Blog
5 Steps to Investing Your Health Savings Account
How much does the government want consumers to use health savings accounts to pay for healthcare expenses? So much that it has made the HSA the only triple-tax-advantaged vehicle in the whole tax code: you contribute dollars on a pretax basis, your money compounds on...
Why extended warranties are hardly ever a good deal
Cost of a three-year extended warranty for a dishwasher: $157.97. Average cost of a dishwasher repair: $159. The fact that service contracts often cost about the same as a repair is just one reason extended warranties — also known as service contracts and protection...
A ‘dead’ home-equity tax deduction sees new life due to IRS
President Trump’s new tax law has caused concern among homeowners looking to borrow against the equity in their houses. The legislation appeared to eliminate the deduction taxpayers get for the interest owed on home-equity loans, but after prodding from lobbying...
‘Nightmare’ for bonds ahead? How to explain it to clients
As investors have recently rediscovered, stocks have risks. So do bonds. When Fed Chairman Jerome Powell recently hinted his agency could boost rates as many as four times this year, volatility ensued. The stock turbulence demonstrated that weakness may be looming for...
Is it really necessary to rebalance your investment portfolio?
Periodic rebalancing is generally a good way to keep your investing strategy on track and to prevent your portfolio from becoming too risky during market surges (like the one we've been experiencing in recent years) or too conservative after big market setbacks. That...
3 Big Money Mistakes to Avoid Once You’re in Retirement
It’s the big question at the heart of all retirement planning: how long will you live, and by extension, how long should your money last? But you don’t need to tie yourself up in existential—or actuarial—knots trying to answer the unanswerable, financial advisors say....
What Drives Long-Term National Debt Growth?
With the current 106% debt-to-GDP ratio, there’s no doubt that today’s government debt is high. The last time the United States reached this mark, it was during the aftermath of WWII in the late 1940s. But despite nearly historic debt levels, it does not seem that the...
Fed Rate Hikes Don’t Have to Translate to Bond Losses
In Periods of Rising Rates, Higher Income Can Help Keep Returns Positive As the Fed continues on a path of gradually raising interest rates, many investors are moving to cash, short-term bonds and floating-rate securities. But the view that bonds have to suffer losses...