Is It Time to Refinance? The Federal Reserve has just cut interest rates by .50% in response to growing concerns about the impact of the coronavirus on the economy. What does that mean for mortgage rates? The Federal funds rate doesn’t move in lockstep with mortgage rates, particularly 30-year fixed mortgages. But mortgage rates are indeed expected to fall alongside…
Read More
Insuring Your Valuables
If you have valuable personal possessions – such as jewelry, furs, antiques, art, coin collections, and the like — insurance is often necessary. But your homeowners’ or renters’ insurance might not be enough. Limitations on coverage Generally, homeowners’ insurance policy covers the theft, damage, or destruction of your personal property, and there are several limitations. Your personal property is covered…
Read More
The Coronavirus and You
Chart thanks to Capital Group. We don’t know how bad this is going to be. That’s the scary part. We can wash our hands, wear masks, talk about morbidity percentages, but the extent of the coronavirus – and its impact on the markets – is unknown. So what to do? We can look at the historical context of previous plagues…
Read More
The New SECURE Act
What’s up with that new SECURE Act? We’ve had several questions from clients about the SECURE Act (Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement Act), which was signed into law in late December 2019 as part of a larger federal spending package. This legislation has some positives and some negatives among its new requirements. It gives incentives for employers to…
Read More
2020 Retirement Plan Numbers
Thresholds and maximums for retirement contributions and deductions The government left some retirement numbers unchanged and increased some for 2020. The maximum you can contribute to a traditional IRA or a Roth IRA in 2020 is $6,000 if under 50 and $7,000 if 50 or older (or up to 100% of your earned income, if that is less), the same…
Read More