Chart of the Month – Mar 2022
Are you feeling the pain at the pump? What is driving oil prices higher?
The Secret to Increasing Your Fitness Level and Net Worth
Category: Financial Planning » Behavioral Finance
Are you really saving as much as you could without someone pushing you? Are you really investing in the most appropriate manner without someone advising you? Are you really on track toward financial independence at the earliest age possible without someone mapping out the path?
Accountability: The Key to Unlocking Financial Independence
Category: Financial Planning » Behavioral Finance
For more than 20 years, I ran competitively. Last year, I spent three to four months training consistently and failed to reach one of my goals.
What Tax Documents Do Investors Need to File?
Category: Financial Planning
I start getting anxious this time of year when I am forced to collect all the necessary information for my tax advisor. In preparation for the upcoming tax deadline, Monday, April 18, 2022, I wanted to summarize what to expect in the way of relevant tax information related to your investments.
Three Ways to Make Saving Automatic
Category: Financial Planning » Behavioral Finance
Here are some ideas and tools you can use to help make your saving automatic, the biggest key to growing your savings.
Saving for a Rainy Day
Category: Financial Planning » Cashflow
According to a 2020 Federal Reserve study, 36% of American adults do not have enough cash to cover a $400 unexpected expense1. While the opposite 64% say they DO have enough, that still leaves around 90 million American adults unable to handle a modest money disruption in their lives.
Savings Ho!
Category: Financial Planning » Cashflow
It has been eight years, but the memories are still fresh! My wife and I loaded our four daughters into our Dodge Grand Caravan and headed west for our long-anticipated “Westward Ho!” journey. As we crossed the great plains into the Rockies and traversed the high desert of New Mexico into the arid Arizona desert, we laughed, fought, slept, played games, and created incredible memories.
Don’t Borrow from Your Future Self
Category: Financial Planning » Cashflow
While each person has different long-term goals, a common future desire that exists for most people is retirement. There's a day coming when you won't want to, or can’t, work anymore, and your income will need to be replaced. This is a huge “future self” liability that has to be considered.
Getting Rid of Debt Can Help You Save
Category: Financial Planning » Cashflow
At the end of 2021, outstanding consumer debt in the United States, including mortgages, student loans, auto loans, credit cards, etc., totaled $15.6 trillion, which equates to about $50,000 per American. Clearly, we are no strangers to debt. Ultimately, getting rid of consumeristic debt will help you save and accomplish your goals.
What’s Your Best Buy: Firm Foundation or Castle In the Air?
If an investor could discover the true worth of a company, a piece of real estate or even an idea, where “true worth” equated to the future value or price that others would pay, success would be almost certain to follow. Those opportunities that were priced significantly lower than the future value would be automatic buys. The one’s with higher prices today than the future price would be ones to avoid. If only it were that simple!
Mega Backdoor Roth IRAs: What You Should Know
Category: Financial Planning
A mega backdoor Roth is a great option to quickly build a tax-free bucket of money for individuals who have maxed out other retirement savings vehicles, still have surplus to be invested, and have a 401(k) plan that allows for this strategy. Consider this an additional tool in your toolbox.
How a Medicare Supplement Coordinates with the Parts of Medicare
Category: Financial Planning
Medicare seems like the Alphabet soup of health insurance. Parts A, B, C, D and then the myriad of supplemental coverage. As Charlie Brown would say, “Good Grief”…. Let’s decipher it here.
Earth-Bound Aces Strive for More Than Financial Flyover
Category: Foster Group
Recently, I attended the Kansas City Air Show and witnessed the precision acrobatics of the Navy’s Blue Angels, a team of six intensely trained pilots performing incredible high-flying stunts. Foster Group financial advisors are not known for performing at 10,000 feet, but we are catalysts for positive life change and, unlike static aircraft displays at a two-day event, we will continue our work tomorrow, next week, next month, and next year.
Don’t Mix FOMO with Home Buying
Category: Financial Planning » Cashflow
For most Americans, their house is their most significant asset. But it’s also the most personal one. There's a lot of emotion inside those four walls. If you want to buy your first or next home, it’s crucial to have a game plan going into it. Here are a few principles to consider when it comes to buying a home.
Are Those Happy Tears?
Tears, bottles, diaper changes, onesies, little fingers, and strange sleep schedules – as many of you know, these are just a few of the things to expect when you bring home your newborn from the hospital. And here’s something else to expect: new tax credits! While I know good parents don’t have kids to lower their tax bill, it’s nice of the US Government to extend a bit of kindness to those taking on the heartache – and joy! – of becoming parents.
Are You Afraid of (Market) Heights?
Investors have been experiencing some fear of heights recently. Many stocks and stock markets are at or near all-time highs. So, here’s the question investors need to ask themselves today, ”Do you think that stock markets 26 years from now will be higher or lower than they are currently, even if today is an all-time high?”
Cryptocurrency: Not for the Faint of Heart
Category: Investing » Alternative Investments
Will cryptocurrency replace the $20 bill in your pocket? Will the decentralization/digitization of currency end up solving anything? Will it be of long-term value? Or will it end up being only a place for speculators to try and capitalize on the sentiment of others? Anyone wanting to allocate to cryptocurrency should understand the inherent uncertainty and volatility of this relatively new digital commodity.
Teaching Your Kids to Invest Early in Life
Category: Financial Planning
One of the concerns I continually hear from the clients I work with is whether the next generation can handle money well. The only way to know is to give them an opportunity. Helping them invest early and often will teach them discipline, patience, how to manage their emotions and the power of compound interest. All of it is essential learning on the path to financial independence . . . and many other things in life, as well.
How One Client Lives a Meaningful, Generous Life
Category: Financial Planning » Charitable Giving
At Foster Group, we encourage our clients to live lives of meaning and generosity, and some of our clients embody this. Of all the amazing stories I’ve heard, the following has impacted me most deeply.
Umbrella Insurance Is Just a Catch All Policy, Right?
Category: Financial Planning
Guest Blogger Tim Hibbing. Umbrella policies are becoming more and more popular in our litigious culture.
How Will You Pay for Long-Term Care?
Category: Financial Planning
Chances are, you’ve heard about long-term care insurance, but have you asked yourself if you need it?