Articles

Estates & Trusts

• What Key Estate Planning Tools Should I Know About?

  Wills and trusts allow you to spell out how you would like your property distributed, but they also go beyond that.

• How Can a Living Trust Help Me Control My Estate?

  A living trust can help control the distribution of your estate upon death.

• How Can My Gift Benefit Me and the Charity?

  To retain the tax advantages associated with charitable giving, your gift must be made to a qualified organization.

• How Can I Control the Distribution of My Estate?

  If you haven't taken steps already, consider planning now for the distribution of the assets of your estate.

• What Gifting Strategies Are Available to Me?

  Compare the advantages and disadvantages of different gifting strategies available for planned giving.

• What Is the History of the Federal Estate Tax?

  Careful estate planning is still one of the most important ways to manage and protect your assets for your heirs.

Retirement

• What Is an IRA Rollover?

  If you leave a job or retire, you should consider your options regarding your employer retirement plan assets.

• What Is a Roth 401(k)?

  A Roth 401(k) is funded with after-tax money, and allows for tax- and penalty-free withdrawal of earnings if requirements are met.

• Why Do People Buy Annuities?

  Annuities, an insurance-based financial vehicle, can provide many benefits that retirement investors might want.

• How Much Do I Need to Save?

  Many realize it’s important to save for retirement, but knowing exactly how much to save is another issue altogether.

• What Does the Changing Pension Landscape Mean for Retirement?

  With the changing pension landscape, it is important to take charge of your own retirement security.

• What Is a 1035 Exchange?

  A Section 1035 exchange is a tax-free exchange of an existing annuity contract or life insurance policy for a new one.

• What Is an Indexed Annuity?

  An indexed annuity may provide some upside potential and downside protection.

• What Is a Traditional IRA?

  If you do not participate in an employer-sponsored retirement plan, you might consider a traditional IRA.

• What Is a 401(k) Plan?

  401(k) employer-sponsored retirement plans have many benefits, including that the funds accumulate tax-deferred.

• What Is a Roth IRA?

  Qualified Roth IRA distributions in retirement are free of federal income tax and aren’t included in gross income.

Tax Planning

• What Is the Capital Gain Tax?

  Capital gains are profits realized from the sale of assets; a tax is triggered only when an asset is sold, not held.

• What Is the Estate Tax?

  Everything you own, whatever the form of ownership, is subject to federal, and possibly state, estate taxes.

• What Is a Required Minimum Distribution?

  Required minimum distribution is the annual amount that must be withdrawn from a qualified retirement plan/account.

• How Can I Benefit from Tax-Advantaged Investments?

  Many traditional tax-advantaged investment strategies have gone away, but there are still some alternatives.

• What Is the Most Tax-Efficient Way to Take a Distribution From a Retirement Plan

  Consider a trustee-to-trustee transfer to an IRA versus a lump-sum distribution from a workplace retirement plan.

• How Can I Upgrade My Insurance — Tax-Free?

  A 1035 exchange allows you to exchange your life insurance policy for one from another company without tax liability.

Investing

• What Is a Bond Ladder?

  A bond ladder is a strategy involving the purchase of bonds that have staggered maturity dates.

• What Are Dividends?

  It is important to understand how dividends (taxable payments to shareholders) fit with your long-term goals.

• What Is an Exchange-Traded Fund?

  ETFs have unique attributes and attempt to track all types of indexes, industries, or commodities.

• How Are Growth and Value Stocks Different?

  The labels growth and value reflect different approaches that can be used when making investment decisions.

• What Are Zero-Coupon Bonds?

  Zero-coupon bonds represent a type of bond that does not pay interest during the life of the bond.

• What Types of Bonds Are Available?

  Bonds are issued by many entities and share many characteristics, each type of bond has certain benefits and risks.

• What Is a Bond?

  A bond is simply evidence of a debt from a government entity or a corporation and represents a long-term IOU.

• What Do Bond Ratings Mean?

  Bond ratings gauge a bond issuer’s financial ability to repay its promised principal and interest payments.

• What Is a Mutual Fund?

  A mutual fund is a collection of stocks, bonds, and other securities with certain benefits and risks.

• What Is a Closed-End Fund?

  With closed-end funds, investors pool their money together to purchase a professionally managed portfolio of stocks and/or bonds.

• What Is a Mutual Fund Load?

  It’s important to understand mutual fund loads, or sales charges, and exactly what they entail so you can make informed investing decisions.

• What Is an Annuity?

  An annuity is a flexible financial vehicle that can help protect against the risk of living a long time because it provides an option for a lifetime income.

• What Is the Difference Between a Fixed Annuity and a Variable Annuity?

  Both fixed and variable annuities could be appropriate options for an individual interested in purchasing an annuity.

• What Are the Different Classes of Assets?

  There are five broad asset classes that you should take into consideration when constructing your investment portfolio.

Risk Management

• Why Purchase Life Insurance?

  If you have a family who relies on your income, it is important to have life insurance protection.

• Do I Need a Business Owner Policy?

  A business owner policy is an insurance package that assembles the basic coverages required by a business owner in one bundle.

• What Is Life Insurance for Business Owners?

  Company-owned life insurance is one way to help protect a business from financial problems caused by the death of a key employee.

• What Is Term Life Insurance?

  Term life insurance differs from permanent forms of life insurance in that it offers temporary protection.

• What Is Whole Life Insurance?

  Some of the pros and cons of whole life insurance.

• What Is Universal Life Insurance?

  Consider a universal life insurance policy if you want the flexibility to change your premium or death benefit.

• What Are the Basic Types of Life Insurance?

  When selecting a life insurance policy, examine all your options, as well as the positives and negatives of each type.