How Can You Smooth the Intergenerational Transfer of a Family Business?

If you own a business, you may have spent years dreaming of passing along the business to your children, nieces and nephews, or other family members after you retire. However, transferring a family ...

Key Benefits of a Financial Advisor

Whether you've been wondering about boosting your investments' rates of return or are concerned that your financial affairs are a bit too complicated for your next of kin to handle, it may be time to...

Key Tax Deadlines for 2021

While the 2020 tax year saw some significant changes to filing deadlines due to the effects of the global pandemic, the 2021 tax season seems to be set to be on track with normal filing deadlines. With...

Tips for Tax Preparation

In 2020, the government gave taxpayers an automatic six-month extension due to the coronavirus. Individuals who were affected by the damaging wildfires were also given additional time to meet ...

Retirement Income Planning

For investors approaching retirement, it is important to begin thinking about retirement income planning. This involves a mindset shift from accumulating an investment portfolio designed for growth ...

How Financial Asset Management May Help Investors Stay the Course

Most people who decide to purchase stocks, bonds, mutual funds, or other investment vehicles do so understanding that there are risks associated with investing, but believing that the potential growth...

Tips for Growing and Preserving Your Family Business

When you're first starting out with your own business, you're likely to be focused more on staying afloat than on contingency planning. But as your family business expands and grows, it's important ...

Choosing a Retirement Plan for Your Business

You’re an entrepreneur and you’re not looking back. You’ve opened your own business, whether alone or with partners, and you’ve achieved success. Now you’re thinking about...

7 Tips for Time Management

When you’re busy juggling career, family, social life, and multiple other obligations, you may end up feeling as if you don’t have enough time to do it all. Often, the solution lies in improving...

4 Tips to Successful Networking

Networking may help you find opportunities that you may not be able to find on your own. It is important during a job search and during your career, since it may help connect you with future employment...

The New IRS Tax Rates and Deductions for 2021

Amidst all the pandemic news and 2020 election drama, many might have missed that the IRS also quietly published new 2021 tax rates in late October and a there are plenty of changes that will impact...

Three Things You'll Wish You'd Known Before Retirement

Retirement is one of the biggest life transitions adults will ever deal with. After 20, 30, or 40 or more years in the workforce, new retirees can find it hard to adjust to the reduced amount of structure...

Death, Taxes, and Market Volatility

"In this world, nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes."

When Benjamin Franklin penned this quote, he may have forgotten to add one item to this list -- market volatility. ...

Business Succession Planning

When developing a succession plan for your business, you must make many decisions. Should you sell your business or give it away? Should you structure your plan to go into effect during your lifetime...

Creating a Business Plan for Small Businesses

Your business plan is an important part of creating a business and a critical tool for drawing in lenders and investors. If you're thinking about launching a small business or if you want to take your...

Ready to Retire? How to Know for Sure

Retirement is an exciting time for many, and the reward for years of hard work. While there is no set age for retirement, it is important to be prepared before you make the leap so that you enjoy your...

Three Main Benefits of Being a Mentor

Just about every success story involves the influence of one (or more) mentors along the way. Mentorship can provide benefits to both the mentor and mentee, helping build long-term relationships while...

Getting a Jump on January Tax Season

From pandemic-related stimulus payments to job losses and furloughs, for many taxpayers, next spring's tax season may be more complex than usual. With the end of 2020 rapidly approaching, you should...

Who to Ask When You Need to Help With a Business Plan

A business plan is critical when you're getting ready to launch a business. It helps you stay organized on the path to your goal, while also helping you to hone in on key concerns such as funding objectives...

How to Retire in a Recession

Though market corrections and recessions are common enough to be expected once every decade or so, this can come as cold comfort to retirees who are now forced to navigate a declining market.¹...

How Taking Unemployment Can Affect 2020 Taxes

With the global pandemic leaving millions of people in the U.S. without jobs, unemployment numbers hit an all-time high. To help ease the burden for many jobless Americans, the federal government also...

3 Tax Strategies to Consider at Year-End

With the year rapidly coming to a close, and the upcoming tax year looming with uncertainties, you should consider updating your tax strategy to best preserve your assets into the future. Don't wait...

IRS Makes Annual Inflation Adjustments for 2021

The Internal Revenue Service announced annual inflation adjustments for the 2021 tax year for more than 60 tax provisions, including standard deductions and the tax rate schedules.

More details...

End of Year Deadlines Checklist

2020 has been one of the most unprecedented years in recent history, but some things—like tax contributions and retirement deadlines—don't change much, if at all. And with the uncertainty...

Get SMART: Tips for Effective Goal Setting

Regardless of which phase of the business life-cycle you’re in, you can get SMART about setting goals to motivate yourself, move forward to grow your business, and track your success.

SMART...

6 Steps for Achieving Business Goals

Recently, I wrote about “squirrel syndrome,” the process of hopping from one idea to the next without completing anything or making meaningful progress toward the organization’s stated...

Staying on Top of Your 401k Can Pay Dividends

Lots of investors never bother to check on their 401(k) regularly. But you should keep a constant eye on your funds’ risk level, whether your asset allocation is out of whack and if your beneficiaries...

Motivating Employees Begins With Nurturing a Positive Company Culture

Motivation is an essential component of any high functioning team. Think about what happens if employees or team members are not motivated. Deadlines, goals and priorities are not met, and your clients...

Tips for Navigating a Volatile Retirement

Retirement is the time in your life when you want to sit back, relax, and enjoy the fruits of years of hard work. But unfortunately, when the market is volatile, it may bring additional anxiety and ...

My Top 3 Book Picks for Business Leaders

In today’s fast-paced world, taking the time to read a book from cover to cover can feel downright self-indulgent. After all, there’s a hundred other things you could or should be doing ...

End of Year Planning: Set Goals and Reduce Taxes

By the last third of the calendar year, you're likely to have a pretty good idea of what your annual income will be and whether any major expenses or big life changes await you. This can allow you to...

4 Practices to Avoid in Tax Aware Investing

Tax aware investing focuses on optimizing your returns by reducing your tax liability as much as possible. In theory, this investment strategy has the potential to help you earn more money on your investments...

How Entrepreneurs Can Stay Nimble in the COVID Era

When one door closes, another opens—and entrepreneurs who keep this mantra in mind are more likely to remain on top once the world has moved beyond the novel COVID-19 pandemic. What can business...

Managing Cash Flow in Retirement

Except for the fortunate few who don't have to worry about money, the ultimate goal for most retirees is making sure their assets last as long as they live. Once a person or household no longer can ...

7 Criteria for Identifying New Business Opportunities

Identifying new business opportunities begins with recognizing that they are a subset of a larger process, a SWOT analysis, which defines strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. A SWOT analysis...

Exit Strategies for Business Owners

After years spent launching and growing your business, the day will finally arrive when you can sit back and enjoy the fruits of your labor. But, just as starting your business involved hard work and...

Six Keys to More Successful Investing

A successful investor maximizes gain and minimizes loss. Though there can be no guarantee that any investment strategy will be successful and all investing involves risk, including the possible loss...

What Should Women Entrepreneurs Do to Thrive in the COVID Era?

With COVID rocking the employment landscape for job-seekers, some women have taken this opportunity to reinvent themselves and take charge of their own financial futures by launching a business. Entrepreneurship...

8 Steps for Pre-Retirees to Pursue Retirement Income

Sometimes people get caught up in the numbers so much that they forget why they're saving for retirement. At the beginning of your career, you may not have known what you wanted to do.

Now that...

Planning for Retirement? Don't Forget About Long-Term Care

Your plans for retirement may include travel, home improvements, and more time spent with family. Few people enter retirement with the expectation (or even the thought) that they soon may be unable ...

3 Priceless Ways an Advisory Board Can Help Your Growing Business

The most important business lesson I’ve learned is also the best advice I can give someone starting out in their business venture. Engage a mentor or board of advisors.

When we first start...

How to Avoid “Squirrel Syndrome” and Focus on Business Priorities

Successful organizations often have more ideas and opportunities they would like to accomplish than the time, money, and resources to do so.

“Squirrel syndrome,” can quickly bury ...

Making Sense of the Payroll Tax Executive Order

After negotiations for another stimulus bill stalled for two weeks, President Trump issued an executive order suspending the collection of Social Security payroll taxes from September 1st through December...

What to Do If You're Working From Home Longer Than Expected

As the threat of the coronavirus swept through the nation in March, many businesses sent their workers home, and now, as fall in full swing, many people are continuing to work from home. If you're working...

Revisit Your Investment Strategy at Each Age Milestone

As the saying goes, "50 is the new 40"—and with Americans living longer than ever before, it's not unusual for those in their 50s, 60s, or even 70s to be in their peak earning years.¹...

Investing in an Election Year

The world's events always affect the markets, and making smart investment choices requires you to look at what's happening around the world. But what about during an election year? How should you invest...

Tax Planning for Family Business Succession

Many owners of family businesses are so busy running their companies that they never get around to making formal arrangements to pass on the business to the next generation or to other partners. But...

Avoid Playing Politics with Your Portfolio

When the markets are shaky, it can be tempting to rely on political headlines or pending legislation to time your entry or exit points. However, letting politics drive your investment decisions can ...

Three Tips for Planning Your Income in Retirement

If you've been diligently saving for your retirement, you may often find yourself wondering when you can afford to set an official retirement date. The answer to this question can often depend on how...

How to Make Savings Last Longer in Retirement

Whether you dream of a travel-filled retirement or would prefer to relax and enjoy spending more time at home, you're probably wondering what you can do to make your golden years as stress-free as possible...