Jim Allen

Aretha Franklin, the “Queen of Soul” and arguably one of the greatest singers of all time, recently passed away at age 76. Unfortunately, she joins a long line of wealthy people and celebrities (Prince, Howard Hughes, and James Brown among others) who did not have a will or estate plan in place.

One of the more frequent questions we get when meeting with clients or potential clients is:“Should we keep our life insurance after we retire?” Unfortunately, there isn’t one right or wrong answer to this question.

 Most people have a vision of retirement as their “Golden Years”, where they are free from the stress of work and can finally do all the bucket list items they have dreamed of. Of course, retirement can be golden, but it can also be a painful experience.

As we ring in 2018, the stock bull market that started in 2009 continues. The extended length of this bull market (close to historic levels) has caused some people to become concerned about a correction, which leads to considering moving more of their portfolio into bonds. Generally, bonds can be a good diversifier and lower the volatility of a portfolio when added to the asset allocation.

Thank you for joining us at our 2017 Client Appreciation Event! We are thankful to everyone who attended.

Below are some images from the event. We hope you enjoyed the experience, like we did, and we look forward to more fun events in 2018.

After almost a year of “buzz” from President Trump and Congressional Republicans, the proposed tax reform bill has finally been introduced as the “Tax Cuts and Jobs Act”. This is a major piece of legislation and will have significant impact on your financial and tax situation if passed.

Thirty years ago, this month, the stock market experienced the largest one day drop ever – 508 points or 22.6% for the Dow Jones Industrial Index. Market declines all around the world were even larger, with the Hong Kong exchange dropping 45% in a single day.

One of the most important decisions a person nearing retirement needs to make is when to take Social Security. Most people are aware that you can start your benefits as early as age 62 and this often becomes a trigger point for deciding when to retire.

Your Social Security benefit will likely be one of your largest and most important sources of income during retirement. What we know about Social Security benefits are that they are:

·       Guaranteed by the federal government

A recent article in Financial Planning magazine by Dr. Craig Israelson had a great analogy for the benefits of saving for retirement early. He compared using slow and steady saving, which allows for time to do the work of growing your next egg to using a crockpot to cook.