Financial Planning

Have you taken steps to protect the assets you have worked so hard to build?

Chances are, you know someone who has been sued. Maybe that someone is you.

In previous times, people approaching retirement were also looking forward to having a debt-free home.

The tragic images coming from the Texas Gulf Coast over the past few weeks and from Florida and the Caribbean over the past few days have surely reminded us all that natural disasters are no respecters of persons.

Financial planners often hear the question: “Am I putting enough aside for retirement?” It isn’t surprising, especially as people reach “a certain age,” that they start wondering about this, especially since “not being a burden to my children in my old age” is close to the top of many prospective retirees’ worry lists.

Many of us are familiar with the somewhat dreaded routine: climbing onto the treadmill at a clinic or our cardiologist’s office, having electrodes taped to our chests, and then undergoing a series of graduated exertions designed to measure our cardiovascular system’s ability to perform at greater and greater levels of effort.

The announcement by the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (“Freddie Mac”) on April 13, 2017, that 30-year fixed-rate mortgages have fallen to their lowest level of the year, averaging 4.08 percent, has many homeowners wondering if now is the time to refinance.

A December survey by the National Endowment for Financial Education® (NEFE) finds more than two thirds (68 percent) of U.S. adults will make a financial New Year’s resolution for 2017. Saving money (53 percent) tops the list, followed by managing debt (44 percent).

Budgets, or the more palatable term “spending plans,” provide structure and can make your financial life less stressful.

With students going back to college and college graduates beginning their careers, it’s a good time to review sometime-tested budgeting tips parents can share with their children.