Financial Planning Blog

The Tax Cuts and Job Act was signed into law by President Donald Trump on December 22, 2017. This massive tax reform act, an attempt to encourage economic growth, will have wide-reaching effects on all Americans across various income levels. While the majority of middle-income Americans will enjoy a noticeable break come tax time, investors have an important responsibility to be proactive in educating themselves and preparing for the effects this tax reform bill will have on them personally. If you haven't already done your homework here, waiting until tax time to see what happens is not the best approach. Being proactive will help you best prepare for the upcoming tax season and avoid surprises down the road.

The hurricane season of 2017 delivered massive damage to properties in the United States, and now that the actual storms—particularly Hurricanes Irma and Harvey— have done their damage, rebuilding has begun. One firm estimates that insured losses in the U.S. from Hurricane Irma will range from $25 to $35 billion. For Hurricane Harvey, insured losses will be just above $10 billion.

If you and/or your home were affected by these massive storms, how do you begin rebuilding? Here are 7 tips on how you can recover from a hurricane disaster—without losing your sanity or your life savings:

The massive data breach of Equifax servers by hackers from mid-May to July 2017 resulted in unauthorized access to personal information for millions of people – it’s estimated that the personal information of 143 million people – nearly 44% of the U.S. population – was compromised. Equifax is a consumer credit reporting agency that holds the most sensitive information of over 800 million individuals – including their Social Security numbers. The breach means that hackers now may have access to your most sensitive information, including your name, address, social security number, birth date, driver’s license numbers, and for some 209,000 people, credit card numbers, according to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).

“Buy low, sell high.”

It’s every investor’s dream to make a profit on their portfolio by timing the buying and selling of equities at just the right period in order to make a considerable profit. Perhaps it’s based on the current activity of a stock or asset, market news, or economic indicators. Whatever the motivation, timing the market means you are trying to predict that you will do better economically over the long term based on short-term indicators if you move in and out of the stock market or change your asset mix.

From Legendary Financial Advisor, and Thought Leaders, Randall and Neal Richard of Richard Brothers, Financial Advisors:

Annuities are a popular option among investors, but some financial firms are critical of these products. Ken Fisher of Fisher Investments, for example, offers harsh criticism of the annuity industry as a whole. He compares annuities to Ponzi schemes, suggesting  that they offer promises that are too good to be true in order to get naive investors to make a purchase. He also accuses annuity salespeople of using unscrupulous tactics to manipulate clients and pad their commission.