Posts Tagged ‘financial advisor’
Keep The Tax Credit for Charitable Gifts
Ever since the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA), many taxpayers have shown concern about losing tax breaks for charitable contributions. However, with the right plan, taxable entities can still benefit from donations. New law increased the standard deduction to $12,000 for individual filers and $24,000 for married households filing jointly. This increase, plus the…
Read MoreJanuary 2019 Market Update
2018 Market Review1 Last year was a little bumpy for markets near the end of the year. This excerpt from How Every Asset Class, Currency, and Sector Performed in 2018 by Jeff Desjardins at Visual Capitalist sums up 2018 really well: “We’re only a few days into 2019, but it appears markets have picked up…
Read MoreCaring For Elderly Parents in Retirement
Care-Giving During Retirement Can You Afford to Take Care of Your Parents? According to the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College, it is now common for people in their 60s and 70s to be caring for a parent in their 90s or older. 10% of adults between the ages of 60 and 69 with…
Read MoreDon’t Forget Required Minimum Distributions (RMD’s)!
What Are Required Minimum Distributions (RMD’s)? When you reach the age of 70 & 1/2, Uncle Sugar (The IRS) mandates that you take a minimum withdrawal from your tax-deferred retirement accounts. Why? So he can potentially tax that money! In the year you turn 70 & 1/2 years old, you must withdraw the specified amount by…
Read More4 BIG Mistakes People Make: Retirement Planning
Retirement is supposed to be a fulfilling and rewarding chapter of your life — but it can feel less than relaxing if it’s not well planned for. To ensure you’re able to live comfortably in life’s next chapter, start planning early and take advantage of technology to help you monitor your success. Here are four…
Read MoreWhen Do You Need a Financial Advisor?
Major Life Events Are Financially Complex You might think that you only need a financial advisor for retirement or investment questions, but there are a number of common situations that necessitate complicated paperwork and financial decision making. Rather than do everything yourself, sometimes the best way to get things done correctly is to seek financial…
Read MoreReuters: Fidelity sued over management of employees’ 401(k) plan
“Employees of Boston-based Fidelity have sued the financial services giant alleging that it loaded their $15 billion retirement plan with the company’s own mutual funds, saddling it with excessive fees and poor returns. Filed on Wednesday in Boston federal court, the proposed class action said Fidelity’s alleged mismanagement cost participants in the 401(k) plan more…
Read MoreWE WON BEST INVESTMENT FIRM IN AUSTIN!
Austin First Financial is the parent company of The Retirement Instructor. I founded Austin First Financial, Inc in 1999 to aid Austin residents with their retirement planning. Since then, The Retirement Instructor was founded for my adult education classes. The Austin American Statesman & Austin360 polled the Austin community and they discovered that Austin First…
Read MoreComplimentary Access to Our Powerful Portfolio Monitoring System
Portfolio Monitoring Software Reduces Your Investment Risk If you’ve been investing in market-based securities, you probably understand how important market risk is. Not all investments are tied to the market, but any that you do have will face the risk of devaluation during the term of your investment. You can mitigate this market risk by…
Read MoreHow to Avoid Ending Up in Hot Water During Retirement
1. Pay Off Your Debts Before You Retire This might seem a little obvious, but when it comes to retirement, interest rates on debt don’t falter. In fact, your debt will likely continue to grow at exactly the same rate as pre-retirement. Unfortunately, as a country we don’t have major debt relief programs for seniors…
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