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Last week we discussed the urgency of financial planning for 2024, and how it must start long before year-end 2023. Once the clock strikes midnight on December 31, it is too late to correct many oversights and/or errors. When dealing with tax-related items, some can be costly to taxpayers, while others manifest mostly as Opportunity […]

From the perspective of a professional financial planner, 2023 is nearly over. From the standpoint of elected federal officials, 2023 is waning, with far too much business remaining undone (as usual). How many of our individual businesses would survive if we operated the way the federal government runs our nation’s business? Elected officials hold power […]

According to a recent study, about 20% of Americans’ massive investments in 401(k) accounts belong to ex-employees. Enough of these accounts are neglected or forgotten that the government has established a National Registry of Unclaimed Retirement Benefits (unclaimedretirementbenefits.com) to assist former employees in reclaiming their accounts, which average about $55,000 each. Those accounts, properly integrated […]

Social Security and Medicare are going broke. Our elected officials readily admit the problem. What they won’t do is seriously discuss how to avoid an impending default. Every day, the problem escalates. Instead, when any brave politician mentions the need to repair the wounded system, political competitors point fingers and assure immediate political destruction. In […]

For the second straight week, a winning Lottery ticket was sold in a Publix in the Jacksonville area. Although the recent prize is “only” about $36 Million (significantly less than the prior week’s $1.5+ Billion), congrats to our winners. The two winners are classic examples of Sudden Wealth. Every day, a few Americans of various […]

Summer 2023 is over for most people, and year-end is looming for Financial Planners. Topics we address during the final months of each year include Required Minimum Distributions (RMDs) from Retirement Plans, establishing new Retirement Plans for individuals and small companies, Roth Conversion Planning, and (non-CPA) tax planning. Less likely to be on the Planning […]

For Americans, the likely most familiar reference to Malta is from the 1941 movie, the Maltese Falcon. This fictitious tale of a stolen bejeweled statue was custom made for a classic mystery thriller in black and white. The story, from the imagination of Dashiell Hammett, featured his famous gumshoe character, Sam Spade. Today, Malta is […]

Comprehensive personal financial planning begins with just plain getting organized. The best way to start is to prepare a Personal Net Worth Statement. Conceptually, that is as simple as listing all your assets, and subtracting from that total all your liabilities (debts). This produces a snapshot of your financial position at one point in time, […]

In 2019, on the Van Wie Financial Hour radio program, we reported on a spreading phenomenon known as “FIRE,” for “Financial Independence Retire Early.” In cultlike-like instructional guides, FIRE proponents attempt to entice people into a utopian world of carefree decades of cushy retired life, beginning in early or middle-age. To me, this is a […]