Retirement
20 Second Advisor: Key Driver For Retirement Happiness? An 85 year Harvard study provides a possible answer.
The Answer: Connections. A Harvard study followed some 724 people over their lifetimes to answer the question: What makes us happy? As the study’s participants entered their retirement years, more and more of them communicated the difficulty of forming new and meaningful relationships outside of work. To maximize your happiness in retirement, I believe you…
Read More20 Second Advisor: Roth IRAs – Great for You, Great for your Heirs
You’ve heard from us the benefits of Roth IRA. If your income (or your spouse’s income) qualifies you to contribute to one, it’s a great tool for your retirement! Paying historically low tax rates today, knowing that regardless of the tax rates or your tax bracket in the future, you’ll never have to pay taxes on…
Read More20 Second Advisor: Should I just put my money in bank CDs?
I’ve been getting a lot questions from clients on if they should keep their funds in their portfolio or just take it out and put the funds into a bank CD (now paying 4-5%). To me, the question is all about time horizon. Stocks have a much higher expected return (around 10% over the long…
Read More20 Second Advisor: SECURE 2.0
On December 29, 2022, President Biden signed the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023, which is wrapped into the larger bill, Securing a Strong Retirement Act, commonly called SECURE 2.0. The majority of the SECURE 2.0 provisions will become effective in 2024. Here are a few key takeaways from SECURE 2.0 that may affect you:
Read More20 Second Advisor: Learning Guitar and Investing
I am taking guitar lessons. It’s been a goal of mine for a while, and I realized I needed the face to face instruction and accountability to give myself the best chance of success. My instructor keeps telling me…”I’d rather you practice 15 minutes a day than ONLY 2 hours on Saturday!” This made me…
Read More20 Second Advisor: Age before beauty – how older investors can outperform higher return investments (hint: it’s time!).
I’m reading a book right now that talks about Warren Buffett. Some say he is a great investor. Others say that perhaps he has just been extremely lucky. Or perhaps he is just an old investor (he’s been investing for a long time!). I think Buffett has a good bit of all three: Investment skill,…
Read More20 Second Advisor: 2023 Retirement Contribution Limits
Here are the maximum amounts you can save into some common retirement plans in 2023. Go ahead and increase your contribution! Cheers to 2023 and let us know if we can help you plan for retirement or navigate which plan is best for you! If you like keeping up with this data (and a lot…
Read More20 Second Advisor: SMART goals = intentional life
It’s that time of year when we clean out the junk in our house, take stock of where we are, and maybe make a few goals and plans for the coming year! I love to plan, but I’ve learned that nothing happens by accident. The best way to move incrementally toward the life you envision…
Read More20 Second Advisor: Don’t let health insurance ruin your dreams!
Most people get health insurance through their employer. They are given a few options, and some of the costs are typically paid for by their employer. Most people don’t think too much about it. This all changes as people approach retirement or start thinking about starting a business! Suddenly, health insurance becomes this massive beast…
Read More20 Second Advisor: Catching a falling knife (or why you don’t want to sell out in this market).
I often tell people that timing the market is akin to trying to catch a falling knife. You might get lucky and grab the falling knife on the handle. Or you might get unlucky – grab the knife on the blade and end up in the hospital. In a nutshell, we know that the market…
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