March Madness. It conjures up images of office pools, trash-talking and some of the best college basketball played all year. But 2020 saw a different kind of March Madness as the COVID-19 pandemic spread across the globe impacting the lives of hundreds of millions of people. As the number of cases began to rapidly grow, and the death toll mounted, social distancing and self quarantine guidelines were put in place in an attempt to flatten the curve and reduce the strain on our healthcare system. The result was a “self-induced” economic slow-down the likes of which we’ve never experienced as most non-essential businesses were asked to shut their doors.

The traditional path to saving and investing has been to focus on the future (retirement), and rely solely on numbers and return on investment (ROI). However, this approach often can be misleading because it doesn’t consider your individual circumstances. “Beating the market” is often an artificial objective because it is not likely to have a substantive impact on your unique situation. Consider this: what does beating the market by one percent less (or more) mean to how you live your life? Do market returns have an impact on how you live your life?

On December 20th, 2019 the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement (SECURE) Act – was signed into law, representing the most extensive changes to retirement legislation in over a decade. One of the primary objectives of the SECURE Act is to help Americans save for retirement – and many of the new rules and provisions reflect that including: * Required Minimum Distributions (RMDs) will now start at age 72 (instead of 70½) * IRA contributions can be made after age 70½ as long as there is earned income * Part-time employees may now be eligible to participate in their company-sponsored retirement plan

As the year draws to a close, now is a good time to both reflect and to plan for the future. Much like the prior year, the 2019 calendar year has continued to be a year of significant change and uncertainty. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and the U.S. Treasury have continued to issue interpretative guidance on the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) and other legislative changes at a rapid pace. In some instances, guidance issued is entirely new and not yet finalized. In other instances, the new guidance replaces prior guidance issued in the form of proposed regulations and notices. The result is a myriad of effective dates and choices for taxpayers to navigate.Dixon Hughes Goodman (our parent company) has put together the attached letter which highlights a few tax planning areas for you to consider before year end. This letter does not address the nuances and variations in existing guidance that must be carefully evaluated before implementing any provision highlighted herein. We anticipa...

One of the most important letters you may receive is a letter titled “Your Retirement Choices.”   This cheery title sits atop a letter that companies send when it’s time for you to make a decision regarding your accrued pension benefits and is usually sent close to your expected retirement date – although sometimes there is an opportunity to claim benefits early.

Too often, financial and especially estate planning focuses on the legal, tax and investment structure and forgets to address practical and personal issues.  Problems may then occur when a loved one passes away and in the midst of the heartache and grief, with little or no direction, the family is left to make difficult short term decisions about funeral arrangements, followed by the big issues of sorting out the longer term financial picture.  What would your family do in such an event?  Would they know the location of your most important documents?  Would they know who to call for help? A few years ago, as we worked through the planning process with a new client, the above thoughts really hit home and we were asked to develop a system that would organize and pass along valuable financial and personal information to her family.  The attached questionnaire became a guide for her and we believe it can prove to be equally as important to you.  We know t...

Socially Responsible investing (SRI).   Sustainable investing.  Environmental, Social & Governance (ESG) investing.  Impact investing.  Whatever you call it – and however you define it – the desire to manage investments in a way that aligns with personal values continues to grow. According to a report from the Forum for Sustainable and Responsible Investment, the market size of sustainable, responsible and impact investing in the United States in 2016 was $8.72 trillion, or one-fifth of all investment under professional management. Since 1995, when the US SIF Foundation first measured the size of the US sustainable and responsible investing market, to 2016, the SRI universe has increased nearly 14-fold, a compound annual growth rate of 13.25 percent.SRI has been around since the 1970s but over the last 40+ years it has evolved.  Initially, the approach was to avoid investing in companies whose products or services were considered objec...

Dollie Halford | CFP®, CDFA™

Maria Tobin | CLU, ChFC, LUTCF with DHG Agency

This first session will focus on financial fitness for women, where, at some point in their lives, 95% will become the sole financial decision maker for their family. Yet studies show that, on average, women feel they lack confidence and knowledge in making wise financial decisions. Join us for an insightful look at some of the financial issues unique to women, as well as an overview of investing and financial planning. Initially created internally for DHG and now available publicly.

February 05, 2015Remember The Lost Decade? It wasn’t that long ago that investing money in an S&P 500 index fund would have yielded a negative rate of return. Specifically, between January 2000 and December 2009 the S&P 500 had a total return of (9.1%), hence The Lost Decade label for that 10-year period.As financial advisors, we don’t think in 10-year increments. We don’t even think in 20-year increments. We think long term, big picture so what happens in any rolling 10-year period doesn’t shake or change our fundamental beliefs.We remind you of The Lost Decade because over the last few years, the S&P 500 has done well. Really well. And when that’s the primary index reported in the U.S. financial media, and you are repeatedly bombarded with its outperformance, it’s hard to ignore. So we’d like to go back to basics and remind you of a few key things:1. Different asset classes are in favor at different times and it’s impossible to predict when a specific asset class ...

September 09, 2014My first year playing fantasy football, I started the season 0-8. I seemed to consistently make the wrong line-up choices, I was always leaving points on the bench, and even when I had the best team possible, something unpredictable would happen (like Baltimore’s defense scoring 28 fantasy points), once again leaving me winless. The frustration was maddening. Last year I was champion of our fantasy football league.So what changed over 3 years? I started to treat fantasy football like my job. Literally. As a financial advisor one of my responsibilities is to strip emotion out of the equation – and let me tell you, it’s not easy because human beings tend to fall prey to a number of behavioral biases and pitfalls that keep them from having a successful investment experience. I realized that if I wanted to be successful at fantasy football, I needed to take the same disciplined approach I take when it comes to investing. Lesson #1: Don’t Draft with Your Heart In 2011 ...