May 15, 2020

By: John Zeltmann

In the midst of a market downturn like we've seen over the past couple of months, and with the daily bombardment of bad economic news, it's easy to think the downtrend will continue.  Looking at one's retirement plan over several months rather than several years, it's easy to feel despair, especially during times like these.  When will the U.S. re-open?  When will kids go back to school?  When will grocery stores be safe?  What about a vaccine?  What will normal look like and when will it get here?

March 31, 2020

In late March 2020, Congress passed a $2 trillion stimulus package called the CARES Act - the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act¹.

The primary features of the Act include boosts to unemployment insurance payouts as well as some changes to retirement accounts that should help ease the financial burdens currently faced by many Americans. (NOTE: Don’t assume that we’re in the clear because the government is pumping $2 trillion into the economy. If we were in the clear, the House wouldn’t be working on the next stimulus package, which they are. Assume more ups and downs in the stock market over the next few months, or longer.)

March 31, 2020

Whose life hasn’t been dramatically altered over the past month? We’ve seen entire industries decimated. Careers upended. Lives lost. Common daily occurrences transformed. Normal, everyday behaviors are now deemed risky. The term social distancing has been added to the lexicon. How easy it is to go on and on.   

February 15, 2020

Over the past few years, a lot has been written about the transfer of inter-generational wealth. The premise is that the Baby Boomers have amassed significant sums of money that they will not spend during their lifetime. Thus, these mini-fortunes will presumably pass on to their heirs.

But if you’re banking on an inheritance to make your financial plan whole, let’s not count those dollars just yet.

February 15, 2020

By: John Zeltmann

Recently I received a very helpful email from Social Security, filled with tips on how to avoid scams related to my Social Security account.  It was almost as though it was explicitly designed to put me at ease, inviting me into thinking whoever wrote the email had my best intentions in mind.

That’s because it was.

February 15, 2020

In this instance, the word “sky” refers to the stock market, and all that happens when markets fall. As we haven’t had a so-called bear market (i.e., a loss in value of more than 20%) in more than ten years – though we came within a whisker in the fourth quarter of 2018 – there are undoubtedly millions of investors who believe the bear is around the corner. Or maybe it’s the next corner.

December 31, 2019

While shopping recently, I was asked by a cashier how much she would owe in taxes on an IRA she liquidated. It was an interesting question on many levels.

December 31, 2019

Based on the daily news, it seems that there are aren’t enough warnings when it comes to financial crimes against the elderly. While some of the scams seem so obvious (Did you ever knowingly enter a lottery in Nigeria?), we react differently when we’re in the moment. You’re distracted, the phone rings, you hear the word ‘police,’ and you immediately go into crisis mode.

December 31, 2019

As clients know, we use several mutual funds offered by Dimensional Fund Advisors (DFA) when we build investment portfolios. Their passively managed funds are based on extensive research, that claims to identify certain company-specific attributes that lead to better performance over extended periods.

By John Zeltmann

December 24, 2019

Congress recently passed one of the most significant pieces of retirement planning legislation in a decade: The Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement Act ("the SECURE Act"). The new law changes how we plan for our clients' financial lives, so we thought it would be helpful to summarize the key implications.