Money Matter$

If you’ve seen your monthly investment statement lately, you’ve likely been disappointed. It’s hard to stomach the drops this year in both the stock and bond markets.

Albert Einstein believed compound interest was the eighth wonder of the world. He said, “He who understands it, earns it; he who doesn’t, pays it.” The simple way money grows is over time so it makes sense to start investing early for kids when they are young. The greatest asset they have is time. Whether you are a savvy parent, grandparent or other family member, you might have wondered what you can do financially to help pave the way for the young humans in your life.

It’s not surprising that the majority of people take social security as early as they can at age 62 - over 34% in 2018 - although from a financial standpoint almost no one should. Perhaps the early-takers thought “it might not be there later”. However, we are dealing with the federal government...

If we looked at the question of Roth IRA vs. Life Insurance from a purely statistical standpoint, the low probability of dying prematurely would indicate you’re better off investing in the stock market. Since inception, the average annual return of the S&P 500 is approximately 10%. However, the real question we need to answer here has two parts. 1. How do I take care of my future needs? 2. How do I take care of my family that is currently dependent on me?

You’ve worked hard for years and saved money along the way, but how do you take those retirement savings and turn them into retirement income that will last for 30 years or more?

As we enter 2017, it’s a chance to take some time to reflect on the past year and think about our hopes and dreams with the flip of another calendar year. There were likely some happy surprises, and some hard challenges in 2016. Do you ever stop to think what you have control over, and those things that are completely out of your control?