Those of you with whom we have discussed variable annuities know that we at Paragon Financial Advisors are not fans of variable annuities. Our basic reasoning has been that variable annuities usually have high fees (for the insurance costs in addition to fund management expenses), required holding periods to avoid significant redemption penalties, and thus […]

We at Paragon Financial Advisors are not accountants and urge you to verify any items we discuss with your tax professional to determine its implications in your particular situation. We also do not believe you should “let the tax tail wag the investment dog.” That is, your investing should not be dependent solely on tax […]

Retirees from large companies who have been drawing retirement checks may face a new option. Their former employer may offer to swap them a lump sum payment now in exchange for all future retirement checks. An interesting offer but one that requires very close scrutiny. First of all—why is the past employer making such and […]

The stock market is bumping up against all-time highs. The question is why. Are these legitimate levels based on fundamentals or is the excessive liquidity being pumped into the money supply simply going into stock because it’s the better (?) place now. David A. Rosenberg (Chief Economist & Strategist) at research@gluskinsheff.com had some interesting comments […]

We at Paragon Financial Advisors are not accountants and urge you to verify any items we discuss with your tax professional to determine its implications in your particular situation. We also do not believe you should “let the tax tail wag the investment dog.” That is, your investing should not be dependent solely on tax […]

In this month’s edition of Paragon Perspectives advisor, Jene Tebeaux, commentates on three articles concerning risk.  The first is risk in relation to natural disaster planning, followed by risk in the current market conditions, and lastly how to evaluate your portfolio’s risk from two points of view.   June is the beginning of hurricane season along the […]

We at Paragon Financial Advisors are not accountants and urge you to verify any items we discuss with your tax professional to determine its implications in your particular situation. We also do not believe you should “let the tax tail wag the investment dog.” That is, your investing should not be dependent solely on tax […]

The last two posts introduced what digital assets are, the importance of planning for them, as well as some obstacles that exist.  Please take a moment to read them HERE.  In this final post we will explore a few solutions that have been developed to help with planning for digital assets. “After you pass away, […]

The American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 extended the Bush era tax rates for most taxpayers and extended many expiring tax provisions for another year. However, it did make some permanent revisions that provide at least some clarity for future planning. One must always keep the national congressional idea of “permanent” in mind though (everything […]

The news media has been reporting some of the discussions between the two major political parties in the “reduce spending/raise taxes” debates –especially as they relate to “entitlement” reforms such as Social Security. One of the items being mentioned by the presidential administration is a change in the method of calculating cost of living adjustment […]