Scot Landborg

Good financial planning involves taking a comprehensive and holistic approach to looking at your financial picture. It isn’t just investment management, but also tax planning, retirement income planning, estate planning, and protection of assets. It also means trying to maximize saving money through tax reduction strategies and expense management.

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.

Throughout the year we host small specialized events for clients and friends as a “value-add” and a way to connect outside the office.  It’s part of creating a “Sterling Experience.”

Our wine tasting event was last week, and a small group of our wine lovers enjoyed visiting Pali Wine in Anaheim. 

Retirement is not an end. It’s an experiment in Activity, Relationships, and Time (ART). And like all experiments, the ART of retirement involves some trial and error. It’s not easy leaving behind the routine, the people, and the places that were such a big part of your life while you were working.

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.

After much debate and speculation, the Republican’s tax reform package was signed into law by President Trump just before Christmas. The Tax Cuts & Jobs Act of 2017 is a pretty significant tax reform package and will likely affect you (some positively and others negatively) starting with your 2018 income tax return.

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.