At Apprise Wealth Management, we want to help people make better decisions about money. We also read constantly and like sharing some of the commentaries we enjoyed reading the most each week.
We hope you will share our blog with your friends. If you are not a current subscriber, please sign up for our mailing list at the bottom of our blog page, or use our Contact Us page. This week I decided to try something a little different and include a video. I hope you like it.
Here are this week’s articles as well as a brief description of each:
1. The Freelance Retirement Crisis No One Is Talking About. Many of us are not saving enough for retirement. If you are a freelancer or independent contractor, you might be saving even less. The tax code provides numerous savings options for independent contractors who would like to sustain their lifestyle in retirement. This second post summarizes the primary options:
· Simple IRA
· SEP-IRA
· Solo 401(k)
· Traditional and Roth IRAs.
If you would like assistance saving for your retirement or reviewing your options, please Contact Us.
2. The Freakishly Strong Base. An often-overlooked aspect of wealth accumulation is the importance of starting early. (See the chart in this blog depicting the potential advantages.) Warren Buffett is considered one of history’s most successful investors. In this post, Morgan Housel shares one of the most overlooked reasons for Mr. Buffett’s success – time. Mr. Buffett is a good investor. More importantly, he has been a good investor since childhood. Mr. Housel estimates that Mr. Buffett’s net worth would be 97.6% lower absent the asset base he built in his teens and 20s. If he had waited longer to get started, it is possible that we may have never even heard of him. If you talk to your children about the importance of starting to invest at the youngest possible age, you can point to this post as an example of why it is so important.
3. A Neuroscientist Explains What Tech Does to the Reading Brain. Our reliance on technology is changing our brains. We are focusing less as technology impacts our ability to pay deep attention to what we read. Digital technology can cause us to process large amounts of information very quickly or increase the frequency with which we scan the content we are consuming. If we skim too much, we will have less time for slower processing work or deep learning. Ultimately, this could cause us to lose our ability to perform critical analysis and/or practice empathy. It is important that we remember to slow down and read in a focused manner when appropriate.
4. Combining Forces to Combat Elder Financial Victimization. One of the first signs of cognitive aging, the process by which cognitive abilities decline with age, is problems managing one’s own finances. Even if no disease is present, it can become progressively harder to balance a checkbook, review a credit card statement, or make good investment decisions. Cognitive aging also increases the risk of fraud and exploitation. The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia published a paper outlining seven actions adults can take to help protect themselves:
· Assign trusted contacts to all financial accounts
· Prepare a durable financial power of attorney
· Prepare a will
· Keep up on the latest scams
· Monitor your credit and your identity
· Consider hiring a money manager
· Consider purchasing financial account monitoring services
5. An Overview of Health Savings Accounts (Video). Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) represent an often-overlooked tax benefit as well as a great tool to help fund healthcare expenses in retirement. This video reviews some HSA basics and discusses why they can provide more tax advantages than an IRA, a 401(k) or a Roth IRA. You can also check this blog for more info. Some additional thoughts can be found here as well.
We hope you find the above posts of interest. If you would like to talk to us about financial topics such as your investments, creating a financial plan, HSAs, or your retirement savings please fill out our contact form, and we will be in touch. We can schedule a call, a virtual meeting via Zoom, or a meeting at Apprise Wealth Management’s office in Northern Baltimore County.
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Phil Weiss founded Apprise Wealth Management. He started his financial services career in 1987 working as a tax professional for Deloitte & Touche. For the past 25+ years, he has worked extensively in the areas of financial planning and investment management. Phil is both a CFA charterholder and a CPA.
Located just north of Baltimore, Apprise works with clients face-to-face locally and can also work virtually regardless of location.
