Scott Burns is a syndicated columnist who writes a column on financial affairs.  His article on “Beware pitfalls of financial ‘advisors’” which appeared in the Sunday November 29, 2015, business section (p B4) of The Eagle had information which should be of interest to all investors.  The column, which can be read in its entirety […]

About 25 years ago, federal government policies were implemented to encourage students to get a higher education—including borrowing the funds for that education if necessary. It was assumed that college graduates could afford the debt because they would be earning more from better paying jobs. However, the law of unintended consequences reared its ugly head. […]

The first thing every investor should know and accept is that there is no such thing as a sure thing when it comes to investments.  Risk is a part of the investing process; we need some risk in order to generate profits.  There is always the possibility that your investment won’t be profitable.  Or worse, […]

An annuity is a stream of income paid to the client over a specified time period.  Generally, annuities can be either: Fixed or variable-where the amount paid is based on the nature of the underlying investments, Single premium or flexible premium-how the annuity fee is paid, Immediate payout or deferred payout- which determines when the […]

Beta, in the investing universe, is a measure of risk relative to a chosen benchmark. For example, if a stock has a beta of 1 vs. the S&P 500, it should move just as far up (or down) as the index itself does. The definition and calculation of investment indices have numerous components (see our […]

Retirement is a popular topic of discussion and, in some cases, an item of concern. There have been television commercials of “What is your number?” and “Do you have enough money for retirement?” This Quarter’s newsletter discusses some of the factors that lead to a successful (financial) retirement. These factors can be complex and our […]

Have You Taken Your Required Minimum Distribution Yet?  The April 1st deadline is almost here! Unfortunately, you cannot keep funds inside a Traditional IRA forever; eventually the IRS will require you to take taxable distributions. What is an RMD? During the calendar year you turn age 70 ½ is when the IRS mandates that you […]

Happy New Year; 2014 is a year of memories and 2015 is a year of promises. Some of those promises might not be pleasant for individuals transferring an Individual Retirement Account (IRA) unless they follow very specific rules. The Transfer IRAs can be transferred to a new advisor or trustee in one of two ways: […]

Corporate retirement plans have been, historically, either defined benefit (DB) or defined contribution (DC) plans. With a DB plan, the employer is “guaranteeing” a life-long retirement benefit to the employee at the time of retirement. That benefit is usually a function of the years worked at the company and the salary earned over a previous […]

The December 1, 2014 Wall Street Journal (Encore Section, pg R3) had an interesting article about how people spend time in retirement. The implication was that time spent in retirement was different than time spent when working. That time utilization difference in retirement is intuitively obvious. What is not so obvious, however, is the financial […]