Month: January 2021

Family and Finances: Tips for Discussing Money and Retirement with Your Loved Ones

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family and finances
Facing Money Topics Head-On is Key to Accomplishing Your Family’s Financial Goals

Though it may seem that family and finances are two words that don’t belong together, it’s important to make sure that you’re occasionally combining the topics despite how awkward it may feel. Talking about money can be incredibly difficult, but it’s equally important to make sure you and your loved ones are on the same page. Having conversations about money and retirement matters because, like it or not, your finances and current or future retirement plans will impact your children, too.

Furthermore, discussing money can ultimately end up strengthening everyone’s finances – and your relationships. Below you’ll find tips to help inspire you to begin having those hard conversations.

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Your Financial Planning Checklist for the New Year

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financial planning
How to Use an Annual Financial Plan to Stay on Top of Your Goals

A common error in financial planning is to assume that you can do it once and be finished. In truth, though, even a well-conceived plan built with the help of a financial advisor should be reviewed annually. This allows you to stay on top of what you have and have not accomplished so that you can ensure you’ve covered all the bases on both your short-term and long-term goals.

Creating an annual financial planning checklist is a useful way to track your progress, as well as to ensure you remain vigilant about making adjustments if your circumstances or your goals should change.

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Annuity Myths (Lies) People Will Tell You: Part 2

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People will tell you myths about fixed index annuities with income riders because they don’t really understand how they work, or because they want to sell you something else. We recently provided the first 5 myths about fixed index annuities, here are some more:

Myth #6- You can’t get any growth. NOT TRUE. When your index goes up you have the opportunity to earn competitive returns for a low-risk asset, and when your index goes down you lose NOTHING.

Myth #7- You can lose principal in a stock market crash. NOT TRUE. Your principal and past earnings are 100 percent protected from all stock market losses. If the market crashes 50 percent, you lose 0 percent.

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Annuity Myths (Lies) People Will Tell You: Part 1

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People will tell you myths about fixed index annuities with income riders, either because they don’t really understand how they work, or they want to sell you something else.

Myth #1-You will pay very high fees. NOT TRUE. The total average annual cost for a fixed index annuity with an income rider is 1.0 percent, in writing, fully disclosed.

Myth #2-There’s a big commission that comes from your money to pay the agent. NOT TRUE. No commissions are deducted from your money- the annuity company pays the agent, you don’t.

Myth #3 – You can’t access your money for a long time. NOT TRUE. In some plans, you can access income immediately, and in most plans, you can access funds after 12 months.

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