With the stock market experiencing painful losses in 2022, you might wish you had another way to pay bills that didn’t involve selling investments while they are down. If you are a homeowner with more than 50% equity in your property, there may be a way to do that. Reverse mortgages are available to…
I bonds are getting a lot of interest because inflation is finally up. Over the past 10 years, the return has been around 2%-3% average over the long term. Consider these things about I Bonds: You can only put $10,000/year per Social Security number in them per year. You must hold them for 1…
Do you feel like the financial services industry is plotting to sell you yet a new way to invest your money? Do you wonder if investment companies are constantly looking for a way to make themselves seem smarter than you and justify charging you fees? You are right! Enter the idea of Direct Indexing. …
Dear Readers, Allow me to introduce you to estate planning attorney Brandon Rains. Brandon is an experienced estate planning and business planning attorney practicing in the Denver Metro and Fort Collins areas of Colorado. The Rains’ Law Firm values include Compassion, Comprehensiveness, Family First, Integrity, and Purposefulness. Brandon has kindly answered my questions…
In honor of the upcoming Holiday of Cupid, to be contrary, here is a blog on divorce. This week, I welcome long time friend and Certified Divorce Financial Analyst ® Bev Banfield to enlighten us a bit on the logistics of dividing assets during divorce. KS: Are there certain times of year where people…
Sometimes it’s easier to learn things when it’s fun. So, test your smarts or gain some new knowledge by spotting the lie about 529 College Savings Accounts from the four statements: 529 College Investment Accounts can only be used in the state where the account is located. 529 College Investment Accounts can be transferred…
With supply shortages in all areas of the economy, one of the biggest attention grabbers is the lack of car inventory. Today, I’m happy to interview Patsy Butterfield of H.M. Brown and Associates to get her perspective on buying a vehicle. Kristi: We are hearing horror stories about supply chain issues as it relates…
If one of your 2022 resolutions (more on those next week) is to focus on your physical health, your financially healthy choices may help. Health Savings Accounts (available to those participating in an H.S.A Qualified High Deductible health insurance plan) can be used today, in 5 months, or during retirement to pay for medical expenses.…
For some reason, people tend to wait until just before year-end to do their big charitable gifts. I’m no different, but I wish I were. I guess it goes along with tax planning and maybe not knowing your financial situation as well in July. Anyway, if you are about to do some gifting to…
Just in time for holiday shopping, I want to discuss a new term I’ve learned: Exceptional Accounting. Thanks to an interesting podcast by Dr. Katy Milkman titled Expect the Unexpected, I now have a name for when people tell me they only spend $5,000/month except in months where they have to buy their ski pass…
