The Federal Reserve meets again on June 13th-14th for its periodic Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting. This meeting is a critical one. There is a general expectation that the Fed will finally pause historic rate increases at this meeting. To illustrate the point, a May 23rd Forbes...
by Glenn J. Downing, MBA, CFP®
Congratulations! You did it! You launched a new business, worked you’re a** off, and now have a going enterprise. It wasn’t there before – it exists because of you and your team. A huge accomplishment, and something of...
by Glenn J. Downing, MBA, CFP®
There's a lot of financial stress out there - we hear it from our clients. People who don't have a financial worry in the world are afraid. And, given two high profile bank failures recently and the release of the Durham report last week, I suspect...
by Glenn J. Downing, MBA, CFP®
One of our specializations here at CameronDowning is financial planning for attorneys. We love working with lawyers! As a rule, they keep appointments, provide documents as requested, understand paying professional fees (after all, they charge such...
How to get a big pay hike
If you want a big pay hike, sometimes the only way you're going to get it is by jumping ship to a new employer who values your skill set and experience and is willing to pay for it. Otherwise you may have to settle for an annual cost of living increase. People...
As we enter May of 2023 the stock market is up on the year, despite the banking crisis we've experienced in the last couple months. The failure of First Republic Bank, which was taken over by banking giant JP Morgan Chase, was no surprise as the bank had been on life support ever since...
So Glenn – Can I retire at 60?
This is a tough one. Lots of people want to retire early, and for various reasons. But there are lots of moving parts to this. Let’s break it down a bit.
Where will you get health insurance?
This is your very first consideration,...
No More Revenge Spending
There’s a new term out there – revenge spending. When people were hunkered down during COVID, they couldn’t go out to spend. When things opened up, people took their revenge on the lockdowns and spent like never before. And the...
As I’ve noted elsewhere, it used to be that if a man wanted to impress a woman, he’d flash a bankroll. Now she’d likely flee in horror at such Neanderthal-like behavior. It is the platinum card she wants to see. On second thought, actually using a credit card...
Simplified Employee Pension
The Simplified Employee Pension (SEP) is a great way for the self-employed to save for retirement. There are several ins and outs with a SEP, and I want to go over the main ones. My focus is on the self-employed, as the SEP rules are different for the...
If you’re over 70 ½, have an IRA, and give significantly to charitable organizations – pay attention! I’m writing about the Qualified Charitable Distribution – QCD - a great tax benefit.
Here are the specifics: you can do a direct distribution from...
With all the goings-on at the Silicon Valley Bank, I thought I’d do a post on FDIC insurance since the topic has come up in a few client phone calls lately.
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation insures bank deposits up to a $250,000 limit per registration per bank. Let me...
