Financial Articles

Reducing the Risk of Outliving Your Money March 16, 2020 by Todd A. Gaswick What steps might help you sustain and grow your retirement savings? “What is your greatest retirement fear?” If you ask any group of retirees and pre-retirees this question, “outliving my money” will likely be one of the top answers. In fact, 51% of investors surveyed for a 2019 AIG retirement study ranked outliving their money [...]

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Measuring the Value of a Financial Advisor March 16, 2020 by Todd A. Gaswick One study asserts that these relationships can make a difference for investors. What is a relationship with a financial advisor worth to an investor? A 2019 study by Vanguard, one of the world’s largest money managers, attempts to answer that question. Vanguard’s whitepaper concludes that when an investor works with an advisor and receives professional [...]

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Can You Put Your IRA into a Trust? March 9, 2020 by Todd A. Gaswick What you should know about naming an IRA beneficiary. Can your IRA be put directly into a trust? In short, no. Individual retirement accounts (IRAs) cannot be put directly into a trust. What you can do, however, is name a trust as the beneficiary of your IRA. The trust would inherit the IRA upon your [...]

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Debunking Common Retirement Assumptions March 9, 2020 by Todd A. Gaswick Don’t fall for these misconceptions. Financial generalizations are as old as time. Some have been around for decades, while others have only recently joined their ranks. Let’s examine a few.      Retirement means I can stop investing. In the past, retirement was viewed as an “end” in many ways. These days though, retirement is [...]

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Creating a Retirement Strategy March 2, 2020 by Todd A. Gaswick Most people just invest for the future. You have a chance to do more. Across the country, people are saving for that “someday” called retirement. Someday, their careers will end. Someday, they may live off their savings or investments, plus Social Security.  They know this, but many of them do not know when, or how, [...]

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Your Extended Care Strategy March 2, 2020 by Todd A. Gaswick Are you prepared for the possibility – and expense – of eldercare? Do you have an extra $33,000 to $100,000 to spare this year? How about next year, and the year after that? Your answer to these questions is probably “no.” What could possibly cost so much? Eldercare.   According to the AARP Public Policy Institute, [...]

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Establishing Good Credit in College February 24, 2020 by Todd A. Gaswick After you get that first card, how can you manage your FICO score? Good credit may open doors. It is vital to securing a loan, a business loan, or buying a home. When you establish and maintain good credit in college, you create a financial profile for yourself that can influence lenders, landlords, and potential [...]

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The Major Retirement Planning Mistakes February 24, 2020 by Todd A. Gaswick Why are they made again and again? Much is out there about the classic financial mistakes that plague start-ups, family businesses, corporations, and charities. Aside from these blunders, some classic financial missteps plague retirees.    Calling them “mistakes” may be a bit harsh, as not all of them represent errors in judgment. Yet whether they result [...]

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The SECURE Act February 17, 2020 by Todd A. Gaswick Long-established retirement account rules change. The Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement (SECURE) Act is now law. With it, comes some of the biggest changes to retirement savings law in recent years. While the new rules don’t appear to amount to a massive upheaval, the SECURE Act will require a change in strategy for [...]

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Ways to Fund Special Needs Trusts February 17, 2020 by Todd A. Gaswick A look at the different options & strategies. If you have a child with special needs, a trust may be a financial priority. There are many crucial goods and services that Medicaid and Supplemental Security Income might not pay for, and a special needs trust may be used to address those financial challenges. Most importantly, [...]

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