With the upcoming holiday season, we reached out to our Carnegie Investment Counsel team to share gift book recommendations. No two answers were alike and the recommendations were rich and unexpected.

As more and more conversations come up regarding future increases to tax rates, many people are wondering, is this the right time to convert a Traditional IRA to a Roth IRA?

A number of factors in 2020 have created an environment that may make it advantageous to consider converting. The steps taken by the U.S. government to combat the COVID-19 outbreak have altered the landscape for retirement assets and how they should be allocated.

Today, IRAs are one of the primary vehicles that Americans use to fund their retirement. In fact, 43.9 million households held at least one IRA in 2017, with 35.1 million households holding Traditional IRAs and 24.9 million holding Roth IRAs, and some households holding both [Investment Company Institute]. Additionally, due to changes in the tax laws of 2010, there are no age limits or income requirements to be able to convert a Traditional IRA to a Roth IRA, but keep in mind you will have a tax liability on the amount that you convert.

The Thanksgiving holidays provide a time for gathering with family and friends, whatever that looks like for you in 2020.

We asked our team members about games they played with family around the holidays that helped them learn money management. Below our financial advisors share their holiday favorites. 

Do you have a personal bucket list or a roster of things to do before you die (or “kick the bucket”)? What’s the value of such a list? Why do many people create an inventory of things to accomplish during their lifetimes? How do you conceive a bucket list for yourself or with your loved ones?

Today, some people begin creating their bucket list earlier in life, possibly merging their list or revising it with a spouse in later years. Others do not even begin considering their lifetime goals until middle age or as retirement beckons. In recent months, the pandemic has made exotic travel even more of an aspirational future dream but still bucket-list worthy. 

Your bucket list can take many different forms, but the underlying design will always revolve around your aspirations and subsequent achievements. Here we also provide advice on how to plan for your bucket list items financially.

2020 is one for the record books. We have experienced dramatic market swings with the unprecedented drops in March, to the new highs and lows in October.

A few months ago, people were afraid to open and look at their 401(k) statement. The historical lows could not have hit at a worse time for first quarter statements. In early October, with the markets hitting new highs, people couldn’t wait to see the statements. Which leads us to the question: What do we advise people to do now?

While some investing wisdom is timeless and can be as simple as “save early and often,” behavioral finance shows us that the best advice is one that can be followed and adhered to long enough for it to deliver. 

Priorities in one's 20s are and should be different than those in one's 40s and beyond. 2020 has put a wrinkle in even the best laid plans and added other layers of uncertainties to be taken into account for both short- and long-term financial decisions. Here are some steps to consider in the different phases of financial life.

Many of us are not particularly fond of surprises, especially later in life and certainly not when we are looking to understand what our Social Security benefit will be upon retirement. But if you are eligible for a pension based on work you did for a government entity or nonprofit organization and did not pay the Social Security tax on your wages, you may be in for a surprise.

Known as the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP), this potential reduction in Social Security benefits is a federal law that impacts those who have worked in a job where pay was subject to Social Security tax withholding, and also have worked in another job where Social Security tax is not withheld. Employees in the public sector like teachers or in the civil service are the prime examples, but if your employer was outside the U.S. you may also be affected.

As life expectancy increases and stock market volatility seems to grow, annuities are gaining in popularity as people seek safety for their money. Last year, fixed annuities saw $139.8 billion in sales, which is an all-time high, according to InvestmentNews.

It is essential to share some truths about annuities and explain the risks of these seemingly safe products which are sold as “can’t miss” solutions. 

There is no specific timeline to help guide your journey to financial well-being. As such, there are no hard and fast rules that will determine the best time to engage a financial professional to help manage your assets. 

Many people feel that they can manage their investment portfolios on their own in spite of a lack of overall financial literacy or training. As your nest egg grows and your situation becomes more complicated though, you may find yourself in need of an all-encompassing financial game plan. Finding an advisor with whom you can develop a long-term relationship can go a long way toward meeting your financial goals.

As part of a new series, we share more about our financial advisors. In this article, we interview Heidi Rose, a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™. At Carnegie Investment Counsel, every office location has access to a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™team member through virtual teams. Here is our interview with Heidi Rose: