Financial Planning Archives

Street$marts: 529 College Savings Plans–A Comprehensive Guide

Dylan Potter January 10, 2025

When it comes to saving for college, parents and guardians often search for tax-advantaged options that offer flexibility and growth potential. One of the most popular vehicles for this purpose is the 529 College Savings Plan. Introduced in 1996, 529 plans provide families with a tax-efficient way to invest money for education expenses. In this guide, we’ll dive deep into what 529 plans are, how they are taxed, key strategies to consider, how to change beneficiaries, and how withdrawals are taxed. Personally, I’m a fan of 529 plans. I have three New York 529 plans, one for each of my three boys.

Open book on white background with window light

Investment and Life Lessons from the Greats: Buffett, Munger, and Berkshire

Sarah Swan December 13, 2024

I set a goal for myself to read more in 2024. This felt equal parts lofty (where will I find the time?!) and obvious (perhaps less doomsday scrolling, and online shopping would serve me well). I had never been a big reader before, and I wasn’t proud of that. This year, though, something was unlocked for me—admittedly, and embarrassingly, many years overdue. I gave myself permission to drop anything that wasn’t thrilling to me, and I figured out what I love to read. The result? Twenty-nine completed titles in 2024, and eight dropped titles. Life is, in my opinion, too short to suffer through books I don’t like.

Blank direction signs pointing multiple ways along a dirt road

Understanding the SECURE Act Inherited IRA Rules

Elizabeth Hutton November 22, 2024

This legislation significantly reshaped retirement savings laws, particularly concerning how distributions are managed for beneficiaries of retirement accounts inherited in 2020 or later, especially non-spousal ones. The new rules, effective in 2025, address longstanding questions about the interpretation of the 10-year rule, which mandates that most retirement plan and IRA beneficiaries must fully deplete the inherited account within ten years of the account holder’s death. These regulations impact beneficiaries and their strategies for managing inherited retirement accounts. Here’s a detailed look at the finalized RMD regulations for inherited retirement plans and IRAs. This piece is only applicable to accounts inherited

Looking up at an American flag on building

How Political Change Impacts Markets (and Why It Doesn’t Define Your Portfolio)

Howe & Rusling Team November 15, 2024

We manage money for hundreds of families, and to say that these individuals span the full political spectrum is not an exaggeration. We are proud of this fact, and we’re proud that our own employees offer diversity of thought as well. Our job as financial advisors is to know our clients, meet them where they are, and do our part in helping them to be better off financially tomorrow than they were yesterday, proverbially speaking, in accordance with their unique and personal goals.

Money is Weird: The Psychological Side of Our Financial Choices

Sarah Swan October 18, 2024

What I shouldn’t do as a financial advisor is wax poetic about the ways a person should spend their money. We give a lot of informed advice as advisors, and much of that advice is centered around data and modeling and educated extrapolating about a person’s specific circumstances, but one thing that’s less straightforward is advice about how people should spend their hard-earned money. Money is so personal.

Street$marts: Understanding Annuities–Different Types, Hidden Fees, and Tax Implications

Sarah Swan August 21, 2024

One of the questions we get here often is about the differences between bond funds and individual bonds. While both are a great way to add some fixed income exposure to your portfolio, you’ll want to understand six key differences between the two so you can decide which is the right investment tool for you.

Coming Up From Behind: What’s the Story With Small-Cap Stocks?

Michael Carrico July 23, 2024

The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite indexes tend to take up most of the oxygen in the room when talking about the stock market and that can leave other stories untold. So today, let’s peel back the onion and see what’s going on elsewhere in the stock market, ask why that might be happening, and whether that means anything going forward.

Taxes and the Cost of an Obsession

Dylan Potter July 16, 2024

“Return on hassle” refers to the concept of evaluating the time and effort required for a financial decision in addition to its expected financial return. Hedge fund manager Bill Ackman has another name for this idea: “Return-on-invested-brain-damage.” If the return isn’t high enough to justify the brain damage or hassle, move on. For real estate investors, this includes the mental and physical labor involved in finding tenants, maintaining properties, and managing debt, among other responsibilities. These are “hassles” that traditional investments like stocks and bonds don’t typically entail. An obsession with tax avoidance is perhaps my favorite topic when considering the “return on hassle.”

Sowing Season

Michael Carrico July 9, 2024

I write these articles once a month and my goal is to keep my readers informed. Those readers are, for the most part, clients, colleagues, and friends. That information is typically about the financial markets, about trends, about how I’m approaching a given topic, and about the big picture of finances. There is often a running theme of examining a claim or ill-defined story driven by headlines or sound bites and digging deeper. The market is an inherently noisy thing. There is always something new to grab our attention, always someone making a claim that this is the thing we really must heed. Really! It is worthwhile to examine those stories and claims and see what we can learn, but it’s also easy to get lost in the noise and become distracted from the places our attention really belongs.

Street$marts: Bond Funds and Individual Bonds–Six Differences That Impact Your Investment Strategy

Charity DiCola June 28, 2024

Financial Planning

articles

Videos

Reports

Resources