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Explaining The Basics Of Inherited Real Estate

What is cost basis? Stepped-up basis? How does the home sale tax exclusion work? Why does it matter? At some point in our lives, we may inherit a home or another form of real property. In such instances, we need to understand some of...

Choosing A Beneficiary For Your IRA Or 401k

Choosing A Beneficiary For Your IRA Or 401k Selecting beneficiaries for retirement benefits is different from choosing beneficiaries for other assets such as life insurance. With retirement benefits, you need to know the impact of...

Why Retirees Need Good Credit Scores

Careers & businesses end, but the need to borrow remains. Provided by Scott Showers We spend much of our adult lives working, borrowing, and buying. A good credit score is our ally along the way. It retains its importance when we...

Deciding What to Do with Your 401(k) Plan When You Change Jobs Or Retire

When you change jobs, you need to decide what to do with the money in your 401(k) plan. Should you leave it where it is, or take it with you? Should you roll the money over into an IRA or into your new employer's retirement plan? As...

IRA Rollovers For Lump Sum Pension Payouts

Give those dollars the opportunity for further tax-deferred growth. A big payout leads to a big question. If you are taking a lump sum pension payout from your former employer, what is the next step for that money? It will be integral...

Key Employee Life and Disability Insurance

Key Employee Life and Disability Insurance You've got a great group working for you now, and business is good. You know that much of that success is due to one or two key people with both skills and personalities that are hard to...

Evaluating An Early Retirement Offer

Evaluating an Early Retirement Offer In today's corporate environment, cost cutting, restructuring, and downsizing are the norm, and many employers are offering their employees early retirement packages. But how do you know if the...

Estate Planning An Introduction

Estate Planning: An Introduction By definition, estate planning is a process designed to help you manage and preserve your assets while you are alive, and to conserve and control their distribution after your death according to your...

Funding A Buy Sell Agreement With Disability Insurance

Funding a Buy-Sell Agreement with Disability Insurance You may have a great buy-sell agreement in place at the company where you are a partner or co-owner--one that clearly stipulates how much your family will be paid for your share...

Funding A Buy Sell Agreement With Life Insurance

Funding a Buy-Sell Agreement with Life Insurance As a partner or co-owner (private shareholder) of a business, you've spent years building a valuable financial interest in your company. You may have considered setting up a buy-sell...

Transferring Your Family Business

Transferring Your Family Business As a business owner, you're going to have to decide when will be the right time to step out of the family business and how you'll do it. There are many estate planning tools you can use to transfer...

Memorial Day 2017

Memorial Day 2017 As May ends, the nation will honor the men and women who gave all while serving in this country’s armed forces. Memorial Day is Monday, May 29 – a day to show awareness and respect for their service and...

Beware Of Emotions Affecting Your Money Decisions

Today’s impulsive moves could breed tomorrow’s regrets. When emotions and money intersect, the effects can be financially injurious. Emotions can cause us to overreact – or not act at all when we should. Think of the...

Tax Efficiency In Retirement

Tax Efficiency in Retirement How much attention do you pay to this factor? Provided by Scott Showers Will you pay higher taxes in retirement? Do you have a lot of money in a 401(k) or a traditional IRA? If so, you may receive...

An Inherited IRA

An Inherited IRA Here are some things to consider when you receive IRA assets. Provided by Scott Showers Be sure you understand your options. When the owner of an IRA passes away, his or her heirs must be aware of the rules and...

Should Women Strive To Work Past 62?

Should Women Strive to Work Past 62? The argument for doing that is pretty convincing. Every now and then, you read an article about a woman past the age of 65 who says she loves her job and will “never...

How an Oregon woman's face ended up on a World War II plane

The following story was written by Pulitzer Prize winning journalist, Tom Hallman. I happened to find the story while exploring the AirCorps Aviation website and thought you might enjoy the story also. By Tom Hallman Jr. | The...

They Said His Name Was Reggie

They Told Me His name was Reggie The following is a fictional story my wife recently shared with me that demonstrates the capacity we as humans have to love and be compassionate. The story also speaks to some of the problems our folks...

Maximum Retirement Account Limits For 2017

How much can you contribute to an IRA or workplace plan this year? In 2017, you have another chance to max out your retirement accounts. Here is a rundown of yearly contribution limits for the popular retirement savings vehicles. IRAs...

Could You Create Your Own Pension Plan?

Small Business Owners are taking a new look at old-school defined benefit plans. Contrary to popular belief, classic pension plans have not disappeared. Corporations have mostly jettisoned them, but highly profitable small businesses...

Back To School Package For College Students

You may have a college age young adult child or grandchild heading back to school after the long holiday break and there are some key things you should do for that student, which often gets overlooked. There are two estate planning...

What Really Matters In Life

Mexican Fisherman Meets Harvard MBA A friend of mine shared this story with me and it really hit home. It is vitally important that we all align our deeply held beliefs with our most important goals and this story illustrates that fact...

Steps To Protect Your Computer Against Ransomware

We are going to continue focusing on the things within our sphere of influence and control as it pertains to your identity. In a prior installments we discussed protecting your identity, and protecting your "Digital Estate". This time...

When Will the Markets Settle Down?

When will the Dow, S&P 500, and Nasdaq Composite recover from their declines? Those two questions are no doubt on your mind as Wall Street proceeds through an unsettling February. Skepticism is prevalent right now. The price of oil is...

Protecting Your Digital Estate

What Is Your Digital Estate? If you die, what happens to your email archives, your social media profiles, and your online accounts? I’ve heard that the average person has as many as 40 accounts requiring a password and that a...

Don't Allow Your Advisor To Sidestep the New DOL Rule

Singular vs. Split Focus

Pigeon Holed

The Financial Services Industry Is Designed to Sell Financial Products.

Do You Have A Head Coach?

You may not even need a head coach. Who is the team of experts used by your head coach that helps them, help you achieve your goals? If I hire a head coach, what will the outcome be and by when? Is your your head coach leading a...

Aren't All Financial Advisors the Same and Interchangeable?

Mark Little is a former financial advisor who developed a systematic process for delivering fully comprehensive financial services to clients looking for more than just investment management or "financial planning lite". Mark talks a...

What Is Values Based Financial Planning and Why Is It Different?

Create your own personalized financial strategy from a point of inspiration based on what's important to you. Align your financial choices with your deeply held values and important goals by using the Values Based Philosophy.

Rise Of The Fee Based Professional

A huge shift is underway, with the client in mind. Provided by Scott Showers A wave of change is transforming the financial services profession. The shift has been gradual, but noticeable. Increasingly, financial professionals are...

Market Volatility and Your Tolerance For Risk

Market VolatilityThe volatility of the stock market is in the news yet again and from what all of the so-called experts seem to be saying, this type of volatility will be the new normal. The Federal Reserve just ended their...

Why Planning For Retirement Is Important

The video below is a clear message of why it is so important to plan for retirement. Please watch this two minute clip and make a commitment to begin the formal retirement planning process now, if you have not already done so.