New research has found a new “magic” retirement savings number. (We explain how inflation factors in below.) We say “magic” because if you put 10 people in a room, you’ll get 10 different opinions about how much you should save for retirement. And this estimate is no different. Northwestern surveyed 4,588 adults and found: The […]

High rates convincing you to stay put as long as possible? With mortgage rates pushing above 7%, you might think a reasonable mortgage is out of reach. I’ve got some not-so-great news for you. Current rates aren’t actually that high, historically speaking.  They just look high because we’ve gotten used to low rates over the […]

Quick question: What do you usually find yourself reading? News summaries, headlines, and quick bits to keep yourself updated? Or longer reads like books and articles? We’re ever more inundated with information that’s eager to capture our attention. We click because we want to stay up to speed and avoid missing out. The trouble is, […]

Do you think you’re telling yourself the truth about money? We may think we know the facts about our finances. But our beliefs can often overshadow the facts. Our wishes, hopes, and fears can tip the scales away from the truth. This makes it easier for us to believe what we want to about money […]

We at Paragon Financial Advisors don’t believe that “any direction” is acceptable. The financial well-being of you and your loved ones is too important to be left to chance. That’s why we encourage our clients to develop their personal financial goals. Goals are basically a result or achievement toward which you are willing to expend […]

The base of your financial planning should be your goals and objectives. Goals are basically a result or achievement toward which you are willing to expend time and effort. Goals vary with the individual’s wishes; hence, you set your own. Defining effective goals requires developing some particular characteristics for those goals. For example, “I want […]

Social Security benefits are a component in the retirement planning of most Americans. However, those benefits pose questions for both younger and older employees. Younger employees are faced with the long term viability of the system (see our previous posting of “Social Security, Medicare, and You”. Older employees are faced with the question of how, […]

Ahhh—the good ole’ days. We’ve heard that expression applied to many things. It used to apply to retirement. Work 35 to 40 years for the same company, get a gold watch at retirement, then collect a pension check from the company for the rest of your life. But things changed. Pension plans (defined benefit plans) […]

The 2016 elections have certainly brought about some changes in the political landscape. One thing hasn’t changed however—an ageing population that is moving toward retirement. Baby boomers began turning 65 in 2011 and their number is increasing by about 10,000 per day. In 2017, the leading edge of the boom will turn 70 (complete with […]

 Living on the Financial Edge At Paragon Financial Advisors, we recommend our clients have a 3-6 month cash “ready reserve” to meet unexpected expenditures. For most Americans, accumulating that amount appears to be much easier said than done. In the May, 2016 The Atlantic magazine, Neal Gabler wrote an article entitled “The Secret Shame of […]