Tag: Financial Planner Charlotte NC

Organizing Your Finances When Your Spouse Has Passed

Mar 31, 2025

Losing a spouse is a stressful transition. And the added pressure of having to settle the estate and organize finances can be overwhelming. Fortunately, there are steps you can take to make dealing with these matters less difficult.

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Retirement and Adult Children

Mar 28, 2025

Retirement strategy and finances calculator writing formulas
Supporting a family can put a crimp in your strategy

Families are one of the great joys in life, and part of the love you show to your family is making sure that their basic needs are met. While that’s only to be expected from birth through the high school years, many households are helping their adult children well into their twenties and beyond at the cost of their own retirement savings. (more…)

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Asset Protection in Estate Planning

Mar 21, 2025

Estate Planning
What you need to know when protecting your assets

You’re beginning to accumulate substantial wealth, but you worry about protecting it from future potential creditors. Whether your concern is for your personal assets or your business, various tools exist to keep your property safe from tax collectors, accident victims, health-care providers, credit card issuers, business creditors, and creditors of others.

To insulate your property from such claims, you’ll have to evaluate each tool in terms of your own situation. You may decide that insurance and a Declaration of Homestead may be sufficient protection for your home because your exposure to a claim is low. For high exposure, you may want to create a business entity or an offshore trust to shield your assets. Remember, no asset protection tool is guaranteed to work, and you may have to adjust your asset protection strategies as your situation or the laws change.

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Basis: Carryover or Stepped-Up Cost Basis?

Mar 17, 2025

FAQs about cost basis
Answers to some frequently asked questions

Income tax basis can be an important factor in deciding whether to make gifts during your lifetime or transfer property at your death. This is because the income tax basis for the person receiving the property depends on whether the transfer is by gift or at death. This, in turn, affects the amount of taxable gain subject to income tax when the person sells the property.

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Leaving a Legacy to Your Grandkids

Nov 6, 2024

Passing a key to a child
Now is the time to explore the possibilities

There is almost nothing stronger than the unconditional loving bond between grandparents and grandchildren. And for many grandparents, they recognize the importance of family legacies, the passing of the torch to the youngest generation. (more…)

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Understanding Risk

Jul 31, 2024

Few terms in personal finance are as important, or used as frequently, as “risk.” Nevertheless, few terms are as imprecisely defined. Generally, when financial advisors or the media talk about investment risk, their focus is on the historical price volatility of the asset or investment under discussion.

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Conducting a Home Inventory

Apr 3, 2024

A home inventory is a complete and detailed written list of all your personal property that’s located in your home and stored in other structures like garages and toolsheds. It should include your possessions as well as those of family members and others living in your home. You should prepare an inventory whenever you move into a new home. To keep track of new additions and discarded items, be sure to update it every year.

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Heirs, Value and Family Wealth

Jan 31, 2024

A family at the Beach
Teaching your Heirs to Value Your Wealth

Some high net worth individuals are reluctant to talk to their kids about family wealth. Perhaps they are afraid of what their heirs may do with it.

If a child comes from money and grows up knowing they can expect a sizable inheritance, that child may look at family wealth like water from a free-flowing spigot with no drought in sight. Your child may rely upon your wealth if nothing works out; or simply to whims born of boredom. The perception that family wealth is a fallback rather than a responsibility can contribute to the erosion of family assets. Factor in a parental reluctance to say “no” often enough, throw in a penchant for racking up debt, and the stage is set for wealth to dissipate.

How might a family plan to prevent this? It starts with values. From those values; you can begin to define goals and purpose. (more…)

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Social Security Survivor Benefits

Jan 17, 2024

When you think of Social Security, you probably think of retirement. However, Social Security can also provide much-needed income to your family members when you die, making their financial lives easier.

Your family members may be eligible to receive survivor benefits if you worked, paid Social Security taxes, and earned enough work credits. The number of credits you need depends on your age when you die. The younger you are when you die, the fewer credits you’ll need for survivor benefits. However, no one needs more than 40 credits (10 years of work) to be “fully insured” for benefits. And under a special rule, if you’re only “currently insured” at the time of your death (i.e., you have 6 credits in the 13 quarters prior to your death), your children and your spouse who is caring for them can still receive benefits.

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Business Owner Recordkeeping

Nov 27, 2023

Leave the book ledgers behind

Keeping good business records will not only help you stay in business but may also help you increase profits. Your business records let you analyze where your business is and where it’s going. They point out potential trouble spots and serve as a guide to where you want your business to be.

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Estate Planning – Protecting Your Assets
Jun 9, 2025

You’re beginning to accumulate substantial wealth, but you worry about protecting it from future potential creditors. Whether your concern is for your personal assets or your business, various tools exist to keep your property safe from tax collectors, accident victims, health-care providers, credit card issuers, business creditors, and creditors of others. To insulate your property … Continue reading “Estate Planning – Protecting Your Assets”

Estimating Your Retirement Income Needs
Jun 6, 2025

You know how important it is to plan for your retirement, but where do you begin? One of your first steps should be to estimate how much income you’ll need to fund your retirement. That’s not as easy as it sounds, because retirement planning is not an exact science. Your specific needs depend on your … Continue reading “Estimating Your Retirement Income Needs”

Market Update – Volatility Likely to Bring Opportunities as Trade Uncertainty Continues
Jun 4, 2025

As June begins, markets continue to navigate a complex landscape shaped by trade policy shifts, an uncertain economic and earnings outlook, and bond market headwinds. Several key developments in recent weeks may have implications for markets:

Market Update – Tariffs Bring April Showers
Apr 4, 2025

April showers came a month early as stocks fell in March. Tariffs were the primary cause of the market jitters, although that uncertainty became too much for markets to shrug off once economic data started to weaken.

Six Keys to Investing
Apr 2, 2025

A successful investor maximizes gain and minimizes loss. Though there can be no guarantee that any investment strategy will be successful and all investing involves risk, including the possible loss of principal, here are six basic principles that may help you invest more successfully.

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