Recent headlines proclaim that mortgage interest rates are at their lowest levels in 50 years. And you are wondering whether you should refinance your mortgage. It all depends on your current mortgage interest rate, your monthly payment, and the remaining amount of time on your current loan. It could be a great time to lower […]
Place a free security freeze on your credit reports. Don’t be fooled by the credit bureaus attempts to sign up for credit lock. A credit lock is not free and provides the same protection as a security freeze.
As 2015 comes to a close, I’m taking stock of my first calendar year as a self-employed, fee-only, Certified Financial Planner™ in Washington, DC. For me its been all about establishing a new “rhythm.” I needed a new rhythm because my daily activities changed. Gone was the structured environment of a government policy maker and […]
Here are seven tips to help you purchase a long-term care insurance policy that fits in your retirement plan. Long-term care insurance has many moving parts and features, but basically you are buying a daily dollar amount that pays for care in different settings for a certain amount of time. The more the policy pays for […]
Are you thinking of retiring and trying to figure out how to maximize your Social Security benefits over your lifetime? Glance through these five tips and you’ll be in a better position to understand how you can claim the biggest lifetime benefit based on your (and your spouse’s) work history. For a bit of history, […]
Most young professionals wonder if they need estate documents that deal with their health or belongings when they are unable to do so. In many cases these documents are important because they enable you to decide now how you want your estate to be settled in the case of death or how your health care […]
Here are four tips you can use to determine whether you have sufficient auto insurance coverage. In the grand scheme of things, you want your auto insurance policy to protect your assets in the event you are in an accident with serious bodily injury. This protection, however, should be at the lowest cost possible. The […]
Many young families need term life insurance protection because they now have mortgages to repay, children to support, and college educations to fund. So how do you decide how much coverage you need? This question can be vexing because as you grow older, you are saving more money, paying down your mortgage, and setting aside […]
Several clients have asked me to help them identify social responsible investing alternatives. They wanted to live their beliefs. I thought there had to be publicly available resources to help screen mutual funds focused on socially responsible investing. I also wanted to make sure that under the guise of social responsibility, my clients didn’t choose […]
It is time to construct a diversified portfolio once you have decided the percentage of your portfolio that will be invested in stocks. But what is the best way to decide which funds to choose among the myriad of stock mutual funds and exchange traded funds available? The approach I outline below can be used […]
