There is an old adage in investing that almost everyone has heard:  “Buy low and sell high.”  But is there ever an instance where you would do the opposite?  Obviously, the goal is always to make money on your investments, however sometimes it can make sense to sell something at a loss and receive the tax benefits.  We will briefly …

A question that I see people wrestle with often is how to use their spare cash – save for retirement or pay down your debt?  Like most topics, the precise answer is highly dependent on the individual and their circumstances, however there are a few things that everyone can consider when making this decision.  First, what type of debt do …

A question that I am frequently asked is whether it is better to make retirement account contributions on a pre-tax basis (Traditional) or a post-tax basis (Roth).  The answer to this question is highly specific to each individual and their current/future earnings, however we can consider the way think through this question. For all retirement account contributions, you are going …

How much risk is appropriate for you to take with your investment portfolio?  This is another one of those questions that is difficult to answer as it is highly specific to each individual and their unique situation.  I recommend consulting with a fiduciary financial advisor that can help you answer this question for your specific circumstances.  However, there are two …

I am often asked which estate planning documents are necessary vs which documents are less important.  The answer is very specific to each person’s individual situation; however I can share a few basic portions of a well rounded estate plan below.  This list is not exhaustive and I would recommend consulting with an advisor or an Estate Planning attorney regarding …

In today’s world, people tend to move between employers much more often than they did years ago. One reason is that Pension’s are much less common and have largely been replaced with Defined Contribution (401k, 403b etc.) retirement plans. These plans are an important tool in retirement and they are also quite portable. This post will explain how this works. …

I am going to take a minute today to share some thoughts on recessions. As mentioned previously, recessions are a normal part of economic cycles. We can confidently predict that they will happen, but we cannot confidently predict when they will happen. There are many different economic indictors that economists and investment professionals examine on a regular basis to try …

Last year as we entered 2023, most economists believed that the US economy was likely to enter into a recession at some point during the year. They had many reasons to believe this. In addition to the Fed rapidly raising interest rates — inflation was high, the yield curve was inverted (historically a strong sign of impending recession), the stock …

Social Security is a controversial topic but worth spending a minute discussing today because it is an important piece of the retirement puzzle for most people. There are constantly headlines in the news about Social Security, how it works, ought to work and whether or not it will even be solvent in the future. The purpose of this post is …

Almost anyone who has spoken with me on financial planning has heard me express how much I love Health Savings Accounts (HSAs). In my opinion HSAs are an underrated and underutilized tool that can provide numerous benefits when used properly. In order to contribute to an HSA, a person much be utilizing an eligible high deductible health care plan. The …