What’s the point of financial planning anyway? According to a 2017 survey by CareerBuilder.com, nearly 80% of American workers live paycheck to paycheck. If these statistics are any indication, it doesn’t seem like most people put much effort toward planning for their financial future. I recently had a conversation with a couple who has been diligently saving for their retirement years. After some analysis, I commented that they were on… Read More
The Master’s Minute – Introduction
We are excited to announce our new initiative to you – The Master’s Minute! We are replacing our twice per month long-form blog with shorter, more frequent weekly posts. This shift will also bring a more conversational writing style with it, looking to engage you as a reader in a new way. Our focus will continue to be on what we do every day for our clients and dive deeper… Read More
OTB
Master’s Advisors has recently begun a new, exciting tradition. Known as “On the Business” or “OTB,” for short, it is a week each calendar quarter that is dedicated time for the Master’s team to: • focus on learning new technology and improving existing systems and procedures to enhance our service to our clients, • hold discussions on improving the client experience here at Master’s, • work on business projects within… Read More
Define Your WHY
Freedom, flexibility and family. These are the most common words we hear when we talk with our clients about the WHY behind their financial goals. We spend a lot of time talking about these WHYs because we believe that we need to know our clients’ core motivations before we establish financial goals and actions. By discovering the motivation behind the pursuit of your financial goals we can have more impactful… Read More
Charitable Giving with RMDs
Once you reach age 70½, Uncle Sam wants you to start paying taxes on at least a portion of your IRA or 401k balance. He gets you to do that by requiring you to withdraw a percentage of money from your tax-deferred account, and every dollar that you withdraw from your IRA or 401k is taxed as ordinary income. The minimum amount that you must withdraw each year is not… Read More
A Season of Gratitude
Our previous blog post, written by my associate Tim Tyson, encouraged all of us to approach the Christmas season with an attitude of generosity. Well, Christmas of 2018 has come and gone. I hope you were able to both practice and graciously receive generosity. As I reflect on this season, and the past year, my mind goes to another important attribute – gratitude! Gratitude comes from a heart that is… Read More
A Season of Generosity
Christmastime is a season of generosity, a season of focusing on others, rather than ourselves, giving generously to others and receiving the generosity of others. I was recently reminded of a story that is not a Christmas story but that nonetheless captures the heart of the Christmas season. Nabal was a very wealthy man who owned a large amount of livestock. Nabal’s servants were tending sheep in the wilderness near… Read More
Perspective As Our Reminder
Until recently, you may have found yourself feeling foolish when investing became the topic of conversation and you didn’t have significant positions in FAANG (Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix, Google) stocks. These major companies seemed to rule the market news day after day, making huge announcements and seeing their stocks make enormous gains. In periods of extended growth and low volatility, such as we have had over the past few years,… Read More
Inheritance in Pennsylvania
When you receive an inheritance in Pennsylvania, along with the good news you might also get some bad news. I have listed some of the good news as well as some of the bad news that accompanies certain assets Pennsylvania residents inherit. Traditional IRA, 401(k), 403(b) Good news: Since there are named beneficiaries, this asset does not pass through probate. You will not owe Pennsylvania state income tax* Bad news:… Read More
Being Prepared
The news reports this summer of the horrid fire storms in California and the damage that remains in the wake of Hurricanes Florence and Michael have left me wondering what I would do if I had only moments to vacate my home. Would I be prepared to walk out the door confident that I had the most important things with me? That little discussion with myself left me sure that… Read More