As I discussed in a previous post, the average college student graduates with somewhere between $30,000 to $40,000 in student loans, with no indication of tuition growth rates slowing any time soon. Typically, these loans are scheduled to be paid off in 10 years, or 120 monthly payments. If you’re anything like me, you understand …
Continue reading “I Recently Paid Off My Student Loans 3 Years Early – Here’s How I Did It”
By Adam Oerther, CFP® Officially, the “Great Recession” was the period between December 2007 and June 2009 when the U.S. economy contracted by 4.2%. Over 8 million jobs were lost, and unemployment rose to 10%. Many who bought homes in 2006 and 2007 suddenly found themselves “underwater” in their mortgages (owing more on their homes …
Continue reading “Ten Years On: Four Personal Finance Lessons Learned from the Great Recession”
By Adam Oerther, CFP® As most of you know, the stock market was quite volatile in 2018, particularly in the last quarter. For some of you, this volatility may have invoked feelings of worry or nervousness over the future of the market; others may have felt indifferent about it, as the stock market is known …
Continue reading “I Have a Love/Hate Relationship with Volatility”
by Adam Oerther, CFP® One employee benefit companies often use to attract and retain talent in the workforce is access to a retirement plan, such as a 401(k), 403(b), or SIMPLE IRA plan. These types of plans allow you to make pre-tax contributions, which not only lower your taxable income for the year but also …
by Sean Guldi, CFP® It is all over the news – Congress and the Trump administration are busy attempting to enact a large-scale overhaul of the tax code. Uncertainty abounds with respect to the details, and there is still a chance the overhaul does not make its way through both the House and the Senate …
by Adam Oerther, CFP® If you watch or read the news on an even semi-regular basis, chances are you have come across the term Bitcoin at least once or twice. Considering the price of Bitcoin has skyrocketed this year, with the year-to-date return at over 1000% as of December 8th, it’s no wonder the mass …
by Adam Oerther, CFP® When people find out someone works in investments, that person receives a number of reactions: “So, when is the next correction coming?” “Which stocks should I buy right now?” “How will [some political situation] affect the stock market?” These questions are interesting, not because they are silly or unreasonable (who wouldn’t …
Continue reading “Investing vs. Trading – What is the Difference?”
It is no secret that college students today are graduating with unprecedented levels of student loan debt. According to Forbes, the total student loan debt currently sits at just over $1.3 trillion, with the average student from the Class of 2016 holding $37,172 of that debt. With no clear signs of tuition rates stabilizing in …
Continue reading “A Personal Solution to a National Problem”
Many companies as part of their retirement plan options allow for employees to buy company stock, whether through their 401(k) plan, and Employee Stock Options Plan (ESOP), stock options, Employee Stock Purchase Plan (ESPP), or through restricted stock units (RSUs). While this can be an attractive way to “invest in what you know” there are …
Continue reading “A Word from the Investment Department: Should I Own Company Stock?”
“What do you think about the election? Who do you think will win, Trump or Clinton? How will the election affect my investments?” We have been hearing these questions more frequently from our clients and prospective clients over the past few months. While the media is paid to bring your attention to the short-term whims …
Continue reading “A Word from the Investment Department: Control What You Can”