It's NOT one or the other Rid yourself of some or all taxes Most of our clients and followers already know about certain retirement hacks you should be thinking about in markets like we're facing right now. Even though most of us remember them when we're reminded, it's a topic worth revisiting. You know there are choices in most of your retirement plans at work. You choose to have money held out of your paycheck to invest in the income your future self will use in retirement. We call those retirement plans and they come in all sorts of flavors; 401(k), 403(b), 457, and so on and so forth. &nb ..read more

Attack on Freedom & More Near-Term response may be just the beginning   Just a couple days ago the Russian armed forces moved in and attacked numerous targets throughout Ukraine and Putin made a vow to make massive changes to their government. Change that could go as far as replacing it all together. We have been keeping our ears to the ground for the past several months and sharing our opinions via our blogs and Podcasts so the actual event itself although unpleasant, is not as shocking to the markets, our clients and followers. Believe it or not the past couple of days have ended o ..read more

Get help or do it alone Pay me now or pay me later These days just about anything can be done online. Ordering products can be done with a few clicks and it's delivered to your doorstep in a couple of days and sometimes even a couple of hours. Seems easy enough for most purchases, but sometimes the ease and comfort comes at a cost. I can't tell you how many times we've ordered things on Amazon, Ebay or another shopping site, only to find it at our local BJ's or Home Depot a few days later and much cheaper. It was super easier to search for the product we were looking for, pay and have it sent ..read more

A sure way to guarantee pain Meatloaf said it best when he said "do anything for love, but I won't do that..." RIP 2022! The first few weeks in 2022 have reminded us all that stocks can actually lose money. That's right, news flash, stocks can be volatile, lose money and make you feel like you're on a rollercoaster that'll make you sicker than a long weekend of binge drinking with your college roommates. It's a reminder of us all to do a few things like take inventory of our assets, revisit our goals, take a look at our comfort and ensure things haven't change at all with our time horizon. In ..read more

Know who takes the crown - the app or website A battle to the finish   We all carry a smart phone by now - or at least most of us. There are a growing number of retired clients of ours who are new to the smart phone space. For years they fought it and went with a pre-paid, but now they're indulging in the luxuries of having access to a multitude of things at their fingertips.   So, what's the big difference between a website or a fancy new app? They typically offer the same stuff and it can be hard to see the advantages on the surface. Many times the mobile apps don't actually give ..read more

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Travel Right Now Navigating the industry, sector, and stocks   It's about time we all treated ourselves to a little getaway, but how do things look in this new world we live in? We'll take a look at different aspects of the travel industry, exam some changes, and explore areas of the market we may see an impact on revenue and perhaps share price over time.   There are a few different elements to pick apart in this sector so I'll divide these into a multi-blog where we cover each segment with detail. When it comes to the backend bookings of hotels, air, bus, car rentals, and vacation ..read more

Take now or forever hold your piece By now those of you who are reading this have received at least one advance payment of the child tax credit. That's great, or is it? There was some confusion on this among friends, family, and clients and we hope to get some clarity on this for you.   If you're eligible to claim the child tax credit you would have received a letter from the white house outlining both an enhancement to the amount and the way it's being paid this year. For the remainder of 2021, the IRS has auto-enrolled everyone eligible into an advanced payment of up to half of the eli ..read more

What dreams are made of This has got to be the year for weddings. Because the world basically shut down in 2021 a lot of brides were left at the altar with very few options. Some eloped or did something small and others opted to push off until this year. We personally have three weddings to attend this year and one already on the calendar for next year. I'm hearing from more and more friends who also seem to have more weddings to attend than the norm.   As a partner of an investment firm, it's hard not to consider the finances behind any event we attend. We're noticing a number of change ..read more

Depending on how you see things, Trouble or Opportunity could be lurking A look around the corner As the adage of sell in May goes, there is some data that shows the months of August and September could see markets slide a bit. Although history tends to repeat itself, there's isn't compelling evidence that you should liquidate half or all of your investments just before these months.   So what happens in these months? Kids are back to school, summer is over, traveling slows and it's back to business for the adults. This also marks the tail end of the third quarter and the beginning of Q4 ..read more