Anyone who has gone through a divorce knows how emotionally challenging and financially complex it can be. While attorneys handle the legal aspects, a Certified Divorce Financial Analyst® focuses specifically on the financial implications of divorce. This specialized designation equips professionals with the expertise to guide clients through the intricate financial aspects of divorce proceedings, ensuring better outcomes for their financial future.
Anna Marie Mock, a fee-only certified financial planner at Highland Financial Advisors, discusses the dynamic interplay between art and science in financial planning. Drawing inspiration from Leonardo da Vinci's philosophy that "everything connects to everything else," she emphasizes that financial planning is an art involving subjective goal-setting and a science-driven by objective analysis tools. In this video, Anna explains how the scientific method can be applied to financial planning, using equity compensation as a concrete example.
What are your thoughts, feelings, and beliefs about money? What about your partner, and do they differ from your own? Sometimes, the conflict we experience around money in our personal lives can be attributed to incongruent money scripts with those with whom we share finances. Let’s dive into the term money script and how understanding it can help us achieve our financial goals.
In talking with clients about the benefits their employer provides during the open enrollment season, one often overlooked benefit if clients have dependents is the Dependent Care Flexible Spending Account (FSA).
Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) are not only a savvy investment option but also offer numerous benefits, especially for high-net-worth families. An HSA is a tax-advantaged savings account designed for individuals with high-deductible health plans (HDHPs) to help cover out-of-pocket medical expenses. While the utility of HSAs is universal, they hold advantages for high-net-worth families and have steadily grown in popularity since their inception.
According to the US Department of Agriculture's most recent annual estimate, it will cost a middle-income family $233,610 to raise a child to age 18, ignoring college and inflation. This is a staggeringly high number, but the cost to raise a child with special needs can exceed that number by 5 or 10 times, depending on the child's condition.
If you are a parent with a child in college or paying off debt yourself, you probably are all too familiar with the astounding costs of a college education. With the average annual cost of a four-year private college at $49,320, it’s important to be realistic about how much of the tuition will be funded by student loans.
In the past few weeks, there has been an increase in volatility in stock markets around the globe. The first bout of volatility spanning the last week of January and first week of February was caused by concern the Federal Reserve would raise interest rates at a faster pace than the markets were anticipating.
On December 22nd, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 signed into law changed the tax landscape for individuals and corporations. Although there are many modifications to the tax code that will affect all Americans, the mortgage interest itemized deduction directly affects current and future homeowners.
Certain aspects of the tax bill signed into law at the end of last year have received significant attention from investors, and rightfully so. The final version of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act lowered corporate tax rates, realigned personal tax rates, and capped or eliminated certain deductions (i.e. state and local tax deductions).
Last year I wrote an article titled “The Shortcomings of Income Only Spending in Retirement,” which detailed the shortfalls of the popular strategy of spending only the income generated by a portfolio in retirement. In summary, the main drawback of income only spending is the tendency to increase portfolio risk when yields are low in order to generate more income.
