Five Attributes of Life-Changing Summer Jobs
Take a Pop Quiz! Suppose you have $100 in a savings account and the interest rate is 2% per year. After five years, will you have more than $102, exactly $102, or less than $102? That’s one of three questions used worldwide to test financial literacy. In the United States, only 30% of adults can […]
Artificial Intelligence Wrote this Commentary in 5 Minutes
By: Cameron Hamilton, CFP®, MBA Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning will Improve Productivity Tools are Publicly Available for Laypeople without Coding Knowledge Workers and Companies Must Adapt to New Technology Artificial Intelligence wrote this commentary in five minutes. Not the one you’re reading, but rather the one available at the hyperlink. […]
Corporate Strategy: Trick or Treat?
Corporate strategies can tell opposing stories about a firm’s future Key Takeaways: Earnings season has seen growth companies downgraded amid rate hikes CEO’s actions must be weighed by investors at a firm-specific level Layoffs, buybacks, CapEx, debt, & dividends each contribute to firm outcomes We are in the middle of third-quarter earnings […]
Evaluation of a Job Offer
Key Takeaways – The following considerations must be made when reviewing an opportunity to take a new job or leave a W2 salary to start a business. Nearly 93% of Americans earn income outside their primary job1. What are all the aspects of my compensation package? This includes salary and other benefits such as […]
Employee Stock Ownership & Options
Key Takeaways: Company stock plans & stock options have many customizable details Employees should understand their stock plan’s features & tax consequences With correct utilization, employee stock can meaningfully increase compensation When evaluating a job offer, it is best not to focus only on salary or an hourly wage. We have the […]
Should Business Owners Raise Their Salary to Earn More Social Security?
Key Takeaways: Pass-through entity owners can choose to take profits as wages or distributions Increasing owner salary raises payroll tax liability but also increases future Social Security benefits Older owners and owners with non-working spouses and/or incomplete earnings records stand to benefit the most from increasing their salaries Lower taxes are better, […]
After a Historic Boom in Venture Capital, the Well Appears to be Running Dry
By: Brian Burton, CFP® Cash-burning startups are being forced to take on increasing amounts of debt as VC funding dries up With funding slowing, fundamentals and profitability should return to the forefront of company evaluation The mantra of “growth at any price” that we’ve seen in recent years is likely gone for the foreseeable future […]
Putting a Value on Your Social Security Benefits
Key Takeaways: Most retirees don’t think of Social Security as an asset and therefore exclude it from their balance sheet. The present value of Social Security payments over an average life expectancy can easily be several hundred thousand dollars. We can’t predict what will happen with Social Security down the road, so it is important […]
Testing the Challenges of a Long Retirement
We often joke that our job was created because of increasing life expectancies and pensions seldom being offered. Obviously, finance and investing has become more complicated and there are an ever-increasing number of investment vehicles and planning strategies we help our clients choose between. We also know there is great value placed in our ability […]
