Financial Articles

Yes, Young Growing Families Can Save & Invest September 9, 2019 by Todd A. Gaswick It may seem like a tall order, but it can be accomplished. Put yourself steps ahead of your peers. If you have a young, growing family, no doubt your to-do list is pretty long on any given day. Beyond today, you are probably working on another kind of to-do list for the long term. Where [...]

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Are You Retiring Within the Next 5 Years? September 9, 2019 by Todd A. Gaswick What should you focus on as the transition approaches? You can prepare for your retirement transition years before it occurs. In doing so, you can do your best to avoid the kind of financial surprises that tend to upset an unsuspecting new retiree.          How much monthly income will you need? Look at your monthly [...]

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IRA Withdrawals That Escape the 10% Penalty September 3, 2019 by Todd A. Gaswick The list of these options has grown. An IRA, or Individual Retirement Account, is a tax-advantaged savings account that is subject to special rules regarding contributions and withdrawals. One of the central rules of IRAs is that withdrawals prior to age 59½ are generally subject to a tax penalty because policymakers sought to create a [...]

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Behind on Your Retirement Savings? September 3, 2019 by Todd A. Gaswick What steps could you take to try and catch up? If life has not allowed you to build substantial retirement savings, what possible steps could you take in an effort to improve your retirement prospects? You could play catch-up. If you are 50 or older, see if you can make the catch-up contributions the Internal [...]

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Earnings for All Seasons August 26, 2019 by Todd A. Gaswick What is it and why is it important? While nature offers four seasons, Wall Street offers only one – four times a year. It’s called “earnings season,” and it can move the markets. So, what is earnings season, and why is it important? Earnings season is the month of the year that follows each calendar [...]

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Saving Your Elderly Parents from Financial Fraud August 26, 2019 by Todd A. Gaswick Talk about precautions with the seniors in your family. Elders are financially defrauded in this country on a daily basis. Only a few of these crimes are made public. In fact, the National Adult Protective Services Association (NAPSA) estimates that only 1 in 44 cases of elder financial abuse are reported. NAPSA also reports that [...]

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You Could Retire, But Should You? August 19, 2019 by Todd A. Gaswick It might be better to wait a bit longer. Some people retire at first opportunity, only to wish they had waited longer. Your financial strategy likely considers normal financial ups and downs. That said, a big “what if” on your mind might be “what if I retire in a down time that doesn’t swing back [...]

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Retirement Now vs. Retirement Then August 19, 2019 by Todd A. Gaswick Today’s retirees must be more self-reliant than their predecessors. Decades ago, retirement was fairly predictable: Social Security and a pension provided much of your income, you moved to the Sun Belt, played tennis or golf, and you lived to age 70 or 75.  To varying degrees, this was the American retirement experience during the last [...]

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The Retirement We Imagine, the Retirement We Live August 14, 2019 by Todd A. Gaswick Examining the potential differences between assumption and reality. Financially speaking, retirement might differ from your expectations. Just as few weathercasters can accurately predict a month’s worth of temperatures and storms, few retirees find their financial futures playing out as precisely as they assumed. Because of this, some common financial assumptions (and anxieties) about retirement are [...]

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Your Financial Co-Pilot August 12, 2019 by Todd A. Gaswick If anything happens to you, your family has someone to consult. If you weren’t around, what would happen to your investments? In many families, one person handles investment decisions, and spouses or children have little comprehension of what happens each week, month, or year with a portfolio. In an emergency, this lack of knowledge can [...]

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