Serving Proudly As The Voice Of Valley County Since 1913
Serving Proudly As The Voice Of Valley County Since 1913
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Once again, it’s the season of generosity. In addition to considering gifts for your loved ones, you might want to think about charitable gifts as well. But what should you know before making gifts to charities? And what impact might these gifts have on your financial and tax situation? First, you may want to create a gift budget by deciding just how much you will give to charitable organizations over the rest of the year. Next, look closely at the groups to whom you wish to contribute. You can find many reputable charities, but some others m...
As you know, the gig economy has been booming over the past several years. If you’re thinking of using your skills to take on a side gig, what should you do with the money you’ll make? There’s no one right answer for everyone, and the decisions you make should be based on your individual situation. And of course, you may simply need the extra income to support your lifestyle and pay the bills. But if you already have your cash flow in good shape, and you have some freedom with your gig money, consider these suggestions: • Contribute more to...
As you go through life, you’ll have various financial goals — and to achieve them, you’ll need to invest. But just recognizing the need to invest is not as useful as matching specific types of accounts or investments with specific goals. How can you make these connections? Let’s look at some common goals and how they could possibly be met with appropriate accounts and investments: • Saving for a down payment on a house – When you’re saving for a down payment, you want a certain amount of money available at a certain time — so, for this goal,...
You may spend decades contributing to various retirement accounts. But for some accounts, such as a traditional IRA and 401(k), you must start withdrawing funds at a certain point. What should you know about this requirement? To begin with, the rules governing these withdrawals — technically called required minimum distributions, or RMDs — have changed recently. For many years, individuals had to begin taking their RMDs (which are based on the account balance and the IRS’ life expectancy factor) when they turned 70½. The original SECURE Act of...
We all make mistakes in many areas of life. These mistakes are usually fairly harmless — we took a wrong turn while driving, used the wrong ingredients in a recipe and so on. But sometimes, our mistakes can be costly — especially those connected to investing. Here are some of the most common investment mistakes: • Too much buying and selling – Some people find it exciting to constantly buy and sell investments in the pursuit of big gains. Yet, frequent trading can work against you in a couple of ways. First, it can be expensive — if you’re al...
If you’ve invested in an IRA for many decades, it may well turn into a key source of income for your retirement. Still, you might not deplete your IRA in your lifetime, especially if you also have a pension or a 401(k) and other investment income. So, if your IRA still has sizable assets after your passing, it would likely end up in your estate plan. If you leave your IRA to grown children or other family members, could they be hit with a big tax bill? Here’s a little background: Up until the Secure Act of 2019, those who inherited tra...
It’s not as well-known as Halloween, but National Retirement Security week happens every October – the third week, to be precise — and while it doesn’t involve ghosts and goblins, it does deal with something even more frightening: the risk of not being able to enjoy a comfortable retirement. Through various events, this occasion highlights ideas about building retirement security. What steps can you take? Here are some suggestions: • Don’t underestimate your longevity. Consider this: 65-year-old men can expect to live another 20 years, whil...
If you’re a long-term investor, your portfolio may stay fairly stable over time. However, that doesn’t mean you will never sell any investments. But when should you sell — and why? Here are some scenarios to consider: • If an investment has consistently underperformed – For one reason or another, some investments may not live up to your expectations. Rather than holding these investments in the hope that they will eventually show consistently positive returns, you might be better off selling them and using the proceeds to buy other investments...
Managing your finances and investing for your future are important tasks — and they can be challenging. But you don’t have to go at it alone. Many people benefit from working with a financial advisor, someone who knows their needs and goals and makes appropriate recommendations. If you’re considering getting some help, you’ll want to ensure a particular financial advisor is right for you, so it’s a good idea to ask questions. Here are some to consider: • Have you worked with people like me? All of us are unique individuals. Yet, you do shar...
Paying for health care can be challenging — but are you taking full advantage of all the resources available to you? You might have access to a Health Savings Account (HSA) or a Flexible Spending Account (FSA), so let’s look at both. An HSA is a personal savings account used to pay health care costs. If you’re enrolled in a high-deductible health plan, you also may be eligible to contribute to an HSA. You aren’t taxed on the money you put into this account or on the earnings generated from your contributions, as long as withdrawals are used for...
If you have grandchildren, you probably enjoy spending time with them and watching them grow. And to help them achieve a bright future, you might like to make some financial gifts — but which ones? You have several options. Let’s look at three of them: • 529 plans – When you invest in a 529 education savings plan, any earnings growth is distributed federally tax free, as long as withdrawals are used for qualified education expenses. (Withdrawals used for expenses other than qualified education expenses may be subject to federal and state t...
If you own a small business or are self-employed, you’ve always got plenty to do, but you can’t forget about the days when you’ll be less busy — that is, when you’re retired. How can you prepare for that time of your life? One key step is establishing a retirement plan for your business or yourself. And thanks to the 2022 SECURE 2.0 Act, you can now receive tax credits for opening and administering a 401(k), SEP-IRA or SIMPLE IRA. These aren’t the only plans available for small businesses or sole proprietors, but they are among the most popula...
It’s probably not on your calendar, but September is Life Insurance Awareness Month. And that means it’s a good time to become more aware of the benefits of having life insurance — and the dangers of not having it. Unfortunately, confusion about some of the basic elements of owning life insurance may be keeping people from getting the protection they need. More than half of uninsured Americans say they have put off purchasing coverage because they don’t know what to buy or how much they need, according to Life Happens and LIMRA, two nonprof...
You’ll find some big differences between traditional and speculative investments — and knowing these differences can matter a great deal when you’re trying to reach your financial goals. To begin with, let’s look at the basic types of traditional and speculative investments. Traditional investments are those with which you’re probably already familiar: stocks, bonds, mutual funds, government securities, certificates of deposit (CDs) and so on. Speculative investments include cryptocurrencies, foreign currencies and precious metals such as g...
When you retire, you’ll experience many changes — should one of them involve your living arrangements? The issue of downsizing is one that many retirees will consider. If you have children, and they’ve grown and left the home, you might find yourself with more space than you really need. Of course, this doesn’t necessarily mean you must pack up and scale down yourself. You might love your home and neighborhood and see no reason to go. But if you’re open to a change, you could find that moving to a smaller house, a condo or an apartment...
Most investors are aware of the different types of stocks: big-company, small-company, technology, international and so on. And it may be a good idea to own a mix of these stocks as part of your overall investment portfolio. But the importance of diversification applies to bonds, too — so, how should you go about achieving it? To begin with, individual bonds fall into three main types: municipal, corporate and government. Within these categories, you’ll find differences in the bonds being issued. For example, government bonds include con...
To be successful in most endeavors, it’s important to develop good habits — and that’s certainly the case for investors. And the earlier one develops these habits, the better. So, if you have teenagers who may be starting to work at part-time jobs, now may be a great time to introduce them to investing — and one place to begin might be a Roth IRA. As you may know, a Roth IRA is a popular retirement savings vehicle — its earnings can grow federally tax-free, provided withdrawals aren’t taken until the investor is at least 59½ and has had the...
After spending decades in the workforce, you might look forward to the day you retire. But if you decide, for one reason or another, that you’d like to redefine “retirement” to include part-time work or consulting, you could enjoy exercising your skills and meeting new people. But you can also receive some key financial benefits. Specifically, bringing in some paychecks in your retirement can help you in these areas: • You could contribute more to your IRA. During your working years, you may have contributed regularly to an IRA, but once yo...
If you have a family member with special needs, you might face emotional and physical issues, but you also may be concerned about maximizing the financial support your loved one requires. Consequently, you may want to consider establishing a special needs trust. This type of trust can help maintain the financial security and lifestyle of an individual with special needs. Furthermore, a special needs trust can allow the trust’s beneficiary to receive financial support for supplemental needs without losing public benefits, such as Supplemental S...
At some point, you may have more money in your 401(k) than in any other investment. And even though your 401(k) is intended for your retirement, you may one day think you have to tap into your account early — but should you? And if you do, how should you go about it? If it’s possible to avoid taking money from your 401(k) before you retire, you probably should do so. You could spend 25 or more years in retirement, and you’ll need to pay for those years, so you may want to look for alternatives to your 401(k). If you’ve built an emergen...
To help achieve your financial goals, you may need to invest in the financial markets throughout your life. However, at times your investment expectations may differ from actual returns, triggering a variety of emotions. So, what are reasonable expectations to have about your investments? Ideally, you hope that your investment portfolio will eventually help you meet your goals, both your short-term ones, such as a cross-country vacation, and the long-term ones, such as a comfortable retirement. But your expectations may be affected by several...
Like everyone, you may have a lot of financial goals. But are they all of equal importance? Probably not. And do they share a similar timeline? Again, it’s unlikely. So, your first step may be to prioritize your goals — and then follow a process that can help you achieve them. This process should include the following steps: • Identify your goals as “must have” or “nice to have.” Making sure you can retire comfortably and won’t outlive your resources is a “must have” goal. For this goal, you can’t compromise — you need to be certain of achievin...
There has been a lot of talk about a “cashless” society, but it’s not here yet. In fact, cash can still be a valuable element of your overall financial picture – if you employ it wisely. But how? Consider these four key uses of cash: • Everyday spending – Of course, you need sufficient cash on hand to pay for your cost of living – mortgage, debt payments, utilities, groceries, etc. You’ll likely rely on your savings or checking accounts to pay for these needs. • Unexpected expenses and emergencies – It’s never a bad idea to establish a monthl...
Another school year is coming to a close. And if you have young children, they’re now a year closer to heading off to college or some other type of post-secondary education or training. So, if you haven’t already done so, you may want to start preparing for these costs. And they can be considerable. During the 2022-23 school year, the average estimated annual cost (tuition, fees, room and board, books, supplies, transportation and other personal expenses) was nearly $28,000 for public four-year in-state schools and more than $57,000 for pri...
If you’ve done any estate planning, or even if you’re just familiar with it, you probably know the basics — that is, a comprehensive estate plan can help you pass on assets to your family while also achieving other goals, such as designating someone to take care of your affairs if you become unable to do so. But you may not know about some other estate-planning issues that could prove important in your life: • Power of attorney for students – Children heading off to college may be considered legal adults in many states. Consequently, you, as a...
