Are you marrying soon? Have you recently married? As you begin your life together, it's important for you to start planning your financial future together and putting your finances on the same page. Here are some priorities you might want to write down on your...
Why sell shares when you can gift them? If you have appreciated stocks in your portfolio (and you hold them in a non-qualified account that doesn’t get special tax treatment), then you might want to consider donating those shares to charity rather than selling them...
Do its risks offset its advantages? Has high-frequency trading made things better on Wall Street, or worse? It has its adherents and detractors. What does HFT amount to – a lurking danger, a market necessity, a hidden tax on the small investor, a net plus? Frankly,...
A noted economist disputes that generalization. True or false? You may have heard this claim before (or something like it): “Many Americans are being forced to retire later because their savings and investments took a hit in the Great Recession.” Recently a big-name economist disputed that belief....
Two-thirds of us have no financial plan. 64% of Americans have no financial strategy at all. That’s right – no plan whatsoever to build wealth or keep it. That finding comes from the 2009 National Consumer Survey on Personal Finance conducted by the Certified Financial Planner...
While the idea of retirement has changed, certain financial assumptions haven’t. We’ve all heard about the “new retirement”, the mix of work and play that many of us assume we will have in our lives one day. We do not expect “retirement” to be all leisure....
The 2011 changes will be followed by more in 2012 and 2013. Have you bought any stocks this year? Before you sell any of them, remember that the IRS implemented new tax basis reporting rules for equities on January 1, 2011. Under the new rules, you...
A way to give without a great deal of bureaucracy. So, you’d like to make some major charitable contributions, but you don’t want to create a family foundation - with its paperwork and management commitment and the possibility of squabbles. Is there an alternative? Yes, there is....
Two-thirds of us have no financial plan for retirement. 64% of Americans have no retirement financial strategy at all. That’s right – no plan whatsoever to build wealth or keep it . That finding comes from the 2009 National Consumer Survey on Personal Finance conducted by...
WEEKLY QUOTE“People always call it luck when you've acted more sensibly than they have.” – Anne Tyler WEEKLY TIP Visiting the mall or the grocery store when you are depressed or hungry may encourage you to spend excessively and run up a tab you regret. WEEKLY RIDDLE We all have one, and even...