Financial Focus Archive

If you have a family member who has been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, or is starting to show symptoms, you will face some real challenges.

Navigating the Alzheimer’s experience involves a long journey, and there’s no easy answer for how you can cope with your emotions.

Benjamin Franklin once said, “If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail.”But as you chart your financial course, what steps should you take to help you keep moving forward to where you want to go?

You may have heard that you can simplify your investment strategy just by owning index-based or passive investments. But is this a good idea?

You’ll want to consider the different aspects of this type of investment style.

There are no shortcuts to investment success — you need to establish a long-term strategy and stick with it. This means you’ll want to create an investment mix based on your goals, risk tolerance and time horizon — and then regularly review it to ensure it’s still meeting your needs.

You probably won’t see it on your calendar, but September is Life Insurance Awareness Month. And it is indeed important to be aware of the importance of life insurance. Are you adequately insured?

Many people aren’t. About 40% of Americans face some type of life insurance gap, either because they’re uninsured or under insured, according to a 2021 survey by the research and advocacy groups LIMRA and Life Happens.

As America regulates and vilifies capitalism while also using the brute force of government against opponents, Dole and Chiquita are looking to make America their top supplier.

As you know, the stock market has attracted a lot of attention – and for good reason, as we’ve seen considerable volatility almost from the beginning of the year.

But if you own bonds, or bond-based mutual funds, you might also have some concerns. However, it’s important to understand why bonds should continue to be an important part of your portfolio.

If you’ve been contributing to an IRA, you’ve chosen a great way to save and invest for retirement. All IRAs have potential tax benefits and a range of investment possibilities, but not all IRA providers offer the same features. So, if you decide that your current IRA provider is charging higher fees than you’d like, or perhaps doesn’t offer as many investment choices as you want, then you might choose to move your IRA assets to another provider. How should you go about making this switch?

In just a few weeks, students will be heading off to college – and parents will be getting out their checkbooks. Without a college-bound student in your home right now, you might not be thinking much about tuition and other higher education expenses, but if you have young children, these costs may eventually be of concern – so how should you prepare for them?

If you know how important it is to invest for your future, but you’re unsure of the road to follow, you may want to get some guidance and direction from a financial professional. But if you’ve never worked with one before, what can you expect?