Getting Creative with College Funding

In our previous discussions about college planning, we’ve discussed where and how much to save while acknowledging that these questions require several assumptions.  Is it sensible to make saving for college a major financial goal when there’s no guarantee the child will attend?  That’s a tough question for families and for this reason, we favor educating […]

Stock Market Bubbles are Inevitable – Are You Prepared for the Next Burst?

In addition to this commentary, we would like to extend an invitation for you to join us on a live video feed where we will discuss the attached article and answer any questions in real-time. Watch the video discussion about this article here.   It was our second week of remote work, COVID-19 had just […]

End of Year Financial Planning

As we officially enter the month of November, it is hard to believe that Thanksgiving is just three weeks away.  Hopefully, this year brings back the celebration of holiday traditions and family gatherings.  However, before the sugarplums start dancing, we need to stay diligent and focus on year-end planning to ensure we are making sound […]

Tax Management in Bull Markets

How do we manage accounts when everything is up? With cooperative markets, many investors have accumulated substantial capital gains in their investment accounts. We analyze the trade-off between ideal allocation & paying tax to achieve it. In general, we advocate paying tax along the way to avoid over-concentration. When I was growing up, my granddad […]

Retirement Saving Myths and Misconceptions

We are fortunate to have a very educated and knowledgeable client base, but we are consistently surprised by the myths and misconceptions clients and prospects bring to the conversation. Below I have listed my Top 7 Myths and Misconceptions About Retirement Savings; it is by no means a complete list but highlights the most common […]

Finding the Best Order for Funding Retirement

Ballast team

With a task as important as funding your retirement, determining which accounts to fund and in what order should not be taken lightly.  Whether it’s a company plan, individual retirement account or taxable account, there are a lot of ways to save for retirement.  So how do you decide where to put each dollar you […]

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 […]

The Hidden Benefits of Saving Early in Life

We’re all aware that saving for retirement is not a strong suit for many Americans.  There is no end to the alarming statistics regarding our lack of preparedness for when it’s finally time to call it a day.  The most recent head-scratcher I came across was a survey done by J.P. Morgan Asset Management and […]