Protecting Against Inflation
It’s been a long time since investors have had to worry about inflation. Now it’s been in the headlines, because prices have been rising faster than expected. Let’s talk about what that means and what you can do to protect your portfolio. Before you start to worry about how inflation might affect your investments, let’s take…
Read MoreUnderstanding Student Loan Forgiveness
The forgiveness or restructuring of debt is one of the oldest governance mechanisms in the finance sector. From Israel’s years of Jubilee abolishing debts to George Washington’s Debtor’s Prison Relief Act of 1792 restructuring the American debt system and the more modern GI Bill, this mechanism has a long, but infrequent tradition. Now, the current…
Read MoreSmart Ways to Save for Your Child’s Education
If you’re a parent, the start of a new school year may have you considering how much you’re able to set aside for your child’s college fund. The national average for annual college tuition for 2022-2023 is over $39,000 for private school and over $10,000 for public, in-state tuition¹. And, that does not include living…
Read MoreAn Introduction to Bond Ladders
Bonds play an important role in a diverse investment portfolio. As fixed-income securities, they can provide a stable return until they mature. As with any investment, bonds are subject to a certain amount of risk. Interest rate risk, for one, is the possibility that interest rates will rise after an investor buys bonds, causing them…
Read MoreIt’s Time to Have “The Estate Plan” Talk
Talking with loved ones about estate planning and inheritance can be challenging, especially as it centers around two difficult topics — money and death. But talking with your adult children about their inheritance can provide significant advantages for you and them. It can help your heirs better prepare for the future and give you a…
Read MoreThe Sequence of Returns Risk in Retirement
Markets go up and down in ways that are not entirely predictable. For long-term investors, what the market is doing in the present isn’t that troubling; they’ve got a long time to ride out potential downturns. But for recent retirees, an ill-timed market downturn can have a negative impact on their nest egg, increasing the…
Read MorePreparing Your College Student for Financial Independence
Making the transition from high-schooler to college student involves dipping their toes in the real world and making important financial decisions. The first piece of this is paying for tuition – whether or not the parents pay, there are scholarships involved, or that student loans are leveraged (55% of students took out loans in 2020).…
Read MoreHow Women Can Overcome Obstacles to Retirement
Women face unique challenges when it comes to employment, income, and caregiving. As a result, they often must take a different approach when it comes to preparing for retirement. Here’s a look at some of the retirement hurdles women face and how to address them. One hurdle that women face is that they still, unfortunately,…
Read MoreHow to Weather a Market Downturn
Long-term investors will experience a number of market downturns over the course of their lives, which can be triggered by everything from natural disasters to political turmoil. So, if you’re investing for retirement or another long-term financial goal, you need to know how to weather a market correction without being thrown off track. Assess what…
Read MoreWhy Investors Should Avoid Overconcentration
A concentrated position in a single stock can happen to investors for many reasons. They may receive company stock as part of their employee compensation package or they may have bought shares of a single company, hoping to choose a big winner. However, it’s unlikely that a single stock will outperform the market as a…
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