How A DIA Contributes To A Successful Retirement

Survey data shared by TIAA shows more than half of respondents feel their parents’ financial planning for retirement has impacted their own, with almost half saying they have avoided taking on significant debt to remain in a better position to provide future assistance. At the same time, TIAA finds, 38% say they have adopted a more conservative approach to…

How to get started making some of the most important decisions a parent can make.

This month, my column covered bond basics– how they work and their proper purpose in a blended growth portfolio. But many see a 100% bond portfolio as a set-it-and-forget-it safe income generator. When Greece defaulted in 2012, bondholders suffered huge losses.

Experts from the National Retirement Planning Coalition are urging Americans to develop, review and/or revise their retirement plans. By doing so, they say Americans can still achieve their retirement goals. If you are not sure where to get started, below are five steps you can take to help you on your path toward a financially secure retirement.

The decision comes a decade after the collapse of the infamous scheme.

A participant in the Greystar 401 Plan has filed a proposed class action lawsuit against the property management firm alleging it breached its fiduciary duties under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act by allowing excessive administrative and investment fees to be charged. It notes that in 2017, the Greystar plan submitted financial…

It won’t take long for funds managed entirely by robots to be everywhere. Two to three new ones will start trading each month this year.

And that advice still held true these past two weeks despite the roller-coaster ride for equities as the markets responded to President Trump’s ever-evolving efforts to address trade imbalances with China. Read: Until Trump’s trade war with China is over, it’s probably best you don’t look at your 401. That’s the case with New York resident Bill Pizzo and his…

May 15– May 15– President Donald Trump is a slave to the stock market, says Hank Smith, co-chief investment officer at Haverford Trust. So, will the president cave after the latest market drop and talk trade deals with China? The only way for a re-acceleration is if we remove the risks– trade war rhetoric needs to subside, a China deal needs to be made, and tariffs need to…

Two factors are prompting an upsurge in career changes.

Money permeates every facet of our lives. So, it makes sense that when investors are looking to hire someone for financial advice that they take it seriously. To help you get ready to field the tough questions from clients, here are four questions you should be ready and able to answer for potential clients:

Stock futures rose. President Trump said late Monday he sees China trade talks being “very successful” – soon. The U.S. set new tariff plans, escalating the trade war, likely hitting Apple.

The Insured Retirement Institute issued the following news release:. The Insured Retirement Institute will host its “ACTION19” conference in Washington, D.C. this week. William J. Kotapish, Assistant Director, Disclosure Review Office, Division of Investment Management, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Private insurers pay for less than 3% of care, according to the Department of Health and Human Services.

How to create the best setting and address strong emotions for tough conversations. Also, what not to do.

Our brains are programmed to avoid threatening situations. And death is the ultimate threat.

New research from the Financial Planning Association, Janus Henderson Investors and Investopedia explores the issue of stress among financial advisors and investors, its causes and what can be done. 71% of financial advisors and 57% of investors are currently experiencing an increase in moderate to high levels of negative stress compared to 12 months prior.

Millennials with very few assets and baby boomers with the bulk of America’s assets are both popularizing the use of exchange-traded funds, according to a new research report from mutual funds giant Vanguard. Assets in U.S.- registered investment companies rose in 2017 to a record level at year-end of $22.5 trillion.

Fed candidates must demonstrate that they prioritize the central bank’s independence. That means they’ll resist arm-twisting from the White House, and they will do unpopular things when it’s in the best interests of the economy. So who are good candidates for open seats on the board?

Not sure what to get Mom this Mother’ s Day? Instead of the usual chocolate, flowers or jewelry, Lincoln Financial Group’ s Love and Responsibility Survey found the gift that over half of all moms would prefer most is a contribution to their retirement account.

Among 1,315 U.S. adults ages 50 or older who are retired, or plan to retire in the next 10 years, finds that nearly half (44%) say Social Security will be their main source of retirement income, followed by just 23% of older adults relying on their pension. Many of those respondents believe they will be getting much more money than recipients receive today.

ETFs might seem like a blunt investing instrument, but they can wield considerable clout with their voting power, said Hortense Bioy, director of Passive Strategies and Sustainability Research, Europe at Morningstar.

Charts, plans and formulas can tell clients the right thing to do, but they will not get clients to do the right thing, according to Morgan Housel of The Collaborative Fund.

Morningstar estimates that just 25% of Americans are on track to have what they need for retirement. It is one of many studies showing the gap in retirement savings as Americans transition from defined benefit to defined contribution planning.

What are the most important factors prospective clients consider when selecting an advisor? Is it the same for all individuals? And is it the same today as it was a year ago or five years ago? If you haven’t asked prospects recently, their answers may surprise you. Knowing what matters to buyers is often more difficult for financial and professional services firms than for those selling more common, easily understood, and comparable products. And knowing how successfully you are communicating what matters is even more of a challenge.

One of the most challenging roles financial advisors play is offering support and assistance after a client suffers a major loss.

The Dow Jones and other key market indexes sharply pared their losses in the stock market today, heading into the last hour of the regular trading session.

Many people spend more time planning a vacation than they do their financial lives. When going on vacation, we consider such things as travel, accommodations, activities and hopefully a budget. We study the weather, arrange for care of pets, place a hold on the mail and many other things.

Family structures have evolved from the traditional household of a father, mother, and one or more children under the age of 21 living together in a household. A variety of other arrangements— couples in same-sex marriages, unmarried couples with children, blended families, grandparents raising grandchildren, and of course, single-parent households— also…

According to a new “Female Financial Empowerment” survey from Edward Jones, while women have made great strides in gender and income equality in the workplace, one of the biggest challenges they continue to face is their tendency to “prioritize immediate family needs” over saving for their own future. “Only 25 percent of women surveyed consider saving for…

WASHINGTON- Stephen Moore, a conservative commentator whom President Donald Trump had tapped for the Federal Reserve board, withdrew from consideration Thursday after losing Republican support in the Senate, largely over his past inflammatory writings about women. Trump tweeted the news of Moore’s withdrawal, only hours after Moore had told two news…

Three names making big moves on the charts today are hospice services provider Amedisys Inc, Pittsburgh- based United States Steel Corporation, and item identifying expert Digimarc. Amedisys stock has pared sharp intraday losses to trade near breakeven at $119.89. Interestingly, there was an unusual uptick in put buying in the prior days, with the 10- day…

Lyft went public March 29, and the stock almost immediately went into a steep decline as investors belatedly noticed that the company hadn’t made any money yet and didn’t have any clear plans to do so. On April 11, Uber filed the prospectus for its own initial public offering. The company said it commands more than 50 percent of the ride-hailing market.

George Nichols began his tenure as The American College’s president and CEO on Nov. 1 after a 17-year career with New York Life. He wants to see the school expand by breaking out of its insurance niche and focusing on financial services.

The use of 401 loans reached a nine-year low of 22.5% in 2018, and continued a steady six-year decline of nearly 10%, according to T. Rowe Price’s annual participant data benchmarking report, Reference Point. The report also found that the percentage of participants who took a hardship withdrawal fell for the ninth consecutive year.

The Federal Reserve begins its two-day policy meeting Tuesday, at the end of which no major rate action is expected– but some experts think one figure could be adjusted. Tuesday’s will be the Federal Open Market Committee’s third meeting this year.

Morningstar, Inc., a leading provider of independent investment research, today published its annual fee study, which evaluates trends in the cost of U.S. open-end mutual funds and exchange-traded funds. The study found that across U.S. funds, the asset-weighted expense ratio dropped to 0.48% in 2018, compared to 0.51% in 2017.

It’s almost impossible to save too much for retirement. After all, your clients could spend two, or even three, decades as a retiree. And retirement is not cheap even if you maintain a relatively modest lifestyle, some of your expenses, especially those involving health care, may continue to rise over the years.

The Federal Reserve this week will likely reinforce a theme that has cheered consumers and investors since the start of the year: No interest rates hikes are likely anytime soon. The prospect of continued low rates is keeping borrowing costs low for households and companies. It is helping drive record highs in the stock market.

Small business owners’ optimism is showing more signs of ebbing. That’s one of the findings of a semiannual survey of owners released Monday by Bank of America. Forty-eight percent of the 1,504 owners surveyed predicted that the national economy will improve over the next year, down from 55% in the survey taken last fall.

In video 7 of the Rewirement series, Jamie Hopkins, Director of Retirement Research at the Carson Group discusses risk tolerance.

April 25– Apr. 25– When preparing for your first home, you take on a mortgage. Now when you’re about to retire, what do you do? These were the questions that Kris Heichel of Fairway Mortgage Company hears about regularly.

It’s almost impossible to save too much for retirement. After all, you could spend two, or even three, decades as a retiree. And retirement is not cheap even if you maintain a relatively modest lifestyle, some of your expenses, especially those involving health care, may continue to rise over the years.

After a sharp decline in the stock market in the fourth quarter of 2018, stocks surged in the first quarter of 2019. Combined with near record high job openings, the market pushed Americans’ personal financial satisfaction to a new record high, according to the AICPA’ s Q1 2019 Personal Financial Satisfaction Index.

A Raleigh man is accused of defrauding a Durham woman of $246,000 through mail and wire fraud, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said Tuesday. Furman Alexander Ford was a financial advisor for New York Life, a release said, and helped the woman set up a charitable trust with New York Life.

It’s almost impossible to save too much for retirement. After all, you could spend two, or even three, decades as a retiree. And retirement is not cheap– even if you maintain a relatively modest lifestyle, some of your expenses, especially those involving health care, may continue to rise over the years.

WASHINGTON– It’s unclear whether one or both, or neither, of President Trump’s selections for the Federal Reserve Board– Stephen Moore and Herman Cain– will win Senate confirmation. But if you think the Fed is simply a political lackey of the president or Congress, then you are also misinformed. Most members of Congress don’t have the time or the temperament to…

Bob and Dawn Grimard of Grimard Financial Group Grimard Financial Group is a family-owned financial advisory and wealth management group out of Litchfield, New Hampshire. The husband and wife team works with clients to better understand their retirement position and how to safely navigate the sometimes murky waters of the modern economy. By Zoey Thompson…

The boom market in small businesses is showing signs of cooling. The number of small business sales counted by online market BizBuySell.com fell 6.5% during the first quarter from the same period of 2018, following a 6% fourth quarter drop. BizBuySell.com reported 2,504 first quarter transactions, down from 2,678 a year earlier. Despite the dip, sales remain strong; however, higher interest rates and a slowing economy could dampen potential buyers’ appetite for small businesses.

The United States is on the verge of a retirement crisis. As Chairman of the Senate Aging Committee, ensuring that more Americans are financially secure in their retirement years is one of my highest priorities. Here in Maine, at least 46 percent of private sector employees work for an employer that does not offer a retirement plan.

Commissioner Robert Jackson appeals for clarity on “best interest,” stronger prohibitions on business models that incentivize conflicted advice.

2019 APR 18– By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Daily Real Estate News– Modern Money, a new study released by Ameriprise Financial, reveals 78 percent of investors say achieving financial success has been the same or easier for them than it was for their parents at the same age, but over half think it will be harder for the next generation in their family to feel…

The Federal Reserve says the economy was expanding at a “slight-to-moderate pace” in March and early April with some regions seeing signs of strengthening after a winter slowdown. In its latest report on economic conditions around the country, the Fed said that the reports on manufacturing were favorable although some business contracts noted uncertainty caused by tensions over President Donald Trump’s get-tough trade policies.

Some clients, especially women, might show little interest in the financial planning process, so advisors need to educate them.

Still, some products with higher yields also have higher Sharpe ratios. Could that indicate better risk-adjusted performance?

Nearly two-thirds of the largest and mid-sized 401 consultants and advisers believe that sponsors want to continue to serve individuals once they retire, according to PIMCO’s 13th annual Defined Contribution Consulting Study. This is up 14 percentage points from the year before. PIMCO’s findings are based on a survey of 238 large and mid-sized consultants…

UnitedHealth, the nation’s largest insurer and a Dow Jones component, topped Q1 earnings views. But shares turned negative on “Medicare for All” fears.

It wasn’t so long ago that many investors regarded dividends as roughly the financial equivalent of a record turntable at a gathering of MP3 users- a throwback to an earlier era, irrelevant to the real action. But fast-forward a few years, and things look a little different. Since 2003, when the top federal income tax rate on qualified dividends was reduced from a…

The Federal Reserve gave Wall Street just about everything it wanted, helping to make the first three months of 2019 a great time to be in stocks and bonds. Bond funds were up 3.8 percent, and international stocks rose 11.1 percent, with funds that focus on China and other emerging markets doing best. The Fed abruptly signaled, just as 2019 began, that it was shifting…

In case you missed it, here are a few headlines from this week in financial services news.

President Trump’s executive order directing the U.S. Department of Labor to look into whether private pension funds that have engaged with oil and gas companies on climate change are complying with federal law is “misguided and ignores the very clear information related to the financial risks of climate change,” Ceres CEO and President Mindy Lubber said in…

A recession is caused by two consecutive quarters of negative gross domestic product numbers. In effect, it is the end of an economic expansion and the beginning of a contraction. People often confuse a market drop, or a correction, with a recession.

—When thinking about retirement, your main focus may center around not being a burden to your loved ones. In fact, 81% of middle-income Boomers have made at least one formal preparation for when they pass away1. Bankers Life President Scott Goldberg shares three steps to help prepare for retirement care.

The American College of Financial Services today announced that Wade D. Pfau, PhD, CFA (R), has been named Director of The American College’s leading Retirement Income Certified Professional (R) Program. Pfau has been with The American College since 2013 and is a Professor of Retirement Income in the Financial and Retirement Planning program and has been a…

We spend a lot of time daydreaming about and planning how to achieve our goals. Charting a new career, creating a bucket list, helping a loved one reach success and other goals all have financial implications that deserve consideration. This is where a financial plan comes in.

From their tax advantages to their investment potential, health savings accounts have a range of benefits to both workers and retirees.

We spend a lot of time daydreaming about and planning how to achieve our goals. Charting a new career, creating a bucket list, helping a loved one reach success and other goals all have financial implications that deserve consideration. This is where a financial plan comes in.