I am writing in response to questions I routinely receive form clients regarding the Morning Star Rating system of Funds. I want to discuss Morningstar 5 Star Rating System. Please consider the following: Equity Index Funds by nature will never receive a Five Star rating because the Star Rating System is looking at past performance and [...]
Are you going to choose Early Retirement, Middle Retirement, or Later Retirement? Most people don't consider the sometimes drastic differences between phases of Retirement. This article below from U.S. News & World Report digs deeply into these differences and offers the reader some potential strategies to mitigate the potential issues. 3 Stages of Saving & [...]
The New Year brings with it our hope for good health, great friends, and financial peace of mind. Here are FIVE gifts you can give yourself and those you care about his coming year: For the Kids and Grandkids Open a College Savings Plan. If one already exists, make a deposit. There’s no greater gift [...]
A class action law suit was recently filed by employees of a large investment firm claiming that the firm stuffed their 401k retirement plans with the firm's own actively-managed, high-cost mutual funds. The employees claim that the company unnecessarily stripped them of too much of their hard-earned retirement savings by failing to provide them with [...]
While most people know what a fee-based financial advisor is, few know of the full breadth of services that a financial advisor offers. Below I've listed some of the things we as financial advisors CAN do, as well as some of the things we CAN'T do. What a financial advisor CAN'T do (no matter what [...]
Before we can answer how much you'll really need saved to retire, we need to answer this question: Well, what will your expenses be? Not all financial advisors have the post-retirement budget discussion with their clients. Instead, they'll use a standard percentage of a client's yearly income, most frequently between 70-80%. But just like in [...]
