Newsletters

Will you outlive your retirement income? Are your financial expectations for the coming year realistic?
Our financial newsletters are designed to provide helpful information on a wide variety of financial topics. Simply click on one of the newsletter topics below to read the article in its entirety.

Investing in UITs

Saturday, 03 October 2020

You may be familiar with the most common types of investment companies — mutual funds and exchange-traded funds (ETFs) — but how much do you know about a third type: unit investment trusts (UITs)? They are structured differently and offer unique features that may be appealing to some investors. A Fixed Portfolio A UIT purchases a portfolio of stocks or bonds and sells shares of the portfolio — called “units” — to individual investors...

Business Cycle Basics: Recessions Begin and End Before We Know It

Friday, 02 October 2020

In March 2020, most state governments ordered nonessential businesses to shut down in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. This sudden halt in business activity and the resulting spike in unemployment made a recession immediately predictable, although few had seen it coming. On June 8, 2020, the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) declared that a U.S. recession began in February. This was the fastest that the NBER has declared any recession..

Insurance to Help Protect Your Business from Lawsuits

Thursday, 01 October 2020

Accidents and mistakes happen no matter how well a business is run, and the expenses involved in defending a lawsuit could be devastating, whether the owner is found to be at fault or not. Fortunately, liability insurance can help offset legal costs (up to the policy limits) that could consume your business’s profits or ruin its longer-term prospects. Commercial general liability (CGL) coverage helps protect against risks associated with proper..

The Bull Is Back... Will It Keep Charging?

Sunday, 06 September 2020

On August 18, 2020, the S&P 500 set a record high for the first time since COVID‑19 ushered in a bear market on February 19. The cycle from peak to peak was just 126 trading days, the fastest recovery in the history of the index — erasing losses from an equally historic plunge of almost 34% in February and March. 1 Based on the traditional definition of market cycles, the new record confirms that a bull market began on March 23 when the i..

Could You Be Responsible for Your Parents’ Nursing Home Bills?

Saturday, 05 September 2020

In 26 states (and Puerto Rico), laws generally hold children financially responsible for certain debts of their parents. These laws are referred to as filial responsibility laws (or filial support or filial piety laws). The details of filial responsibility laws vary by state. Most require that a parent must be deemed unable to pay for the costs of basic care and support before a child may be held responsible. And most states consider the child’..

Survivor Benefits Provide a Financial Lifeline

Friday, 04 September 2020

The decisions you make when claiming your Social Security retirement benefit could make a big difference to survivor benefits that might be available to your spouse. That’s why it is important to consider these benefits long before they are needed. Survivor benefits for a spouse are based on the retirement benefit that the deceased worker was collecting or entitled to collect at the time of death. If the worker claimed benefits at full retireme..

Consider Market Caps for Diversification

Thursday, 03 September 2020

The extreme market volatility of 2020 has rattled investors’ nerves, but it also can provide an opportunity to diversify at discount prices. One way to diversify the equity portion of your portfolio is to hold stocks of companies of different sizes, which tend to perform differently under different market conditions. The most convenient and comprehensive way to diversify by size is through mutual funds or exchange-traded funds (ETFs) that track..

Student Loan Stress? These Plans Might Help

Wednesday, 02 September 2020

Although student loans are usually associated with young people, about 23% of the $1.5 trillion total student loan debt in the United States is owed by people ages 50 and older — and many of these loans are in serious delinquency (90+ days late). 1 Older Americans may be carrying loans for their own education, or they may have taken out or co-signed loans for their children or grandchildren. Due to the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Secu..

Why Family Businesses Should Have Succession Plans

Tuesday, 01 September 2020

The family drama surrounding an aging media mogul — and his unresolved succession plans — are at the center of a hit television show. For family businesses, succession plans are designed to ensure the orderly transfer of ownership and leadership to the next generation. Relationships among family members are sometimes just as complicated in real life as they are on TV, and monetizing a closely held business to help fund retirement often takes ..

College Disrupted: Students Face High Costs and Pandemic Impact

Thursday, 06 August 2020

Even in normal times, it can be challenging for families to cover college expenses without borrowing money and/or risking their own retirement security. For the 2019–2020 academic year, the cost of in-state tuition, fees, room, and board at a four-year public college averaged $21,950, and the total for a private college approached $50,000. 1 Sadly, the college world is not immune from the health fears and financial pain inflicted by the coronav..

Debit or Credit? Pick a Card

Wednesday, 05 August 2020

Americans use debit cards more often than credit cards, but they tend to use credit cards for higher-dollar transactions. The average value of a debit-card transaction in 2018 was just $36, while credit-card transactions averaged $89. 1 This usage reflects fundamental differences between the two types of cards. A debit card acts like a plastic check and draws directly from your checking account, whereas a credit-card transaction is a loan that re..

Consider a Roth Conversion for Tax-Free Income

Tuesday, 04 August 2020

The combination of lower tax rates and lower asset values could make this a good time to convert assets from a traditional IRA to a Roth IRA. Converted assets are subject to federal income tax in the year of conversion, which might be a substantial tax bill. But if all conditions are met, the Roth account will incur no further income tax liability for the rest of your lifetime or the lifetimes of your designated beneficiaries, no matter how much ..

Turbulent Times: Bear Markets Come and Go

Monday, 03 August 2020

The longest bull market in history lasted almost 11 years before coronavirus fears and the realities of a seriously disrupted U.S. economy brought it to an end. 1 Bear markets are typically defined as declines of 20% or more from the most recent high, and bull markets are sustained increases of 20% or more from the bear market low. But there is no official declaration, so often there are different interpretations and a fair amount of debate regar..

Indexed Annuities: A Strategy to Turn Savings into Retirement Income

Sunday, 02 August 2020

If you aren’t eligible for a traditional pension, you might consider whether an annuity could play a role in your retirement income strategy. Like all annuities, an indexed annuity (IA) is a contract with an insurance company that provides an income stream — either immediately or at some point in the future — in exchange for one or more premium payments. Indexed annuities differ from other annuities in that they offer the potential to parti..

Crisis Relief: Financial Lifelines for Affected Workers

Saturday, 01 August 2020

In the spring of 2020, unprecedented steps taken to help slow the spread of COVID-19 caused millions of Americans — including heavily impacted small-business owners and workers — to suffer a sudden and severe loss of income. Congress quickly passed relief packages designed to ease some of the financial pain. The Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) extends paid leave to affected workers at some small businesses. The Coronavirus Aid..

The Shape of Economic Recovery

Monday, 06 July 2020

On June 8, 2020, the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), which has official responsibility for determining U.S. business cycles, announced that February 2020 marked the end of an expansion that began in 2009 and the beginning of a recession. 1 This was no great surprise considering widespread business closures due to the coronavirus pandemic and the resulting spike in unemployment, but it was an unusually quick official announcement. The..

Mid-Year Is a Good Time to Fine-Tune Your Finances

Sunday, 05 July 2020

The first part of 2020 was rocky, but there should be better days ahead. Taking a close look at your finances may give you the foundation you need to begin moving forward. Mid-year is an ideal time to do so, because the planning opportunities are potentially greater than if you waited until the end of the year. Renew Your Resolutions At the beginning of the year, you may have vowed to change your financial situation, perhaps by saving more, spend..

Four Questions on the Roth Five-Year Rule

Saturday, 04 July 2020

The Roth “five-year rule” typically refers to when you can take tax-free distributions of earnings from your Roth IRA, Roth 401(k), or other work-based Roth account. The rule states that you must wait five years after making your first contribution, and the distribution must take place after age 59½, when you become disabled, or when your beneficiaries inherit the assets after your death. Roth IRAs (but not workplace plans) also permit up to..

Playing Defense: Three Stock Strategies to Help Control Risk

Friday, 03 July 2020

Defensive stock strategies can help a portfolio better weather an economic downturn or bouts of market volatility without sacrificing all the growth potential of equities. If you are nearing retirement or just want to lower your risk exposure, these strategies may help you manage risk while maintaining an appropriate equity portfolio. Temper Volatility All stocks are volatile to some degree, but some have been less volatile historically than othe..

The Beige Book: A Timely Economic Read

Thursday, 02 July 2020

Statistics are essential for making decisions on economic policy, but numbers may not tell the whole story. That’s why the Federal Reserve Open Market Committee also looks at a more informal report of economic conditions before each of its eight regularly scheduled meetings during the year. Popularly called the Beige Book (for the color of its cover), the report is officially titled Summary of Commentary on Current Economic Conditions by F..