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Concerns over identity theft continue to grow, especially with news of data breaches at major companies and financial institutions. Unfortunately, you have little control over the hacking of these companies, but you do have control over your actions. Ten Things to Leave at Home Social Security Card — A Social Security card may be used to open credit card accounts...
Would it surprise you to hear that China owns only about 7% of the total outstanding debt of the U.S. Government?¹ This still amounts to about $1.25 trillion, but China’s ownership of Treasury securities is well behind two major domestic owners—Social Security and the Federal Reserve.² Nevertheless, the emergence of a political and economic competitor on the world stage as...
For many Americans, building true wealth might seem elusive, even illusory considering that many people, who very recently were sitting on six and seven figure 401k plans and home equity values, now feel unprepared for retirement. The lessons learned from the financial crisis is that wealth can be fleeting. However, wealth creation always has been, and still is a process...
After market-risk and inflation-risk, which investors take great strides to mitigate through sound investment practices, taxation-risk presents the biggest obstacle to building wealth. A sound investment strategy not only seeks to generate returns on your capital, it also seeks to preserve as much of your capital as possible to keep it working for you. One of the surest ways to...
It should not take the filing of a tax return or a death in the family to finally create order out of paper chaos so you are not forced to scramble in those critical circumstances. The chances of making costly errors are too great not to take some very simple, albeit essential, measures to get and stay organized all year...
In my opinion, it is impossible to predict future stock market returns. Investment models can produce hypothetical returns but they can’t account for future events. So, in my opinion, investors who manage their investments based on market performance or what they perceive as opportunities for better returns have very little control over the outcome. On the other hand, there may...
For many people, life insurance forms the security foundation of their financial plan. While most financial planners recommend that life insurance be purchased for its protection, and not as a primary savings vehicle, few would argue that cash value life insurance doesn’t have some fairly unique and attractive savings features. When these are considered in the context of a person’s...