Posts in Retirement Planning
Third Quarter Market Review
Third Quarter Market Review

As the Covid-19 pandemic enters its 8 month, so many questions remain unanswered. How far are we from having a vaccine? Will there be an emergence of new Covid cases as the weather gets colder? Will states be able to effectively reopen local economies? Most importantly, when will things get back to normal? These unresolved questions all seem pretty important at the moment. However, will these temporary issues have a meaningful impact on a well-diversified, long term investment strategy?

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Mid Career Professional, Investments, Pre-Retiree, Retiree, Retirement PlanningChip Hymiller, AIF®, CFP®Personal Finance, market turbulence, Stock Market
Finance in a Flash: What is "The Market"?
Finance in a Flash: What is "The Market"?

In this episode of Finance In A Flash, Nick & Chip discuss one of the most used phrases in all of finance, "The Market". What are people actually referring to when they say things like; "The market is crashing today!", "The market is down 1000 points", or "Stocks are soaring!"? Nick and Chip unpack the different indexes people may be referring to when they mention "The Market" and why you shouldn't always correlate the performance of "The Market" with your overall portfolio.

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Education, Investments, Mid Career Professional, Podcast, Pre-Retiree, Retiree, Retirement PlanningChip Hymiller, AIF®, CFP®personal financial planning, financial planning
Should You Delay Collecting Social Security Benefits?
Should You Delay Collecting Social Security Benefits?

On the surface, it would seem that the decision to begin collecting Social Security retirement benefits is a straight-forward one – take the money as soon as possible. However, for many people, taking their Social Security retirement benefit as soon as they become eligible may not be the best alternative.

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Retirement Planning, Retiree, Tax, EldercareErin Campbell, CPA/PFS, CFP®Retirement Planning, Social Security, tax planning, distribution planning
Longer Life Expectancies and the Impact on Retirement Planning
Longer Life Expectancies and the Impact on Retirement Planning

Let’s face it, seniors today are healthier, more active and are likely to have longer lives. So what are the financial implications for retirees who will likely live well into their 90s and possibly their 100s?

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Investments, Retirement Planning, Eldercare, Pre-Retiree, RetireeChip Hymiller, AIF®, CFP®Asset Allocation, financial planning, retirement distributions, Retirement Planning, Social Security, distribution planning, tax planning, long term care
Roth Conversion Instead of Required Minimum Distribution (RMD)?
Roth Conversion Instead of Required Minimum Distribution (RMD)?

With the passage of the CARES Act on March 27th, Congress eliminated IRA required minimum distributions (RMDs) for the year. This means that many taxpayers above the age of 72, or anyone who is taking inherited IRA distributions, will likely have quite a change in their taxable income in 2020. So, is it a good year to do a Roth Conversion instead?

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Financial Planning, Investments, Mid Career Professional, Pre-Retiree, Retiree, Retirement Planning, TaxErin Campbell, CPA/PFS, CFP®Roth IRA, tax planning, income tax, required minimum distributions, Roth Conversion
Financial Planning Opportunities Amid Market Downturns: Planning Techniques
Financial Planning Opportunities Amid Market Downturns: Planning Techniques

On this episode of Finance In A Flash, we conclude our series titled: Financial Planning Opportunities Amid Market downturns. Throughout the episode, we cover several planning techniques such as Roth Conversions, Refinancing your mortgage, and reevaluating your budget, especially if you are in the distribution phase.

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Investments, Mid Career Professional, Podcast, Pre-Retiree, Retiree, Retirement Planning, TaxChip Hymiller, AIF®, CFP®Personal Finance, tax planning, personal financial planning, Roth IRA, mortgage
It’s Time for an Estate Planning Review
It’s Time for an Estate Planning Review

It is very important to periodically take the time to review your estate plan and make sure your existing documents are still appropriate and continue to meet your needs. This is a task that Beacon reminds clients to address about every other year. So what are those things that need to be reviewed?

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Estate Planning, Financial Planning, Mid Career Professional, Pre-Retiree, Retiree, Retirement PlanningChip Hymiller, AIF®, CFP®Estate Planning, Power of Attorney, Personal Finance, Probate, Trust, Will, beneficiary
Financial Planning Opportunities Amid Market Downturns: Tax-Loss Harvesting
Financial Planning Opportunities Amid Market Downturns: Tax-Loss Harvesting

On this episode of Finance In A Flash we continue our series on Financial Planning Opportunities Amid Market Downturns by covering Tax-Loss Harvesting. We go through the details of Tax-Loss Harvesting and the benefits of using this strategy during times when your investments have losses.

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Financial Planning, Investments, Mid Career Professional, Podcast, Pre-Retiree, Retiree, Retirement Planning, TaxChip Hymiller, AIF®, CFP®tax planning, personal financial planning, Retirement Planning
Financial Planning Opportunities Amid Market Downturns: Rebalancing
Financial Planning Opportunities Amid Market Downturns: Rebalancing

On this episode of Finance In A Flash, Chip & Nick discuss the benefits of rebalancing your portfolio amid a market downturn. When the stock market declines, so does the stock percentage in your portfolio, meaning you have to buy more stocks to get to your target asset allocation. This can be advantageous in various ways, to which we discuss in this episode!

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Podcast, Pre-Retiree, Retiree, Retirement PlanningChip Hymiller, AIF®, CFP®personal financial planning, Retirement Planning
Increasing Your Odds
Increasing Your Odds

As we help clients make long-term financial decisions, we also like to consider the probability of various negative outcomes. While we consider ourselves generally optimistic people, we believe that it is both important and helpful to also think about “worst case scenarios” - those financial uncertainties that have the potential to derail financial goals.

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Retirement Planning, Financial Planning, Pre-Retiree, RetireeChip Hymiller, AIF®, CFP®financial planning, investing, investment management, investment planning, Personal Finance, retirement distributions, Retirement Planning
Establishing Your Emergency Fund Target
Establishing Your Emergency Fund Target

Do you know the factors to consider when establishing an emergency savings account? How much cash is it appropriate to keep on hand in short term savings and money markets?  Before we address the question, it is important to understand the important role cash plays in an overall financial plan.

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Financial Planning, Retirement Planning, Mid Career Professional, Investments, Pre-Retiree, RetireeErin Campbell, CPA/PFS, CFP®financial planning, Asset Allocation, investments, investment management
Benefits of Portfolio Rebalancing
Benefits of Portfolio Rebalancing

We at Beacon Financial Strategies, believe that rebalancing is an integral component of the investment management process. In this presentation, Chip Hymiller, AIF®,CFP® explains the concept of rebalancing and discusses the advantages of implementing a portfolio rebalancing strategy.

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Investments, Mid Career Professional, Pre-Retiree, Retiree, Retirement Planning, Web PresentationChip Hymiller, AIF®, CFP®investing, Retirement Planning, virtual planning