The Administration’s 2016 budget calls for the death of the Stretch IRA, once again. The Stretch IRA is an estate planning tactic that provides a lifetime payout for the beneficiary of an IRA, potentially “stretching” the proceeds across multiple beneficiaries …
Last week I received an unsettling email; a college friend of mine was lamenting about how he fell victim to a cyberattack…his family’s business email account had just been hacked. The perpetrator, after gaining access to sensitive company information, sent numerous …
I grew up in an insurance home. My dad, Herb, was an insurance agent for 32 years, with a particular passion for helping people with life insurance. My mom, Kathey, was an agent in the late 1990s and was asked …
A few years ago the CFP Board of Standards, Inc. initiated a public awareness campaign. Their goal is to educate the public on the importance of working with a qualified financial advisor. They encourage everyone to seek advice from a …
The White House has called upon the Department of Labor to hold financial brokers and professionals to a higher Fiduciary Standard. The Fiduciary Standard is a simple yet important concept. Simply put, when advisors act as fiduciaries, they are placing …
As mentioned in my last article, we’ve added some ETFs (exchange-traded funds) to most of our portfolio allocations. ETFs have been around for many years and are one of the more liquid, efficient and transparent investment vehicles available. They are …
Over the years, clients have asked us if we would be willing to assist their adult children, nieces, nephews, and friends with financial planning and investment management, even though they don’t have quite enough to meet our investment minimum. We …
Last week we were given the opportunity to meet with the two portfolio managers of Baron Discovery, a fund which we added to our clients’ portfolios in August 2014. The fund is managed by Randy Gwirtzman and Laird Bieger, both …
Even though 2014 has come to an end, there is still time to save for retirement while possibly qualifying for a tax deduction. Both traditional IRA and Roth IRA contributions for tax year 2014 can be made up until the …
When our 28-year-old daughter, Caitlin, was just four months old, my wife and I noticed she was running a fever. We had been parents for exactly four months and began to get nervous about it. We had no parents handy …
Bryan Zschiesche discusses the benefits of saving in your company’s retirement plan. If you’d like to learn more about how Financial Synergies can help you with your 401(k) or other retirement plans, please contact us.
If you haven’t reviewed your IRA beneficiaries in a while, you may find that the designated beneficiaries on your IRA are not who you intended them to be, especially if you have grandchildren. For instance, if you name your three …
One of the websites which is frequented by many of our clients and is thus on my radar is Yahoo! Finance. I admit that I regularly find myself worried that people may be derailed from their long-term investment strategy by …
On July 23, 2014 the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) finalized new regulations that change the way some money market funds (MMF) operate. Money Market Funds are simply the cash reserves portion of an investor’s brokerage account. They provide liquidity – many investors will …
Last month, Schwab launched two new online request tools known as eApprovals and eSignature. These new services are open to all of our clients, require Schwab Alliance online setup, and is backed by DocuSign®, the leading provider of digital signature …
Our 2nd quarter newsletter, featuring updates on the current state of the market, a mid-year recap of our portfolio, Schwab’s new technological advances with eSignature from DocuSign®, and understanding behavioral bias in investing.
What 7% Mortgages Mean for Housing and the Economy