Fee-Only Financial Planning Advice

Update: Tax & IRA Deadline

Mar 30 2020

Over the past several years, you have seen several posts from Albion’s Senior Wealth Advising team designed to help you and your family make a lifetime of good financial decisions.

The first step in making any good decision is to understand the relevant facts. However, given recent events, there have been a plethora of changes that have come out over a very short period. Understandably, it is difficult for anyone to keep up with all these changes.

Our goal in this post, and those coming soon, is to help keep you informed on some of the …

Government Retirement Plans After SECURE Act

Mar 30 2020

Photo credit: diedoe

The SECURE Act made sweeping changes to the rules for most inherited retirement plans, effective January 1, 2020. However, not all inherited retirement plans are changed by that date. If plan in question is a government retirement plan, such as a 457 or 403(b) plan, the implementation date is January 1, 2022. There are a few other cases when 2022 is the implementation date as well. Specifically, the 10-year distribution rule goes into effect in January 2022 for the following two situations:

Plans maintained pursuant to a collective bargaining agreement (unless the collectively bargained agreement terminates

The Lower The Market Falls The More Important It Is To Stay Invested

Mar 30 2020

The lower the market falls, the more important it is to stay invested. Short-term returns should not ruin a brilliant long-term investment strategy. Rebalance your portfolio by selling what has gone up and buying what has gone down. If you can’t stomach rebalancing your portfolio, at least continue to hold. Don’t lose heart and abandon the plan. There is no amount of time or percentage loss after which it is better to give up, sell, and go to cash. It is better to simply remain calm and stay invested. To illustrate that recommendation, here is the average future return… Read More

Women Face Challenges in Saving for Retirement

Mar 24 2020

You may have heard the advice about the importance of saving for retirement and you may know just how important it is to save and still not be able to really put aside money for retirement as you would like. MarketWatch published an opinion piece that asks: “Why is it still so hard for women to save for retirement?“ The article discussed that Millennials have not been observed to be great savers, didn’t mention Generation X, and had this to say about Baby Boomers: “The largest inequality with income and savings is among working baby boomers who… Read More

After the Taxes are Completed

Mar 09 2020

When the tax returns are completed for the year, don’t just put them in the file drawer and forget about them. Use the data provided to make some good decisions about 2020 withholding and saving patterns.

This is a good time for you to review a recent paystub from 2020. With tax return results in hand, you can estimate whether you need to adjust your W-4 to change federal withholding, either reducing large refunds or withholding a bit more each pay period to better cover 2020 taxation. Your CPA can assist with this evaluation.

Lastly, refer to your paystub to …

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