George Hosfield, CFA, discusses Ferguson Wellman's quarterly strategy titled, "Inflation's Flame Flickers," which addresses the narrow market leadership, the impact of higher interest rates on inflation and how assets are priced at this stage of the economic cycle.
George Hosfield, CFA, discusses the firm's quarterly strategy titled "Stalemate," which highlights the Fed's ongoing battle to tame inflation along with our views on the health of the banking industry and capital market expectations for the balance of the year.
Director and Chief Investment Officer George Hosfield, CFA, discusses the Fed raising interest rates, peaking inflation and our view on equities and volatility across all asset classes in our Investment Strategy titled, “Balancing Act.”
According to a 2013 study from the University of Cambridge, money habits are formed from 0 to 7 years of age, and once the habits are formed, it can be difficult to change that behavior later in life. Despite the results of this study, there is never a wrong time to teach your child about healthy money habits. Below are tips to help kids learn about money at a young age.
There has been a lot of commotion and misconceptions, in media and political settings, about the health of Social Security. As such, we want to help make sense of the claims about Social Security by shedding some light on our current system, its solvency and its potential future.
Presenting the third quarter 2023 publication of Wealth Management Insights titled, “An Empowered and Secure Retirement.”
In spring 2023, members of our team have hosted events throughout the Pacific and Inland Northwest. Following our “tour,” we created a video of our presentation for clients who missed an event or don’t reside in the Northwest.
One of the most powerful savings vehicles for health care costs is the Health Savings Account (HSA), a type of savings account that lets you set aside money on a pretax basis to pay for healthcare expenses. Funds in an HSA grow tax-deferred and come out tax free when used for qualified medical expenses such as Medicare Part B and D premiums, vision and dental care expenses and qualified long-term care insurance premiums up to certain limits.
We recently wrote about strategies for funding education needs in our wealth management Insights Newsletter. Occasionally, we learn that a client has successfully saved and built wealth for education inside a tax-advantaged 529 education savings plan, only to find themselves with funds left over. Luckily, there is good news – your savings aren’t trapped. There are several options for transferring or withdrawing funds from a 529 plan when they are no longer needed for the current beneficiary’s education.
Collaborative planning for care needs can reduce family stress and ensure our housing, financial management, legal arrangements and healthcare is consistent with our personal preferences. In this quarter’s Wealth Management Insights video, Mary Lago, CFP®, CTFA, shares common decision points and items we can address in advance.
Your wishes. Your legacy. Your plan. Your estate planning documents, whether a will or a trust, reflect your values and wishes relating to the distribution of your assets. While you, and your attorney, have carefully drafted language that reflects distribution wishes congruent with your goals, it is still left up to someone else to execute your plan.
Read our second quarter 2023 Wealth Management Insights titled, “Keeping Your Estate Planning and Education Funding on Track.”
On December 29, 2022, Congress signed a piece of legislation called SECURE Act 2.0 of 2022. Compared to the SECURE Act 1.0 that was enacted in December of 2019, which contained 29 provisions and total government spending of $15 billion, the SECURE Act 2.0 contains 92 provisions and $1.7 trillion in spending. Both pieces of legislation were designed to promote retirement security, including attempts to lower barriers to entry for people looking to save, expand access to participation in employer retirement plans and allow for greater flexibility for Americans experiencing hardship.
There are a myriad of important numbers related to personal financial and tax planning that change every year. To help ensure you are up to date with all and to hopefully simplify your individual financial planning efforts for the year ahead, we are sharing the 2023 Annual Limits Guide from the College for Financial Planning®, which outlines many of the most important numbers that may apply to you.
In this video, Mary Lago, CFP®, CTFA, chair of our wealth management department, highlights changes for retirement savings and charitable gifting in regard to tax planning.
On December 23, 2022, Congress passed the SECURE Act 2.0. This new legislation builds off its predecessor to further improve the U.S. retirement system. Included in the provisions are changes to required minimum distributions (RMDs). Most notably, the new law further pushes back the age at which RMDs must begin.
Wealth Management Insights publication for first quarter 2023 titled, “Planning for Incremental and Potentially Substantial Changes.”
Samantha Pahlow, CTFA, AWMA®, provides an overview of planned philanthropic donations and the tax benefits associated.
Taxes … just the word alone increases blood pressure and elicits a fight-or-flight response. As such, most people outsource their tax preparation. Whether you manage your taxes or outsource the task, there is still a good amount of work we are all responsible for.
Have you ever looked at something you've had for a long time and thought to yourself “Do I still need this?” or "I paid a lot for this … do I keep it?" This happens frequently when evaluating life insurance purchased in prior years.
Read our fourth quarter 2022 Wealth Management Insights publication in which Mary Lago, CFP®, CTFA, Samantha Pahlow, CTFA, AWMA® and Chris Bixby, CFP®, EA share their thoughts on tax and charitable planning and strategic Roth IRA conversions.
Scott Christianson, CFP®, discusses the complexities of Social Security benefits and what our clients should understand before they file.
