unpleasant to think about them. The point is not really that you must do this one thing in response to the bad stuff. The …