The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA), passed at the end of 2017, was one of the biggest tax reforms our country had seen in decades. While there were changes made across many areas, there were certain educational provisions that affect college planning specifically.  Below we’ll look at four separate tax changes and how each affects college planning for parents … [Read more...]

By Dave Coen The price of college tuition has doubled in the past 30 years. (1) And despite its hefty price tag, a college degree is necessary if you want to earn a decent salary and progress in your career. As a parent, you know this. That’s why you want to make sure your child can earn a degree without racking up a ton of debt in the process.  Today we’ll … [Read more...]

By Dave Coen Open up Google. Search “What do I need to know about Social Security?” Did you get the same 3,480,000,000 results I got? It’s unreal how much information is at our fingertips. But what that means is that we need to be careful what information we consume. Because when it comes to financial matters, one incorrect assumption or detail can be … [Read more...]

By Dave Coen If you’re like me, you might draw a blank when someone asks how old you are. The older we get and the faster the time goes, the harder it is to remember what day it is, let alone how old you are!  And while in most cases age is just a number, there are a few pivotal birthdays you will want to remember. Turning 59½ is one of them. Not only does … [Read more...]

By Dave Coen Let’s look at the facts.  This year the markets had the best first half of a year since 1997. (1) The Dow had the best June since 1938. (2) Unemployment rates continue to hover near 50-year lows. First-quarter GDP grew at an annualized rate of 3.2%. (3) U.S. stocks posted their largest one-day losses of 2019 on Monday. (4) The … [Read more...]

By Dave Coen If you’ve looked into any aspect of college planning, whether that’s researching accounts to save in or figuring out your eligibility for financial aid, you probably felt overwhelmed pretty quickly. Often, questions about college planning just lead to more questions, and it’s hard to find consistent advice and facts online. Sometimes you just want … [Read more...]

By Dave Coen As you probably know, one of the unique services that we offer is to help clients identify the inefficiencies in their current planning—“holes” in their financial buckets that could be made more efficient. There is often more financial value in preventing the losses than trying to pick the winners.  As parents, we often struggle with whether … [Read more...]

By Dave Coen Retirement is knocking at the door. You either feel like it happened overnight or that the bulk of your working years moved slower than you wanted. Regardless, you are in the home stretch now. But even though you’re getting closer to the goal, this is not the time to turn on cruise control and count down the days until you pack up your office for … [Read more...]

By Dave Coen Your finances don’t exist in a bubble. Every decision you make and every milestone you reach impacts your financial situation. Even within your finances, there are many different factors that affect each other, such as taxes, saving for retirement, and estate planning. That’s why college planning won’t be successful unless it’s part of a … [Read more...]

By Dave Coen We see couples fighting about money everywhere, on TV shows, in books, and on the news. You may even see it in your own home if you’re part of the one-third of married couples who fight about finances at least once a month. (1) It might be easy to accept the tension that finances cause in relationships because it seems like everyone struggles with … [Read more...]