Headlines had oil selling at -$37.63 per barrel at close on Monday, April 20. The negative sign in front? Sellers had to pay buyers $37.63 to take the oil off their hands. Except this wasn’t the price of oil. It was the price of a useful financial instrument, called a futures contract, in this case a contract for delivery of oil in May at a particular price. The nearest futures contract in date is often used as a proxy for the price of oil, since it trades regularly and usually tracks the price of oil well. But on Monday, quirks in the futures market created an artificial price that, while historic and capturing the extreme stress we’re seeing in the oil market, was not quite the same as the actual price of oil.

Financial planning is never more valuable than it is during times like these. But it needs to be an ongoing process rather than a one-time event.

As an investor, you may be observing a couple things. First, the stay-at-home orders and the timeline pertaining to COVID-19 are being extended out. Second, there is a general sense that the news is going to get worse before it gets better. So, given that, why not take some money out of the market and wait for things to start to turn around?

With 90% of the country now in lockdown to slow the spread of COVID-19, large swaths of the economy and small businesses are in dire need of assistance for survival. To provide this support, a slew of policies are being implemented by the government, including the CARES Act that was signed into law on Friday, March 27.

If you have cash to invest - now or in the near future – what is the best way to do that?

Here are the key components of The CARES Act:

It is anything but business as usual in the U.S. and around the world today. With 1 in 3 Americans in lock down and most of the population trying to stay at home and practice social distancing, our wallets are shut not because we want them to be, but out of necessity for health reasons.

In retirement, most people have much more control over taxes than they did prior to retiring. The reason for that is that there are a number of different buckets in which to pull money from; each with their own type of tax treatment. We've developed a tool called the Retirement Tax Filter to help ensure you maximize your lower tax bracket without creeping into higher tax brackets. Here's a video that explains how that works:

Well, there is no sugar coating the past two weeks in world stock markets or the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. The big indexes are down 20% from recent February highs. The coronavirus and the economic implications of reduced normal daily activity are very real.

This morning’s gains come after one of the biggest one-day declines in stock market history yesterday that dragged the S&P 500 Index into bear market territory, ending the longest bull market in history. Traders are taking their cues this morning from improving prospects for a stimulus package out of Washington, expectations of more policy responses from global central banks, and deeply oversold conditions. Asian markets bounced off their overnight lows after several trading halts, while stocks in Europe are sharply higher in midday trading across the pond.

We’d like to offer you our latest thoughts regarding the ongoing volatility in the markets due to the coronavirus. By the end of February, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 14% from its high point just a couple weeks earlier.

A cash balance plan is a mix between a traditional defined benefit pension plan and a defined contribution plan (such as a 401(k). A cash plan allows workers to have the option of a lifetime annuity. In my most cases, employers will contribute a set portion of a participant’s salary to the plan each year (a “pay credit”; usually equal to between 5% and 8% annually), and the participant’s account will also be credited with an interest credit each year.

Given the recent volatility in the markets, we want to provide you with our most recent thoughts on headlines pertaining to the coronavirus and its effect on the markets.

Conventional wisdom says that what goes up must come down. But even if you view market volatility as a normal occurrence, it can be tough to handle when your money is at stake. Though there's no foolproof way to handle the ups and downs of the stock market, the following common-sense tips can help.

2020 is off to a roaring start, picking up right where 2019 left off. Many investors are eyeing the upcoming presidential election as an impending storm for the stock market. In the four-year presidential cycle, pre-election years have tended to be the strongest for stocks, as sitting presidents have taken measures to boost the economy and stock market higher to garner votes. It sure worked out well last year, with the S&P 500 Index’s 31% total return.

As a wealth management firm, our objective is to not only help clients reach their goals, but also define those goals as well. For instance, if one of your goals is to retire at age 62, we could not help you actually achieve that goal unless we know what “retirement” means to you. Often that means redefining retirement.

Planning your retirement income is like putting together a puzzle with many different pieces. One of the first steps in the process is to identify all potential income sources and estimate how much you can expect each one to provide.