Cognitive Biases are our brain’s natural way of helping us simplify our decision-making process. While often they are the result of ways in which our brains have adapted to make us more efficient, they can be detrimental as well, especially to our investments. Learn how our brains can trick us, what those tricks are, and how to account for them in your investments.
Most of you have probably heard about the SECURE (Setting Every Community Up for Retirement) Act. It was signed into law before Christmas and went into effect the first of this year. It contains some valuable elements that will help those saving for retirement, but it also did damage to some of the strategies used in long-term family wealth planning. We’d like to talk about a change that could alter literally every financial plan in existence up to now and change the way plans are crafted in the future. If you think we’re being hyperbolic, well… we’re not alone. The Director of Retirement Research at Carson Wealth said “[t]his is nothing short of a disaster for trust planning…”. A Marketwatch article contains the quote “[the Secure Act] is a complete disaster from a planning perspective…”. So what’s so bad in this bill? Well, nothing less than the death of the Stretch IRA.
Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) are just the type of tool we like because they are a tax savvy way to save for future medical bills, including age based long-term care premiums and nursing home expenses later in life. Even though they have been available since 2004, many people still don’t know what they are or fail to take full advantage of their tax benefits.