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Explore insighful articles from investing and retirement to education and legacy planning to help you make more informed decisions for your financial future.
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Investing
Asset Allocation
Asset allocation is a critical building block of investment portfolio creation. Having a strong knowledge of the concept may help you when considering which investments may be appropriate for your long-term strategy.
Diversification, Patience, and Consistency
The saying “don’t put all your eggs in one basket” has some application to investing. Over time, certain asset classes may perform better than others. If your assets are mostly held in one kind of investment, you could find yourself under a bit of pressure if that asset class experiences some volatility.
Saving Early & Letting Time Work for You
As a young investor, you have a powerful ally on your side: time. The earlier you start saving, the more opportunity your investments have to increase in value.
Retirement Planning
Where Will Your Retirement Money Come From?
What workers anticipate in terms of retirement income sources may differ considerably from what retirees actually experience. For many people, retirement income may come from a variety of sources.
How Women Can Prepare For Retirement
When our parents retired, living to 75 amounted to a nice long life, and Social Security was often supplemented by a pension. The Social Security Administration (SSA) estimates that today's average 67-year-old woman will live to age 88. Given these projections, it appears that a retirement of 20 years or longer might be in your future. 1
Traditional vs. Roth IRA
Traditional Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs), which were created in 1974, are owned by roughly 43 million U.S. households. And Roth IRAs, created as part of the Taxpayer Relief Act in 1997, are owned by nearly 35 million households. 1
College & Education
Getting a Head Start on College Savings
As a parent, you teach your children to dream big and believe in their ability to overcome any obstacle. By investing wisely, you can help tackle the financial obstacles of funding their higher education – and smooth the way for them to pursue their dreams.
What If Your Kids Decide Against College?
As a parent or grandparent, you may have diligently saved money in a 529 account to help fund your child's or grandchild's college education. But what happens if they decide college isn't the right path for them? It's a valid question that many families are facing as more and more people choose alternatives to traditional four-year colleges.
529 Plans Can Cover More Than College
Here’s some good news about 529 plans that could change how you think about education savings.
Estate & Legacy
How Often Should You Update Your Estate Strategy?
Once an estate strategy is in place, it should only require periodic reviews to check that it still reflects your wishes. However, life events such as marriage, divorce, births, deaths, relocations, health changes, business sales, and changes in tax law may prompt you to reconsider part of your overall strategy.
Managing an Inheritance
Inheriting wealth can be a burden and a blessing. Even if you have an inclination that a family member may remember you in their last will and testament, there are many facets to the process of inheritance that you may not have considered. Here are some things you may want to keep in mind if it comes to pass.
Problems with Probate
Many of us hope to leave something behind for our loved ones when we pass away. But the probate process is complex. To understand how to better manage potential probate fees, let’s explore what probate is and how the process works.
Insurance
Reviewing Your Life Insurance Needs
Life is an ever-evolving journey marked by significant milestones, personal growth, and unexpected changes. As life unfolds, your financial and insurance needs also shift, changing from year to year, decade to decade. A good example of this is life insurance.
Term vs. Permanent Life Insurance
When considering life insurance, one of the most important factors to understand is the difference between term and permanent insurance. Here’s an inside look at both.
What to Look for in an Extended-Care Policy
Extended-care coverage can be complex. Here's a list of questions to ask that may help you better understand the costs and benefits of these policies.
*CRPC conferred by College for Financial Planning.
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