By Glenn J. Downing, MBA, CFP®
Some of the biggest fortunes made in the United States have been made in real estate. Think about it: you use someone else’s money (via a mortgage) to make a purchase. It is a passive investment in that you collect the rents, pay the...
By Glenn J. Downing, MBA, CFP®
I get a lot of questions on this topic, particularly for people thinking of real estate investing as sort of a retirement pastime. So I thought I’d go into a little bit. Here in Part I I’ll address cash flow issues, and how to determine...
By Glenn J. Downing, MBA, CFP®
457 plans are a type of retirement account offered largely to certain governmental employees. We see them available typically to police officers and fire fighters as an avenue for supplemental retirement savings. The 457 is a place to accumulate...
By Glenn J. Downing, MBA, CFP®
This is a really personal list. It is complied from years of observing the human condition and reading good novels. It is intended to be humorous, yet I’m fully aware that it might hit some raw nerves. So for the intrepid souls out there,...
By Glenn J. Downing, MBA, CFP®
As a financial planner, I work with a lot of couples planning for retirement. Retirement brings on a sea-change in thinking. Up until then most people have been in an accumulative stage of money management – saving up against the day they stop...
By Glenn J. Downing, MBA, CFP®
A lot of thought goes into planning for the retirement years. Typically, people like to have the mortgages on their primary residences paid off, to go into retirement clean and with no debt. This often begs the question; Do I have to keep paying on...
By Glenn J. Downing, MBA, CFP®
This is a big topic and a big part of financial planning for retirement. The statistic is that by age 75, 75% of us will have needed some long-term care. So the question is, how can I prepare for this risk financially?
A principle of risk...
By Glenn J. Downing, MBA, CFP®
What is the best tax bargain out there?
Is it the 529 college savings plan? Let’s see. That is funding with after tax dollars, but the funds grow without taxation and come out without taxation when used for qualified higher education...
by Glenn J. Downing, MBA, CFP®
As I noted in Part I, an annuity is a complex financial animal. It can be used as a tool to accumulate funds on a tax-advantaged basis. It can also be used efficiently to distribute funds in later years, which is my focus here in Part II. ...
Glenn J. Downing, MBA, CFP®
An annuity is a complex financial animal. It can be used as a tool to accumulate funds on a tax-advantaged basis. It can also be used efficiently to distribute funds in later years. Here in Part I I’m focusing on the accumulation phase....
By Glenn J. Downing, MBA, CFP®
Last year (2019) I watched the entire Upstairs Downstairs series on Britbox. Easily sixty episodes in all. My viewing interests are usually limited to either WWII or British crime stories, so this was a bit of a departure for me, and one I thoroughly enjoyed. As...
by Jonathan G. Cameron, CFP®
When I originally wrote this, the Carolinas were experiencing the worst of Hurricane Florence. As a native Floridian I've ridden out half a dozen hurricanes myself . The aftermath of a hurricane is not only about the damage to life and property, but for...
