Advisors

Shapecharge It’s not uncommon to want to move money from a workplace savings plan to an individual retirement account when you leave the company. Yet if you’re not careful while doing that rollover, you can make costly errors or lock yourself into something that can’t be easily undone. The key is to avoid any tax

Martin Barraud | OJO Images | Getty Images When introducing clients to the idea of sustainable, or socially responsible, investing, financial advisors’ questions often spark a revelation. “Our first question to any potential client is about values,” said certified financial planner Mitchell Kraus, co-founder of Capital Intelligence Associates in Santa Monica, California. “What do you

Nes | E+ | Getty Images When the Covid-19 pandemic hit the U.S. in mid-March, there were three types of financial advisory firms: high-tech, low-tech late adopters and firms somewhere in between. The overnight shift to work-from-home was vastly different for each type. Low-tech firms transported printers and fax machines to their homes and scrambled

President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris at the transition team’s Covid-19 advisory board Nov. 9, 2020 meeting in Wilmington, Delaware. Joe Raedle | Getty Images Joe Biden may have won the presidency, but there’s no guarantee his tax plan will come to fruition intact. President-elect Biden campaigned on a series of sweeping changes

Peathegee Inc | Tetra images | Getty Images You have just a few weeks to tap the money you’ve been saving for medical needs — or risk losing it. Health-care flexible spending accounts, which your employer may offer, allow you to store pretax dollars in a special account. In 2020 and 2021, you can contribute

Lorado | E+ | Getty Images “It’s increasingly a computer-based global work environment,” Minott said. “People can travel from country to country or stay where they like.” The benefits are plentiful. You get to live in a vacation destination, improve your quality of life and possibly reduce your cost of living. Just make sure you

A man walks to cast his ballot at an early voting center at the Omni Shoreham Hotel on October 27, 2020 in Washington, DC. Sarah Silbiger | Getty Images Don’t let Election Day anxiety drive your tax decisions. There are still plenty of chances to trim your 2020 tax bill — regardless of who wins

andresr | E+ | Getty Images Covid-19 has disrupted tax and retirement planning for small-business owners, especially those who focused on saving their businesses from the pandemic’s fallout earlier this year. With some hard work, however, there is still time to get back on track by Dec. 31. Here’s a great example. After his business

David Rea in Chobe National Park in Botswana. Source: David Rea For two years in a row, something hasn’t changed on CNBC’s ranking of the top 100 financial advisors in the U.S.: Salem Investment Counselors has come in at No. 1. CNBC spoke recently with Salem’s president, David Rea, about why he believes his firm

Ariel Skelley | DigitalVision | Getty Images Nearly anyone can hang out a shingle and just call themselves a financial advisor. To be sure, the terminology in the financial services industry can be very confusing to investors. There are advisors, brokers, broker-dealers, certified financial planners, chartered financial analysts and certified investment management analysts, investment advisors,

Tom Merton | OJO Images | Getty Images With the election less than a week away, the phones are ringing off the hook for estate planning attorneys and accountants. That’s because wealthy families fear that an overhaul of the estate and gift tax exemption — the amount of assets they can transfer without a 40%

Your bank account balance doesn’t have to stop you from being able to hire a financial planner. towfiqu ahamed | iStock | Getty Images There’s a big misconception that financial planning is only for the wealthy. The truth, however, is that financial planning is a path for anyone to actually gain wealth. The objective of

House Ways and Means Committee ChairmanRep. Richard Neal, D-Mass., (left) and ranking member Kevin Brady, R-Texas. Chip Somodevilla | Getty Images News | Getty Images Bipartisanship is not what most of us would expect in a divisive election year. Yet that is what we saw when Democratic and Republican House members came together and introduced

krisanapong detraphiphat | Moment | Getty Images Health-care coverage and costs are top of mind in this election year, and one of the loudest arguments between Republicans and Democrats is the claim they will protect people with pre-existing medical conditions. What does this really mean and why is it so important for your personal finances?

SDI Productions | E+ | Getty Images Set aside your panic over post-election tax policy and focus on something you can control: your 2020 tax bill. It’s no secret that Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden has an extensive list of tax proposals, including higher taxes on households with more than $400,000 in income and lowering

Former Vice President and presidential nominee Joe Biden gives remarks at UA Plumbers Local 27 Erie Training Center in Erie, PA on October 10, 2020. Demetrius Freeman | The Washington Post | Getty Images A “blue wave” of Democrat victories in elections next month could upend the normal incentives for tax planning this year. Typically,

Choreograph | iStock | Getty Images For the nation’s older cohort, the stakes can’t be higher when it comes to choosing health-care coverage. That’s partly because under Medicare — you’re eligible at age 65 — changing plans can be challenging in some circumstances and costly if you get your choices wrong. So whether you’re giving

Getty Images Under almost any circumstance, tapping your retirement plan savings for cash is a bad idea. Tax professionals and financial advisors will almost universally tell you to use all other sources of liquidity before you hit your tax-advantaged retirement accounts. “Certain IRAs and qualified plans are protected from creditors,” said Ryan Losi, a CPA

Daniel Balakov | E+ | Getty Images With billions of dollars flowing into sustainable investing strategies, it’s safe to say it’s no longer a fad. Investors are pouring cash into funds that use environmental, social and governance criteria to screen the companies they invest in. Even passive investors are jumping in: There were 534 sustainable

Getty Images It’s no secret that many people worry whether Social Security will be there for them when they retire. And recent headlines could be stoking those fears. Last week, the Social Security Administration announced the annual cost-of-living adjustment will be 1.3% in 2021. The change will amount to just $20 more per month for