by Glenn J. Downing, MBA, CFP®
The fundamental reason to buy life insurance is that someone else is depending upon you for a living. Plain and simple. It is risk transfer: in exchange for premium dollars, the insurance company will make a payout at your demise.
The life...
By Glenn J. Downing, MBA, CFP®
This blog post is actually the first of a trilogy having to do with Social Security. The second is about the Taxation of Social Security Benefits, and the third is, Will Social Security will be There When I Retire?
The Social Security benefit...
by Glenn J. Downing, MBA, CFP®
If you dropped dead tomorrow your family would be in a world of hurt. You know this. Yet you haven't purchased life insurance. Why not? Before you get into it, check out Part I and Part II of this 3-part series.
Why Haven't...
by Jonathan G. Cameron, CFP®
Having great investment portfolio returns may not get you to your retirement goals. You could have (in theory) spectacular returns every year for 20 years and still not realize the retirement you want. Do we like strong investment performance? Sure. Should stellar...
By Glenn J. Downing, MBA, CFP®
Original Medicare is a creation of the Johnson administration in 1965. Medicare is health insurance for those aged 65+. There is a premium associated with coverage, and this premium is deducted from the Social Security Benefit. As with any...
By Glenn J. Downing, MBA, CFP®
Employer-sponsored retirement plans can be split into two groups:
- Defined Contribution Plans, or DC Plans
- Defined Benefit Plans, or DB Plans
As the name suggests, the salient feature of any defined contribution plan is the input – how money goes into the...
By Glenn J. Downing, MBA, CFP®
It used to be the case that you went to work for one employer and remained with that employer for the entirety of your working life. You received a pension from that employer when you retired – in other words, you continued to get paid a lesser...
by Glenn J. Downing, MBA, CFP®
In Part I of this 3-part series I gave a brief history of the life insurance industry.
Here in Part II I'll go over the main applications for life insurance policies. Next, in Part III, I'll discuss some of the behavioral issues in obtaining...
By Glenn J. Downing, MBA, CFP®
This retirement savings vehicle gets its name from Section 457 of the tax code. It is a type of non-qualified deferred compensation. The employee defers money into the 457 account on a pre-tax basis. Any growth in the account doesn’t get taxed until it is...
by Glenn J. Downing, MBA, CFP®
I came to financial planning as a profession in my 40’s, having made a mid-life transition from retail management. I worked in both department stores and specialty retail and generally enjoyed the work. I always enjoyed Christmas in the stores...
