Chances are, planning for retirement is one of the most important steps—series of steps, really—that you’ll undertake in your life. Unfortunately, we don’t always put enough focus on making thoughtful decisions during our retirements.  Maybe we overlook something important. Perhaps we veer off course from one or more of our strategies. As a result, much of our hard work and planning during the pre-retirement period of our life can unravel once we enter our golden years—which, in turn, may put our retirement dreams and even our fundamental financial security in danger. Whether yo ..read more

The percentage of American adults with strong financial literacy—the ability to understand various financial-related concepts and put them to use—has fallen to historically low levels in recent years. One example: Just 34 percent of adults showed high levels of financial literacy in 2018—down from 42 percent nine years earlier—based on a financial literacy test offered by the FINRA Investor Education Foundation.  Findings such as this are prompting more families to push for greater financial literacy among kids and other young Americans to help reverse recent trends. And indeed, if you ha ..read more

If you have substantial assets, you may be a target for frivolous lawsuits. That’s why it’s so important to consider asset protection strategies that can create barriers to protect your wealth. Asset protection planning employs legally accepted concepts and strategies, as well as specific financial products, to ensure a person’s wealth is not unjustly taken from him or her.  But asset protection can be a tricky business. Make the wrong move—knowingly or accidentally—and you can easily blow up the legal wall you’re trying to build around your wealth. Here are five major mistakes that we se ..read more

One of the best things you can do when managing wealth is to be extremely clear on what you’re looking to accomplish and what hurdles stand—or could stand—in your way. Why? Success—in investing, in business, in life—rarely happens by accident. When you’re clear-eyed about where you want to go and what could get in your way along the journey, you can both create a better map and build in better contingency plans.  The good news: There’s a process you can implement in your financial life that can better enable you to resolve your issues and arrive at your desired destination.  Six step ..read more

Here are some interesting real estate activity updates: New single-family home sales increased 11.8% from a year ago.  Sales in April rose in the South and Midwest but fell in the Northeast and West.  The months’ supply of new homes (how long it would take to sell all the homes in inventory) is 7.6 months up significantly from 3.3 months early in the pandemic. This is in contrast to the market for existing homes which continues to struggle with an inventory problem often due to the difficulty of convincing current homeowners to give up the low fixed-rate mortgages they locked-in dur ..read more

So far this year, the direction of the economy and financial markets has been elusive. Is inflation headed in the right direction? Inflation changed course late in 2022. The monthly change in the rate of inflation, as measured by the PCE Core Price Index (one of the Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation gauges) accelerated late in 2022 and continued to move higher in January 2023. Then, it slowed in February, creating uncertainty about the state of inflation.  The latest University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Survey indicated that Americans expect inflation to fall over the coming year ..read more

The Markets  Ambiguous images. Some illustrations are optical illusions. When two people view the picture, they may see completely different images. A good example is Rubin’s Vase. One viewer may see a vase, while another sees two faces. Current economic conditions can be interpreted in different ways, too. Recent economic data and a possible credit crunch, resulting from upheaval in the banking sector, suggest growth is slowing. After viewing the data, some say we’re heading for a soft landing, and others say a recession is coming. Here is the recent data:  Consumer spending. This ..read more

Long Live Tax Season: Tax Planning Year-Round   We’re coming to the end of tax season, but that doesn’t mean we should stop thinking about taxes.  In fact, this is the perfect time to make a game plan to make tax planning more proactive than reactive. Let’s not wait for the annual tax deadline to start lowering your bill.   Tax plans are like thumbprints – we each have a unique one. And we should take into account our unique situations when making planning more proactive.1   But here are some general strategies that could potentially help you maximize your mo ..read more

Dr. Sonya Lutter, Ph.D., CFP, LMFT, often asks her clients about their first money memory. She once had a couple sculpt their first money memory with Playdough. The husband hadn’t been very conversational in their early meetings so she wasn’t confident he would participate in the exercise. But he did in the most surprising way. “He picked up his Playdough and he made the most amazing pig from Playdough you’ve ever seen,” Dr. Lutter said. “He got out his pen from his back pocket and made all the indentions and a nice little squiggly tail.” She thought he was going to tell a story about a pig ..read more

When making decisions about your wealth and finances, how often do you and your spouse (or partner) work together as a team to arrive at a place where you’re both happy? Consider that spouses reports higher relationship quality and stability when they feel they are both involved in financial decisions and processes.    With that in mind, here’s a look at what you can do to better ensure that you and your spouse are working as true partners toward your most important financial goals. Reasons to work as a team There are numerous reasons why couples should be making a concerted effort t ..read more