by Jonathan G. Cameron, CFP®
So you’re getting ready for your first home purchase. Congratulations! This is the first in a two-part series that should be helpful to you. Your First Home Purchase Part II is all about the criteria lenders use when evaluating your...
by Jonathan G. Cameron, CFP®
Student loans are often top of mind for many people in the early stages of a professional career. You’ve made an investment in yourself by getting a great education, and now you’ve got to make enough money to build a life, but also to repay those...
by Jonathan G. Cameron, CFP®
We’ve all seen the financial headlines:
“Sell everything and buy gold!”
“Time to take profits off the table!”
“The market is poised for a big upswing – get in now!”
“Make 16% guaranteed with tax lien...
By Glenn J. Downing, MBA, CFP®
Charitable Giving
As a financial adviser, I am privileged to work with many wonderful people who give generously. These are people who want to leave a legacy. These are clients who want to leave money behind which will continue to accomplish the good works the...
By Glenn J. Downing, MBA, CFP®
FRS participants have a choice among two retirement plan options:
The investment option, which is a defined contribution plan (DC)
The pension option, which is a defined benefit plan (DB)
In previous posts, I covered both the FRS Pension Option and the DROP...
by Glenn J. Downing, MBA, CFP®
All the rules for Required Minimum Distributions (RMDs) changed with the SECURE Act of 2019. In this piece I go through the changes.
Important Ages
There are two important ages in retirement financial planning: 59 1/2 and 72. The former marks...
By Glenn J. Downing, MBA, CFP®
As many of you know, I am a CFP® instructor with Zahn Associates and have been for many years. As I write I'm reviewing the material for General Principals of Financial Planning, which I’ll be teaching again soon. Part of that course is college...
By Glenn J. Downing, MBA, CFP®
The Deferred Retirement Option Program (DROP) is available to Florida Retirement System (FRS) pension plan participants. As a DROP participant, you earn your salary while your monthly pension is paid into the FRS Trust Fund. You earn interest at the rate of 1.3%...
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...
