The Investment Fiduciary

10. A balanced portfolio to avoid 9. Is P/E ratio a useful stock valuation measure 8. Bonus depreciation: Congress wants businesses to invest in 2011 7. Be careful when buying a condo 6. Variable annuity fees you don’t know you are paying 5. Bill Gates: 11 Things You Don’t Learn in School 4. Why asset class diversification is superior?  3. [...]

What would making $1.5mm a year look like? How about living pay check to pay check, and one bad real estate deal away from bankruptcy. This is exactly what happened to one physician before he became my client. He is a partner of a very large practice and brings home more than $1.5mm a year, [...]

My friend Sally has a friend who is a software engineer at Facebook. The recent Facebook IPO made him a millionaire, many times over. According to Sally, he is overwhelmed by this sudden wealth and wondering how to deal with this mountain of money. I have a suggestion: put the money in nine buckets. Let [...]

10. An investment rule for young people 9. Irrevocable life insurance trust 8. Is P/E ratio a useful stock valuation measure? 7. Bill Gates: 11 Things You Don’t Learn in School 6. Recession and stock market performance 5. Variable annuity fees you don’t know you are paying 4. Why asset class diversification is superior?  3. Bonus depreciation: Congress wants businesses to invest [...]

Two months ago, we bought another investment property. The condo with two bedrooms and two baths was being sold through a short sale. The asking price was only $80,000. We did our research; the condo could rent for $1,300 per month in the market. So it’s a no-brainer. At the time, there were four other [...]

10. Irrevocable life insurance trust 9. America’s top financial advisors: how they are made? 8. An investment rule for young people 7. Recession and stock market performance 6. Bill Gates: 11 Things You Don’t Learn in School 5. Variable annuity fees you don’t know you are paying 4. Why asset class diversification is superior?  3. Why doctors don’t get rich 2. Bonus [...]

[By Tom Warburton] We view the primary component of ‘Maintaining Financial Wellness’ to be ‘Maintaining Access To Currency’. Think about this a bit. Wealth is really irrelevant if you don’t have currency! Think about all of the companies that were Asset Rich, Cash Poor and ended up on the shores of Bankruptcy. Lack of currency [...]

[By Tom Warburton] So…how do we achieve ‘Financial Wellness’?  This exercise sends us on an initial quest to ‘Figure out How Much Money We Need’ and how to ‘Accumulate That Amount’. Maybe you’ve seen the advertisement on TV where the guy is ‘trying to figure out his number’.  The neighbor has a number under his arm [...]

[By Tom Warburton] Our view for a working definition for Financial Wellness has been forged as a result of discussions with hundreds of folks. We start our discussions with this question: What Is Important To You About Money? This leads to a variety of responses, and, frankly, there appears to be a strong correlation between age [...]

[Guest Post by Christopher Guest] I have seen a number of articles declaring approximately 70% of all Americans do not have a will. If they died, that would mean the distribution of their estate would be controlled by intestate provisions. In my February 2010 Newsletter, I discussed the basics of intestacy. For those in second marriages, the [...]

10. Portfolio rebalancing returns 9. How to tell if you financial advisor is a crook? Very easy 8. America’s top financial advisors: how they are made? 7. Variable annuity fees you don’t know you are paying 6. Recession and stock market performance 5. Why asset class diversification is superior?  4. Bill Gates: 11 Things You Don’t Learn in School 3. Why doctors [...]

[Guest post by Jeremy Bendler] As a sole proprietor, you would report net income or loss from your business on your personal income tax return. However, there are several important rules that you should be aware of: (1) For income tax purposes, you will report your income and expenses on Schedule C of your Form [...]

Up until 2011, the burden for determining the cost basis of securities transactions for income tax purposes was shouldered by taxpayers. In other words, the IRS was informed about how much investors sold securities for, but the tax agency relied on investors to provide the purchase prices. Tax officials long suspected that many taxpayers overstated their [...]