Insights

Ryan Yamada, CFP®, Senior Wealth Planner We’ve all heard the conventional wisdom when it comes to claiming Social Security: you should wait as long as you can before claiming benefits. Wait right up to age 70, if possible. After all, that’s when you would get the greatest monthly benefit.

By Craig Lemoine, Ph.D., CFP®, Director of Consumer Investment Research “How much do I need for retirement?” It’s a question I often hear, and one that seems straightforward enough to tackle. Unfortunately, the answer isn’t quite so simple.

By Ryan Yamada, Senior Wealth Planner    When putting away for retirement, we often dream about all the things we’ll be able to do with that money – traveling, going out to eat, maybe trying new hobbies. 

By Jamie Hopkins, Managing Director, Wealth Services  Sonu Varghese, Director, Investment Platforms; and Ryan Detrick, Chief Market Strategist, contributed to this report.    Senate Democrats have reached a general agreement on a bill to address climate change, taxes, health care, inflation …

By Scott Kubie, Senior Investment Strategist    The first half of the year proved challenging for even the most hardened of investors. High inflation. Continual losses in the S&P 500. Bear market. Fed rate hikes. It all added up to the third most volatile market in 25 years.  

Tom Fridrich, Senior Wealth Planner    Once upon a time, people would put money in their 401(k) or IRA accounts and know that – should their retirement savings outlive them – their loved ones would inherit the rest and all would essentially be well. 

By Craig Lemoine, Director of Consumer Investment Research Stocks, bonds and mutual funds have had a rocky start to the year. The S&P 500, a broad measure of the United States stock market, was down 4.6% over the first quarter. Mutual funds holding stocks and bonds have also lost value. …

Kevin Oleszewski, Senior Wealth Planner For many parents, childcare can be their biggest monthly expense, and rising inflation hasn’t helped matters. Add in the cost of caring for aging parents? You’re likely spending a fortune on care.

Karl Strube, Senior Tax Planner The transition from employment to retirement can be complex. For decades, you received either a regular paycheck or earnings from self-employment, and now that will slow or stop. To compound that, you’ll be taking money out of all these accounts after putting …

All planning – but especially tax planning – should line up with your goals. You should never do anything solely because you’re going to get a tax benefit. Rather, you should always do things that tie back to your goals, with tax benefits being an added bonus.

We’re in a pretty interesting juncture in the markets. As we kick off the third year of the COVID-19 pandemic, the omicron variant is spreading across the country.