My long-time assistant, Roxie, is the master of managing her credit score. This began as a game to her and she wondered if she could ‘manage’ her way to a perfect ‘850’ score. Her Discover card provides (for free) her score each month so she began experimenting with changes to how she handled her finances […]
This story opens with a 103-year-old parent who was sold two new HVAC units for his home costing $24,000. These were top-of-the-line units where competitive units would have cost $14,000. When his 70-year-old son found out, he was furious and felt the company had taken advantage of him. The son had tried to protect his […]
According to BankRate.com, home mortgage rates dropped to their lowest level in 17 months. The 30-year mortgage is at 4.04% and a 15-year mortgage is at 3.41%. Rates on 30-year jumbo loans also fell to 4.10%. This is great news if you’re considering buying a home and should serve as a reminder to check your […]
Just for fun, let’s begin with a bit of history. Five thousand years ago, life expectancy was 18 years. By the 1900s, life expectancy had risen to age 47. Today, it’s age 79 and continues to rise. What’s more shocking is that demographers predict children born in 2000 will, on average, live to age 100 […]
It is certainly a proud moment in a parent’s life when their child graduates from college. And proud you should be. Research indicates that college graduates earn in excess of $1 million more over their careers than non-graduates. And while we tend to think of this as the ‘next phase’ of a child’s life…getting a […]
The are many ways I measure my success as a wealth manager, but one of the most important ways is how many nervous calls I receive from clients when financial market volatility increases. If I’m doing my job well my clients achieve a certain mindset and comfort level, allowing them to navigate extreme periods of […]
In late 2007, right before the banking meltdown that ushered in the Great Recession of 2008, we were easily earning north of 4% on money market accounts. As the recession unfolded, and with much help from the Federal Reserve, interest rates plummeted to near zero percent…actually zero percent in many cases. Some ten years later […]
I recently ran into a situation where an employee withdrew money from their 401k in order to buy a home that he had been renting. Certainly, owning a home is part of the American dream, but is it a good idea to use your retirement savings? In this case, he took an ‘in-service withdrawal’ instead […]
For as long as I can remember, having a home mortgage was considered ‘good’ debt. The reason was that you were borrowing money to buy something that’s expected to increase in value…AND you received a tax deduction for your interest payments! What’s changed? In 2017, 32 million taxpayers were eligible for the mortgage interest deduction. […]
For young couples, it is often hard for them to make sense of the various financial challenges they face and to set priorities. While each person is different, below are my Top 5 Priorities for Young Couples! Improve Emergency Cash Situation A typical rule of thumb is to take your monthly income and multiply that […]