WALL STREET'S WILD RIDE!
It’s been nearly three years since the market began its historic decline resulting in the Dow retreating from a high of approximately 14,000, to a low near 6,500 on March 9, 2009…I’m certain of this date since it was my Fathers 82nd Birthday…Happy Birthday Dad, your day will live in infamy for a long time…we hope. more
MORE FLEXIBILITY FOR HELPING GRANDKIDS WITH COLLEGE
Transferring a custodial account set up under the Uniform Gift to Minors Act (UGMA) or Uniform Transfers to Minors Act (UTMA) to a section 529 college savings plan can potentially result in a number of tax advantages. more
USE A QTIP TRUST TO GIVE YOUR HOUSE T0 YOUR ‘FIRST MARRIAGE' CHILDREN BUT AFTER YOUR SECOND SPOUSE DIES
Divorce is prevalent in society. Older couples married for the second time often have their own children from a first marriage. more
REFINANCE YOUR RENTAL PROPERTY FOR MORE RETIREMENT INCOME
Need more retirement income? Tap into your rental property without selling it. more
CONVERT YOUR TRADITIONAL IRA TO A ROTH IRA FOR TAX FREE SAVINGS!
Imagine an investment account that grows tax free and you can take as much or as little out of it for as long as you live. more
STEPS TO SAFER INVESTMENT DECISIONS IN 2009
It’s tough to tell how much one investor can do alone to preserve their assets in 2009, particularly with unprecedented government intervention in world markets. more
THE "I'LL STOP WHEN I GET EVEN!" REFLEX
The stock market during the past 18 months has been one of the most devastating any of us can recall. Trillions of dollars in investor’s portfolios has vaporized. more
ARE YOU A MADOFF $50 BILLION VICTIM?
It’s been a shocking headline for the past month. Bernard Madoff, former Nasdaq chairman and respected advisor to numerous celebrities and charitable organizations, has been charged with orchestrating a $50 Billion Ponzi scheme for several decades. more
INVESTING SMART IN A HEALTH SAVINGS ACCOUNT
Last year, new provisions went into effect on Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) that not only give individuals a better nest egg for serious health situations, but a nest egg that can serve them in other ways as well.
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YOU MAY LOVE EACH OTHER, BUT SHOULD YOU INVEST TOGETHER?
It’s one of the most important questions a couple will face in their relationship but it so rarely gets asked until a relationship is well underway – should we pool or separate our money for investment? more
WHEN RECESSION FEARS SURFACE, CHECK YOUR PLAN – OR MAKE ONE
It’s been a wild year thus far on Wall Street. more
THE SEVEN DEADLY INVESTOR TRAPS
Are you caught in the seven deadly investor traps? Do these traps sound familiar? more
THE INVESTORS’ DILEMMA
Investing is usually done in an effort to have money to accomplish life goals and realize dreams. more
THE INS AND OUTS OF IRS AUDITS
According to the Kiplinger Letter, random federal tax audits are starting up again in October after a brief hiatus – about 13,000 taxpayers will receive letters. more
HOW YOUR PERSONALITY AFFECTS YOUR FINANCIAL DECISION-MAKING
The recent volatility in the stock market has everyone a little jumpy – even folks who have worked with a trusted financial planner for years. more
INVESTOR ILLUSIONS
Everyone knows that a crystal is used to look into the future. Most of us realize, however, that you can’t make important life decisions based on an image foretold by a crystal ball. more
THE SCIENCE OF SUCCESS
Long-term evidence proves that discipline and diversification are more effective than trying to beat the market. more
THE BEST TIME FOR A BUSINESS DISASTER PLAN? BEFORE THE DISASTER HAPPENS
Before 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina, the concept of a business “disaster plan” was envisioned mainly in terms of weather- or fire-related disasters and heavy on the notion of evacuation. more
WHAT ARE EXCHANGE-TRADED FUNDS AND HOW DO THEY WORK?
An exchange-traded fund (ETF) is a basket of securities created to track as closely as possible a particular market index, such as the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index or the Dow Jones Industrial Average. more
LOSING YOUR INHERITANCE TO UNCLE SAM - OR OTHERS
Successful estate planning takes not one generation, but two. The first generation needs to make a clear, sensible plan and the second needs to be involved in that plan. more
GETTING THE KIDS INVOLVED IN SAVING FOR COLLEGE
The World War II generation got a taste of higher education through the G.I. Bill and made it a point to supplement or pay their kids’ tuition. more
THE INS AND OUTS OF ROTH IRA CONVERSIONS
If you are thinking about making a Roth IRA conversion in 2006, now is the time to make sure that distributions from your traditional IRA are completed before year end. more
THREE STRIKES, YOU'RE OUT!
There are two basic investment strategy theories. The first is that Free Markets Fail to accurately price stocks, therefore smart people, working diligently, can discover which stocks are mispriced by the market. more
WHAT MOST INVESTORS OVERLOOK ... AND WHAT MOST ADVISORS DON'T EXPLAIN
Charles Massimo, president and founder of CJM Fiscal Management (Garden City, NJ), sees five common mistakes made by all investors at all levels of wealth and investment experience: more
IS CONVENTIONAL PLANNING RIGHT FOR YOU?
Do online interactive financial planning models really help people in deciding how much to save, to insure, and to invest in stocks and other asset classes? more
A GUIDE TO WITHDRAWING RETIREMENT ASSETS
A lot is being written about how much money American s can withdraw from their investments to fund their retirement years. more
IRS SMALL BUSINESS AUDITS DOUBLED!
IRS audit rates fee during the late 90’s, but that appears to be over. IRS audits have doubled during the past 2 years. more
THE NEW PENSION PROTECTION ACT OF 2006 PROMOTES SAVINGS, PROTECTS PENSIONS
It’s been described as the most sweeping pension legislation in more than three decades. more
MAKING A HOME SENIOR FRIENDLY
Many older Americans want to age in place, to live in their homes rather than relocate to a nursing home or an assisted living facility.
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CONSERVING CLIENT PORTFOLIOS
The questions are more than academic. 1. “How much can an investor afford to withdraw from their portfolio during retirement, while minimizing the risk of exhausting that portfolio prematurely?” more
NAVIGATING INTEREST RATES, INFLATION AND THE ECONOMY
These are tricky times for American investors and consumers in general. The economy seems to be cooling down! more
COLLEGE PLANNING IN THE WAKE OF NEW TAX LAWS
Planning for college has never been easy. But such planning became a bit easier when President Bush signed the TIPRA and DRA into law earlier this year. more
THE CORRECT WAY TO USE LIFECYCLE MUTUAL FUNDS
Target-date and target-risk funds have become popular investments among 401(k) plan participants and retirement investors, especially those who have neither the time, knowledge nor inclination to create and manage an investment portfolio. more
ILITS REMAIN A POPULAR ESTATE PLANNING TOOL AND TECHNIQUE
The federal estate tax may or may not be repealed or reformed anytime soon. more
THE IMPORTANCE OF AN ANNUAL FINANCIAL CHECKUP
It’s one of the six steps of the financial planning process. But, oftentimes, it’s the one step that gets overlooked. more
THE TRUTH ABOUT SMALL-BUSINESS SUCCESSION PLANNING
Of all the things facing a man or woman from the moment he or she becomes chief executive officer of a large company, few have a higher priority than determining who will succeed him or her when it becomes necessary. more
A BRAVE NEW FINANCIAL WORLD FOR BABY BOOMERS
On any given day, you will find not one but several studies that examine the current state of affairs for Baby Boomers, the 77 million Americans born between 1946 and 1964 that are now slowly approaching retirement. more
A NEW APPROACH TO SELECTING A FINANCIAL PLANNER
Selecting a financial planner has never been an easy task. more
THE PERPLEXING WORLD OF SOCIAL SECURITY AND EARNINGS IN RETIREMENT Launched in 1935 during the Great Depression as a principal component of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal recovery program, the Social Security System has earned an unquestionable reputation for the reliability of its stream of monthly checks to retirees, the nation’s first comprehensive source of retirement income. more
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