How much money will I need for my retirement? This, naturally, is an important question and one we regularly address with our clients. Any time we plan for the future, it is necessary to make a number of assumptions about the future. Of course, the closer our assumptions are to reality the better prepared we are for the future. One key assumption when planning for retirement is the retirement spending… Read More

For our next blog series, we will be outlining a service that many of you have experienced at Master’s: Retirement Income Architecture. Instead of using a financial product as a “solution” for retirement income, we employee our Retirement Income Architecture process to help clients plan for this need. For clients who are approaching or already in retirement, creating a plan for retirement income that is sustainable and meets their needs… Read More

The financial advice industry has recently made advice for younger clients a hot topic. Almost every day someone writes an article about how to serve a younger demographic of client. However, almost all of these articles give a flawed reasoning for why this is an important focus point for a financial advisory firm. A typical line of reasoning in an article along these lines is as follows: “Baby boomers have… Read More

It has been more than three weeks since, in surprising fashion, our country elected Donald Trump as the 45th President of the United States. Before the election many speculated that if Trump were to win the election, the stock market would certainly experience a downturn. As the vote tallies started to roll in the night of the election and the numbers were beginning to tilt toward Donald Trump, the US… Read More

While you are reading this, tens of millions of Americans are voting on our leader for the next four years. It is the culmination of possibly the most polarizing presidential election in recent years. The two major party candidates have the two worst favorability scores of any presidential candidates in our history and political party polarization is at levels not seen since the turn of the 20th century. We have… Read More

Driving a high performance car can be an exhilarating experience, but no matter how much fun you have driving a car, the basic purpose behind driving is to get from one place to another. Although the driving experience can vary greatly depending on the car, any functional car can get you where you want to go. In the same way that the purpose of driving a car is to physically… Read More

Over the next four blogs, we will focus on what we call “The Master’s Difference.” We will discuss how our views differ from many others in our industry and what that means for you as a client of Master’s.This post will focus on how our method of developing your financial plan differs from the method used by many in our industry. The financial services industry’s origins trace back to two… Read More

My family recently traveled to Annapolis, Maryland, for a day trip. On our way to Annapolis, we needed the assistance of the GPS in order to get us to where we wanted to go. It took us on a route that I would not have mapped out myself, but we got to our destination in good time. On our way home the GPS had us going through the middle of… Read More

In April of this year, the Department of Labor (DOL) issued its much anticipated final rules that impose, among other things, fiduciary duties on advisors who recommend investments for all retirement plans, including Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs). When the rule first came out, many in the industry wondered why IRAs were coming under greater scrutiny. It makes perfect sense when you think about how the retirement savings landscape has changed…. Read More

An attitude of “I don’t know and I don’t care” can be quite distasteful. It is generally a statement made in a tone of voice used in an argument or as a snide remark. However, I believe it has a place in our industry. I would not recommend this attitude toward a person, but it might come in handy when it relates to the day-to-day activities of the stock market…. Read More