FiGuide - A Retirement Plan that works

Adjust Your Budget in January While the Year is Still New

Jan 29 2019

Whether you prepared a budget at the end of last year or if you have never made a budget, the end of January is a good time to consider your finances and spending. You may have been more optimistic at the end of the year about how much you could save or how little you would spend. Or, maybe the results of holiday spending have just become all too real for you in January. Whatever the case, at the end of January, the new year is still new but you may have already faced some hurdles in your request …

Fiduciary Standard for All Advisors?

Jan 28 2019

There has been a debate going on in the financial advisory world for many years. You see, there are two primary governing bodies for folks in the financial services business: the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC), which promotes a fiduciary standard, and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), promoting a suitability standard. These are the two primary governing bodies (but there are others).

The Players

The SEC, an arm of the US federal government, has regulatory authority over Registered Investment Advisors (RIA) and Investment Advisor Representatives (IAR) who provide investment advice pursuant to the Investment Advisors Act of 1940 (the ’40 …

Believe it Or Not

Jan 27 2019

A longtime favorite line that I like to use when people ask me what the market or economy are going to do in the near future, is to say “Sorry, my crystal ball is in the shop.” Or I’ll repeat what famed baseball manager Yogi Berra once said: “It’s tough to make predictions, especially about the future.”

That doesn’t stop others from trying to be a broken clock by predicting early and often. And so we’re into that exciting time of year when all sorts of market predictions are made by people who are mostly claiming that they knew the …

Focus On The Future

Jan 25 2019

This post was inspired by a recent conversation I had with a former student. As is customary in my classes, I encourage students to contact me if they have questions while in the “real world” after graduation. The student was contemplating contributing the maximum to a Roth IRA for 2018 – which is $5,500, and then potentially doing the same for 2019 – which would be $6,000. His concern was market volatility. He was afraid of contributing to the IRA, then seeing is lump sums of $5,500 and $6,000 respectively plummeting if the market were to drop substantially. I told… Read More

The Secret to Retirement Planning

Jan 24 2019

I’m going to tell you the secret to retirement planning. It’s easier than you might imagine, but for those of you who can do it, it will really work, and that is – work longer and wait to collect Social Security, until 70, if you can.

I know that’s not for everybody. Some people have jobs that are just intolerable or too physically demanding or working a little bit extra and a little bit longer might not be an option for you.

For those that can, however, working a little bit extra and a little bit longer than you might …

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