Retirement Questions That Have Nothing to Do With Money Think about these matters before you leave work for the last time. Provided by Peck Financial Advisors Retirement planning is not entirely financial. Your degree of happiness in your “second act” may depend on some factors you cannot quantify. Here are a few of those factors as well as the questions they may end up provoking in your mind. Where will you live? This is a...
The Importance of the Uniform Prudent Investor Act What is it, and why does it matter to trustors, trustees, and beneficiaries? Provided by Peck Financial Advisors In the 1990s, the Uniform Prudent Investor Act (UPIA) established primary legal and financial responsibilities for trustees, based on principles of judiciousness, trustworthiness, and objectivity. Any trustee should be prepared to be held to its standards. 1 The roots of the UPIA go back to 1830. In that year...
Peck Financial Advisors Presents: Monthly Economic Update February 2018 THE MONTH IN BRIEF Bulls took charge of Wall Street as 2018 began: the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 5.79% in the first month of the year, even with a mild selloff on the verge of February. Foreign equity benchmarks largely advanced as well. Oil and gasoline futures surged, while bitcoin continued to rollercoaster. Personal spending, manufacturing, and consumer confidence data encouraged investors. Home sales weakened...
The Dow Dropped. Do Not Drop Out of the Market. Last Monday’s plunge was hardly the disaster that some media outlets claimed. Provided by Peck Financial Advisors On February 5, the Dow Jones Industrial Average took an unprecedented fall. The benchmark dropped 1,175 points, and it was down 1,500 points at one moment during the trading day. 1,2 Monday’s Dow loss was severe, but not as catastrophic as certain headlines trumpeted. The index fell 4.6%...
The Blended Retirement System Rolls Out How does the BRS differ from the LRS? Provided by Peck Financial Advisors The U.S. military has made a major change to its retirement program. Many active duty, Reserve, and National Guard members are eligible to choose between two retirement savings and pension options: the new Blended Retirement System (BRS) and its predecessor, now termed the Legacy Retirement System (LRS). Service members who have spent fewer than 12 calendar...
The Major Retirement Planning Mistakes Why are they made again and again? Provided by Peck Financial Advisors Much has been written about the classic financial mistakes that plague start-ups, family businesses, corporations, and charities. Aside from these blunders, there are also some classic financial missteps that plague retirees. Calling them “mistakes” may be a bit harsh, as not all of them represent errors in judgment. Yet whether they result from ignorance or fate, we need...
Think Total Return Never touch your principal in retirement? Think again. Provided by Peck Financial Advisors More than a century ago, an American financial archetype emerged – the household that lived on the interest earned by its investments, never touching its principal. Times have changed. While the Vanderbilts, Carnegies, and Rockefellers could do that back in the Gilded Age, you will likely face a tough challenge trying to do the same in retirement. The reason...
Tax Deductions Gone in 2018 What standbys did tax reforms eliminate? Provided by Peck Financial Advisors Are the days of itemizing over? Not quite, but now that H.R. 1 (popularly called the Tax Cuts & Jobs Act) is the law, all kinds of itemized federal tax deductions have vanished. Early drafts of H.R. 1 left only two itemized deductions in the Internal Revenue Code – one for home loan interest, the other for charitable donations...
Peck Financial Advisors Presents: M ONTHLY E CONOMIC U PDATE January 2018 THE MONTH IN BRIEF Financially speaking, the last month of 2017 was also the year’s most newsworthy. Congress reformed federal tax law to a degree unseen since the 1980s, the Federal Reserve raised the benchmark interest rate, and bitcoin took its investors for a wild ride. Hiring, retail sales, and personal spending numbers were all impressive, as were consumer confidence index readings. The...
What Do You Have in Reserve for 2018? Build your emergency fund this year. Provided by Peck Financial Advisors How much does the average American household have in the bank? Estimates vary, but the short answer to this question is “not enough.” Last year, a GoBankingRates poll discovered that 57% of U.S. households had less than $1,000 in deposit accounts (although, 25% reported having at least $10,000). A 2017 analysis from Moebs Services, a research...
The Risk of Being a Suddenly Single Woman Contending with the possibility of widowhood. Provided by Peck Financial Advisors On average, women outlive their husbands. According to the Social Security Administration’s estimate, the average 65-year-old woman will outlive the average 65-year-old man by more than two years, dying at age 86½. Averages aside, it also estimates that about a quarter of today’s 65-year-olds will live into their nineties. Around 10% will live to age 95...
Congress Passes the Tax Cuts & Jobs Act What will the near-term impact be? Provided by Peck Financial Advisors On December 20, Congress passed the Tax Cuts & Jobs Act, sending the final version of the GOP tax reform bill to President Trump’s desk. The legislation alters the Internal Revenue Code to a degree unseen since the 1980s, altering income tax brackets, marginal tax rates, key deductions and exemptions, and the taxation of corporations and...
