When you are preparing to invest, one of the very first – and the most important – decisions that must be made is determining who to trust with your money. Once you have done so, you will be able to move forward more easily with all of the other essential investment-related decisions. That sounds simple..
In reviewing articles regarding seniors and elder financial abuse, certain topics come up frequently about what puts the elderly at risk, including mental impairment, social isolation, and poor physical health. When someone is dealing with these at-risk issues, they don’t usually have the energy, time, experience or mental focus they need to realize that they..
Sharon Duncan, an independent financial advisor affiliated with Commonwealth Financial Network® and President of Selah Financial Services, was invited and attended Commonwealth’s 2017 Chairman’s Retreat in March, held at The Cloister at Sea Island, Georgia. This invitation is only extended to the most successful financial advisors based on a ranking of annual production among Commonwealth’s..
With the end of 2015 quickly approaching, it’s a great time to begin organizing your finances for the New Year. “There are a few easy but important financial-planning items you can take care of as a 2016 gift to yourself and your family,” says John Westerman, a Houston-based financial planner. Flexible spending accounts It..
If the holidays are a time that you enjoy “giving back”— whether that means donating to a favorite charity or helping out a family member financially, Houston-based Financial Services Advisor John Westerman recommends taking the time to build strategy into your gift giving. “Before you make a donation or gift this year, pay close..
Unexpected Wealth Brings Unexpected Challenges. Interestingly, the word windfall comes from an 18th-century law that allowed settlers to build only with wood blown to the ground by the wind. Wood that was actually cut down became the property of the English monarchy so settlers looked forward to strong winds that allowed them to gather fallen..
Psychology tells us that we feel losses in our investments twice as strongly as we feel gains. It is called loss aversion. So why invest at all? Some people just enjoy the sport of investing, but most families invest in order to meet their long-term goals. That’s easier said than done when your investments are..
When it comes to investing in the market, we believe, it is not timing the market, but rather time in the market that truly matters. So many investors spend time trying to “guess” what the market is going to do. But any way you slice it, in our experience, timing the market just doesn’t work…
The portfolio management approach matters. When investment experts Peter Lynch and Bill Gross left the funds they managed, the funds seemed to change course. Unfortunately, at any company or investment, when the bulk of the return is depending primarily on just one person, a lot can go wrong when that person is no longer associated..