by John Wierenga | Sep 17, 2023 | Budget
Anyone with a family to protect understands the critical role life insurance plays in their financial plan However, in figuring out how to purchase the right amount of life insurance, many people tend to adhere to simplistic rules-of-thumb, such as a “multiple of...
by John Wierenga | Sep 10, 2023 | Budget
You think back fondly on those collegiate days–studying in the quad, late-night pizza, tailgating for the big tailgating game, dorm living, tossing your graduation cap in the air…beyond the lifelong friends and the fun, college helped you get to where you...
by John Wierenga | Sep 3, 2023 | Budget
As the saying goes, two things are inevitable: death and taxes, and, out of those two sure things, you can only really plan for your taxes. It should be no surprise when tax season surely and steadily rolls around again, yet every year there are plenty of individuals...
by John Wierenga | Aug 29, 2023 | Budget
CEOs do it; athletes do it; in fact, anyone who needs to be able to achieve a certain level of performance in order to achieve a specific goal constantly assesses where they are in relation to where they want to be. This is to ensure that available resources are being...
by John Wierenga | Aug 20, 2023 | Budget
For as long as there have been stock markets, investors have intuitively known that expectations of returns come with commensurate expectations of risk. The higher return one expects, the greater the risk one assumes in order to achieve it. But, it wasn’t until the...
by John Wierenga | Aug 13, 2023 | Budget
Most people think estate planning is only for wealthy people. Certainly, the 55% of Americans who died without a will thought so, even though all of their estates ended up in probate court subject to the laws of the state. Sadly, the surviving families were thrust...
by John Wierenga | Aug 6, 2023 | Budget
Life insurance and annuities have always been considered to be among the safest of all financial instruments. Even as banks were being shuttered during the Great Depression resulting in people losing their life’s savings, life insurers emerged as the bed rock of...
by John Wierenga | Jul 31, 2023 | Budget
Most people of conscience, especially those who have done well for themselves, want to use their resources to do some good in the world. The problem is, with many of individuals, their charitable giving tends to be somewhat haphazard, often centered on tax...
by John Wierenga | Jul 24, 2023 | Budget
Many investors have heard the term “asset allocation” at one time or another. From the first time we sign up for a 401k plan at the office all the way through the conversations we have with financial planners in retirement, we are bombarded with messages about the...
by John Wierenga | Jul 16, 2023 | Budget
What are your portfolio performance expectations? In the story of Alice in Wonderland, Alice arrives at a fork in the road and wonders aloud which road to take. A smiling Cheshire Cat appears and asks her what her destination is, to which she replies, “I don’t know.”...
