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…

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Record Highs in 401(K) Contributions Retirement accounts in the U.S. reached record highs by the end of 2018’s third quarter. The average account balance was $106,500 for 401(k) plans, and the number of 401(k) millionaires in the U.S. increased to 187,400, up 41 percent from 2017. This trend may continue, because of an increase in 2019…

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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…

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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…

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Crossing the Digital Divide These days, there are plenty of gadgets designed to help us monitor our health, stay in touch, and manage our households. They come in a variety of smartphone apps, wearable devices, computers, tablets and smart appliances. One of the obstacles to widespread adoption is that not all of us grew up…

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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…

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“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…

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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…

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  View this post on Instagram   I was recently featured in Texas Monthly as a FiveStar Best in Client Satisfaction Wealth Manager. No self nominations were accepted and only SEC compliant advisers were considered. This is my fifth year receiving this distinction and it’s truly an honor! #austin #austintx #atx #texas #wealthmanager A post…

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