As fears of a recession grow due primarily to trade-war concerns, home mortgage rates have followed the 10-year treasury rates down…to their lowest levels in three years. Here’s a quick review of current rates (source: Freddie Mac 9/5/19): 30-year conventional mortgage: 3.49% 15-year conventional mortgage: 3.00% What’s even more surprising is that non-conventional ‘jumbo’ mortgage […]
As students head back to college, many will be choosing their major. When I attended college decades ago, I gave very little thought to my major course of study. In fact, I was more guided by which was the easiest path to victory (a college diploma)! For me, that ended up being a marketing major […]
I was with a retired physician friend not long ago and inquired, “How’s retirement life going?” His response was, “Stewart, never quit a high-paying job you love!” he was bored and having trouble filling the void left by a forty-plus year fulfilling career. For the past thirty-plus years, I’ve worked with hundreds of people helping […]
Sending your child off to college is…well, a huge deal! They are beginning the next phase of their life as they transition from adolescence to young adulthood. As parents, we often hold onto that image of our young child and fail to think of them in adult terms. Doing so can cause us to miss […]
Becoming a parent is an exhilarating experience, but also comes with a great deal of responsibility! On August 2, 2019, my wife and I welcomed our second child, Jones Carson Clay, to the world, and we feel very blessed. Between helping my wife with various tasks, including diaper changes, feedings, cleaning clothes, etc., my financial […]
In 2017 hackers stole personal data for more than 147 million people from Equifax. Nearly ½ of all Americans were affected by the breach. As part of the settlement with the Federal Trade Commission, everyone whose data was stolen can get ten years of credit monitoring or up to $125.The payout could be as much […]
A recent study indicates that the typical family loses an average of $111,000 due to poor choices of when to begin taking Social Security retirement benefits. With Social Security retirement payments making up an average of one-third the average retirees’ income, making the right decision is vital to your financial well-being. Let’s start with the […]
Last week I discussed how Congress is potentially stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from your IRA by enacting the SECURE Act which eliminates the long-held ‘Stretch IRA’ by forcing non-spousal IRA beneficiaries to withdraw all funds within 10 years. In my example, a 10-year-old inheritor of a grandparent’s IRA, under current ‘Stretch’ rules, could […]
The backbone of every family’s retirement planning is, well, their qualified retirement plan, whether it be a 401k, IRA, Roth, or similar plan. We’ve been told we need to invest in a qualified plan because: Often you receive a matching employer contribution. You put in $200 per pay period, and they match it with $100 […]
At its foundation, my job as a wealth manager is to help clients effectively allocate their hard-earned capital. While there are many important decisions along those lines, the decision to remodel an existing home, or move to a new home, is one of the biggest as it can prove costly if not well thought-out. When […]