A group of us from the office were at a luncheon the other day when I received a text from my wife. It seems the IRS left her a voicemail informing her they are filing a lawsuit against us. I assume they meant her, but for the sake of argument, I’ll use the word “us.” Having been in the tax industry for many years, I can tell you the IRS will...
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By: Lisa M. Lehan, J.D., of Koley Jessen P.C., L.L.O.
What exactly is an estate plan? Webster defines “estate” as all of the things that a person owns and “plan” as something that a person intends to do. Put these definitions together and your estate plan sets forth your intentional decisions about the ultimate disposition of your property. The process of establishing your estate plan involves three primary components: (1)... Read More
Author’s note: These observations were written between 11:30 pm and 12:30 am while watching US election results on various networks and web platforms. Since then, it’s been interesting to see how rapidly markets and investors adjusted to what seemed distressingly shocking economic news less than 72 hours ago.
Election night, November 8, 2016 At 11:30pm CST it's beginning to look like Donald Trump will become the 45th President of the... Read More
Investors don't mind risk until it creates red numbers on their monthly statements. Knowing how much loss you can tolerate, before the inevitable market dip, is the key to long-term investing success. Volatility is never enjoyable when it takes us south. The secret to surviving the days of 200 point drops in the Dow is to be prepared before it happens...because it will happen. Over the past 20 years, the S&P...
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On November 8, US citizens have the privilege and responsibility of voting at polling stations, absentee ballots, or early voting sites for a variety of national, state, and local officials and policy proposals. The collective will of the majority of voters will be reflected in who occupies the White House, the balance of power in Congress, as well as in state capitols, legislatures, and more. The complexity of government in...
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I listened to a great podcast from the TED radio hour on the benefits of failure – YES, failure. The link is below. Something the speakers addressed is the following tension. On the one hand we are risk- and, thus, failure-averse. We long for safety. On the other hand, everything that makes life interesting requires risking failure. New products, businesses, and stories worth telling would never happen without risking failure. To...
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A phrase made famous in the 1994 movie, Dumb and Dumber, starring Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels, this line certainly can be applied to the investment world. When it comes to market performance, there is always a chance…a chance for ups and downs. In the perpetual “doom and gloom” era we now seem to be living in, where folks are endlessly just waiting for the next crash, Sam Stovall at...
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Ahh . . . retirement – that golden ring that you work 20, 30, 40 years to grasp. That elusive, mysterious goal masked in uncertainty. As an advisor, I have that discussion hundreds of times every year, looking at the financial dimension of retirement, helping strategize how to answer the, “Do I have enough?” question. Yet, I’ve found the conversations taking a different direction lately. More and more clients, particularly physicians,...
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3 Key Questions When Reviewing Your Disability Insurance: 1. Is my group disability coverage enough? A comprehensive analysis would be needed to say for sure, but often a group disability plan will not provide adequate income replacement in the event of an extended disability. Key areas to review, aside from the monthly benefit, would be the “own occupation” period, benefit duration, and the definition of disability. Individual polices tend to have...
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I will never forget the purchase of our first home. The year was 2006, my wife and I were recently married and we began to look at purchasing a home for us and our soon-to-be additional family members! We found a home in Ankeny we liked and, the next thing you know, we had ourselves a house. I distinctly remember the interest rate on that home back in 2006 was...
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