Category: General
92 posts categorized as "General"
Jan 7, 2020
By Joanne M. Welker, CFA, Senior Vice President and Manager, Advisory Services
Unlike last year at this time, 2019’s year-end statement should provide feelings of relief, pride, and satisfaction versus last year’s fear and consternation after the market’s decline in December 2018. Once you get past the celebratory feelings, there are some things you should consider and keep in mind when reviewing your year-end statements.
The S&P 500 was up 28.9% in 2019,
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Oct 30, 2019
By Jeffrey R. Wolfe, Senior Vice President, Manager of Wealth Planning Strategies
As we come to the climax of the Scary Financial Mistakes series, you know how it’s going to end. The young victim just escaped the monster, made it to the car, turns the key and . . . nothing. Car won’t start, monster gets them, and moves on to the next co-ed. Now, what if you found out that the reason the car didn’t start was because they didn’t do something completely preventable,
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Oct 23, 2019
By Theresa Fry, Senior Vice President and Manager, IRAs, Retirement and Education Planning
One of the biggest fears most people have about retirement is running out of money. Retirement decisions can be scary because your financial well-being depends on you making the right decisions for you and your family. Deciding when to take Social Security is one of those important retirement decisions that once made, generally cannot be un-made.
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Oct 16, 2019
By Dan Schulte, Vice President and Manager, Annuities and Insurance
The idea of having a prolonged physical illness, disability, or a long-term cognitive impairment, such as Alzheimer’s can be frightening. So much so that you might not want to think about it at all. However, having a long-term care need without proper planning could result in a significant economic hardship for you and your loved ones.
Consider this:
- The national average for 24-hour home care or for one year in a nursing home can cost more than $100,0001
- At least 70% of people over the age of 65 will require long-term care at some point in their lives with 20% requiring care for longer than 5 years2
- From 2004 to 2018,
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Oct 9, 2019
By Edward “Ed” V. O’Neal, Vice President and Manager, Retirement Plans
Sometimes just the surprises and uncertainty in our daily lives can be scary! At times, things just don’t work out as planned and events can happen that we didn’t anticipate; like a job change or health issue. And typically, these situations seem to happen at the worst possible time and can lead to some unplanned and frightening financial challenges.
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Oct 8, 2019
By Joanne M. Welker, CFA, Senior Vice President and Manager, Advisory Services
Coffees, cereals, cookies, candies and now even Spam have a Pumpkin Spice edition product, so we thought maybe we should too! With a Pumpkin Spice financial plan, we help our clients’ dreams from turning into pumpkins and assist them with spicing up their lives along the way.
While it is true that a financial plan can help do these things,
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Oct 2, 2019
By Debbie Placke, Vice President, Manager Financial Planning Tools and Marketing
Ghosts, goblins, monsters, spiders – What scares you? When it comes to your finances, mistakes and oversights can be very scary and costly! During October, we will review some scary financial mistakes people commit in the hopes that you can avoid making them yourself.
For starters, do you have a financial plan in place? Whether you are just beginning your career,
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Oct 1, 2019
By Joanne M. Welker, CFA, Senior Vice President and Manager, Advisory Services
Deciding if a brokerage (commission based) or an advisory (fee based) account is right for you may feel overwhelming or something you question in your mind even after the decision has been made. Let’s start to break it down by considering these three things:
Time – Managing an investment portfolio takes time. Time to analyze and perform research on the securities for consideration.
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Sep 6, 2019
By Jeffrey R. Wolfe, Senior Vice President, Manager of Wealth Planning Strategies
So Sunday, September 8 is Grandparent’s day, a day recognized by a proclamation by President Carter in 1978, “To honor grandparents, to give grandparents an opportunity to show love for their children’s children, and to help children become aware of strength, information, and guidance older people can offer”.[1] For 2019, according to https://grandparentsday.org/,
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Jul 31, 2019
By Debbie Placke, Vice President, Manager Financial Planning Tools and Marketing
Creating a budget is the simplest way to start working toward achieving your financial goals. As the end of summer approaches, it is a good time to start planning for the approaching holidays as well as looking ahead to next year and the years ahead.
The first step is to get your income and spending under control. Start by asking a Benjamin F.
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