At Apprise Wealth Management, we want to help people make better decisions about money. We also read constantly and like sharing some of our favorite commentaries each week.
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Here are this week’s articles as well as a brief description of each:
1. Five Retirement-Planning Myths. If you save enough and invest your savings, you can have the retirement of your dreams. It starts with having a disciplined savings plan. You must also be aware of the obstacles you might face. Those who have run some numbers to see what retirement might have in store are also way ahead of those who haven’t. The article discusses five assumptions many have about retirement and the caveats that come along with them. The third myth – which centers around your tax bracket in retirement – is an important consideration when Apprise Wealth Management prepares a financial plan. There may be opportunities to use planning techniques such as Roth Conversions to help minimize your future tax costs. If you’re not familiar with Roth Conversions, please feel free to reach out. We’ll be happy to discuss the potential benefits.
2. People Who Spend More Time Outdoors Lead More Fulfilling Lives, New Research Shows. You probably know that spending time in parks and other natural settings is good for your health and happiness. However, you likely don’t know how much time you should spend outside. According to this article, a recent study found that you should plan to be outdoors at least 120 minutes each week to obtain any significant benefits when it comes to life satisfaction. The benefits to physical health were even greater – those who met the outdoors benchmark were 60% more likely to report being in good health than counterparts who didn’t meet the 120-minute target.
3. When All You Feel Is Reward. All-time market highs often result in extreme emotions – euphoria or despondency – depending on how you’re positioned. What I find particularly interesting is that while as of June 20, the S&P 500 Index was up 728% since 1990 (1,440%total return), all-time highs were reached on only 7% of all days. This means the market was in drawdown 93% of the time. Emotionally, each drawdown can easily feel like the start of something worse. The article reminds us yet again why it’s important to focus on what we can control and stop worrying about what we can’t.
4. Get Your Gmail Under Control With These Essential Time-Savers. While we hate to admit it, we can easily spend more time reviewing email than we do with those we love. Even worse, it can feel like every message we send results in even more landing in our inbox. Instead of offering suggestions on how to reduce the number of emails you receive, this article offers some suggestions on how to manage it more efficiently. The article shares five ways Gmail users can move through their email more quickly:
1. Keep the Gmail.com interface at bay
2. Give your mouse a rest
3. Get your inbox organized
4. Clear out the clutter
5. Stop repeating yourself
There’s also a bonus tip for those that are interested.
5. Required Minimum Distribution Mistakes to Avoid. It is important to remember that traditional retirement accounts are tax-deferred, not tax-free. Under current law, when you must start taking money from your retirement accounts no later than the year after you reach 70 ½ years of age. The amount you must withdraw from your account is called a required minimum distribution (RMD). You must pay tax on the amounts you withdraw. The article offers some suggestions on how to avoid seven of the most common errors related to RMDs. One of the worst is forgetting to take an RMD as it can result in a 50% penalty being imposed by the IRS.
We hope you find the above posts valuable. If you would like to talk to us about financial topics including your investments, creating a financial plan, saving for college, or saving for your retirement please complete 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.
