The hustle and bustle of the season are upon us and the clock is quickly ticking down toward December 31st. We generally discuss long-term planning with our clients and you should have most of your tax planning in place and complete by this time. However, there are always procrastinators and fortunately, there are some things … Continue reading “There’s Still Time for 2018 Tax Savings”

Like most of our commentaries, this one is born from an analogy to real life. While exercising on the elliptical machine, I usually strive to get a certain number of steps completed within a certain amount of time. During a recent workout, and approaching my time limit, it appeared that I wasn’t going to make … Continue reading “Every Step You Take”

I recently read an article about a well-known actor/musician who had been estimated to have earned over $650 million during his 34-year career yet was almost broke. You may ask yourself, ‘How in the world could that happen?’ In this case, there were several issues that could be considered unique and some that happen to … Continue reading “It’s Not How Much You Earn, It’s How You Use It”

As we go through life, we make various promises and justifications to ourselves, often losing focus of a long-term goal for the sake of a short-term goal. We know we should save for retirement because it is extremely difficult to retire and live comfortably solely on a Social Security benefit. “I may die early, or … Continue reading “The Lies We Tell Ourselves”

What does filing an “extension” do? • An extension is a form filed with the IRS to request additional time to file your federal tax return. The extension period is six months, which extends the due date for submitting your final returns from April 15 to Oct. 15.* In some states, filing an extension with the IRS will automatically … Continue reading “My CPA Says, ‘Extend.’ What does that mean to me?”

Like most of our blogs, this one was born out of a real experience that initially may seem totally unrelated to your financial life. But trust me, it somehow circles back to it. For quite some time, when I was driving, I would sometimes find myself looking down at my turn signal since it sounded … Continue reading “Blurred Lines”

The Frankenplan is representative of a lot of people’s financial lives. It is made up of many different parts, acquired at different times for sometimes the wrong reasons and it is not very coordinated. It’s easy to fall into the Frankenplan trap. Let’s take Charles for example. Perhaps he bought a life insurance policy many … Continue reading “Beware the Frankenplan”

On September 7, 2017, Equifax, one of the three main credit reporting agencies, announced a massive data security breach that exposed vital personal identification data — including names, addresses, birth dates, and Social Security numbers — on as many as 143 million consumers, roughly 55% of Americans age 18 and older.1 This data breach was especially egregious because … Continue reading “Worried about the Equifax Data Breach?”

Recently, my 8-year-old son approached me with a serious look on his face and asked me if I could Google how to be a superhero. As we reviewed the steps … determine your superpower, choose a name, get an outfit, etc., it sparked the idea for this blog. How do you become a superhero to … Continue reading “How to Be a Superhero”