Perspectives

When you begin considering a vacation, you might open a mapping app and start calculating the best route to your destination. The planning instills a sense of excitement. In the same way, the act of developing a personal financial plan can provide as much value as the plan itself.

Have you taken the time to create a personal budget? If not, you are not alone: only one in three Americans prepares a detailed household budget. But as you begin to travel the road toward financial success, you will find that goals are easier to reach when you start with a map.

Living life as a single adult can be empowering for some, stressful for others, and a nonissue for everyone else. Single people possess freedoms, but with those freedoms can come restrictions in the form of financial vulnerabilities that married or partnered people may not have.

How will U.S. tax reform potentially impact your financial future? Our experts have compiled a brief summary focused on the most pertinent changes affecting individual taxpayers.

Many of us feel we know the basics of Social Security, but did you know there are hundreds of different ways to claim you benefits? While we can’t cover all of them, we can offer strategies to help keep your retirement goals on track as you progress into this new life stage.

In an industry of approximately 300,000 financial advisors nationwide, women financial advisors are still few and far between. In 2016 only 16% of advisors were women, according to research firm Cerulli Associates, although the number could be increasing. Why such underrepresentation when women are expected to control two-thirds of the nation’s wealth by 2030, and are already the primary breadwinners in almost half of American households?

As we become adults, one would assume that naturally we also become more attuned to finances and how to apply that knowledge to the real world. However, that is not always the case. According to FINRA’s ongoing National Financial Capability Study, 63% of Americans are financially illiterate. Perhaps this ineptitude comes from a lack of understanding on a foundational level. An ongoing concern is that children are not receiving the education they need to make successful financial decisions and p...

It is well-known that money is the leading cause of disagreements in marriage as two individuals must come together to form a cohesive financial unit. Now that you have said “yes” to the ring…will you both say “yes” to combining finances?

The steps are predictable: Graduate from college, start your first job and then, with a few paychecks in the bank, start saving for retirement and make sure you have the necessary insurance to cover your other stages of life. But for millennials, the current generation of young adults and the largest generation in the U.S., the process doesn’t necessarily include life insurance coverage. A Gallup poll indicates that millennials are the least likely to be engaged with their primary insurer and a...

To keep or not to keep, that is the question. Good record keeping is essential to making your financial life easier and can save you money and time in the long run. But in regards to record retention, how long is too long? Some original documents should be kept permanently (think birth certificate and social security card), whereas others can be shredded after seven years (bank statements and canceled checks), and still others have much more unique retention lengths.