While our own mortality is not something that we like to think about, the unfortunate truth is that not everyone lives to be 100 years old. Whether you are 20, or 70, life insurance can play an important role in providing your loved ones, your business, or your estate, with much needed cash and liquidity in a time of need.
I often receive this question from people at a cocktail party, or on the golf course. “So my broker pitched me a 5%, 15 year municipal bond in Indiana. Is that a good investment?” As with most things in finance, there is no right or wrong answer to this question. From a tax planning perspective, there are advantages to both
Okay, so maybe the term “financial planning” in the title is used a bit liberally, but nonetheless, budgeting, cash flow and expense management, and investment consolidation are pretty important parts of financial planning. While I briefly mentioned this in a previous post about what to do if you hate apple trees, I truly believe that this website deserves its own
In recent years, ETF’s have come to the forefront of the investing world. Touted for their low fees and passive management, investors are flocking to them like never before. But what exactly are ETF’s? And why do some believe them to be the investment of the future? ETF stands for exchange-traded-fund What this means is that an ETF can be
Now that we have a core understanding of 401(k) plan basics, we need to discuss how to go about making investment choices within the plan. Because the 401(k) is the primary retirement savings vehicle for most American’s, how you choose to allocate, or fail to allocate, your 401(k) can mean the difference between a “happily-ever-after” retirement, and a “oh shit
So clearly we are in the business of providing wealth management and financial planning services to clients. And we also know that most of you have at least some basic business sense. Assuming both of these assumptions are correct, why would we write a blog post applauding our competition, and giving you other options to choose from? Isn’t that just
Due to popular demand (i.e. one vote on a recent Facebook poll conducted by Apple Tree Wealth Management), I wanted to write a brief post about how to pick a stock to invest in. Before I get too far into this post, though, I want to make it clear that while I will do my best to layout the basics
Since its creation in the late 1970’s, the 401(K) has become the go-to choice for employers looking to offer their employees a retirement plan. Prior to its creation, most employers used what is called a defined-benefit plan, where the employer set aside a certain sum of money in a trust fund that was used to provide a predetermined amount of
So, you’re 21 years old, just graduated college, found yourself a job, and found your first apartment. Congratulations, you made it! You’re making $30,000 and barely getting by, but you’re out! Bring it on, world. Your first paycheck comes, and after paying your bills, you decide to splurge a bit and go out to a nice dinner. Why not, you
A lot has been written, reported, blogged, talked, and argued about lately regarding Goldman Sachs. Most of this talk has been negative, blaming them for the recent financial crisis, criticizing their executive compensation, and making public vendettas against the culture of the firm, as Greg Smith did in a recent op-ed for the New York Times. However, despite all of
