Suddenly find yourself winning the lottery or with an unexpected inheritance? Or maybe you sold your company for a surprising amount. Managing sudden wealth includes both mental and financial considerations. So while it may seem like a dream come true for some, it can be detrimental to those who don’t know how to manage the sudden event.. Here are 12 steps to help you survive and thrive:

We learned a lot about ourselves in 2020. Below are some "Do's and Don'ts" we should keep in mind for the coming year:

After nearly a year of dealing with the fallout from the Covid-19 pandemic, most of us have come to the realization that our lives will be forever altered in some way. Aside from the challenges to public health and the social disruptions involved, Americans' economic impact has ranged from modest to devastating. Here are tips to help you and your loved ones stay on track with long term financial goals:

Take Advantage of This Time to Take Stock
Many people are experiencing extraordinary stress levels during this time, and economic uncertainty is a prime cause. Despite these challenges, this is a great time to take a moment to assess your financial goals and how well they are being met. You might have more time on your hands and fewer distractions, so it is a perfect time to revisit your financial targets.

While the pandemic may have altered your approach in the near term, it is essential you maintain steps that will give you and your family long-term financial security.

Smiling faces…sunny places. You’ve seen the pictures of those folks who appear to be in their 60s or 70s hanging out at the pool or walking on the beach. They live in a climate that the local chamber of commerce touts in all their advertisements. You wonder if this could be you in an ideal retirement scenario.

In general, family responsibilities and employment opportunities are the biggest determinants of where people live. As you approach retirement age, though, these factors may diminish in importance. In fact, retirement may represent a new level of freedom to choose your residence that you never had before.

But there are many questions you, or you and your spouse must answer before the moving truck arrives to haul all your worldly possessions to a new address.
What considerations should you ponder before you move? What factors will help guide your decision? Even when you conclude that a move to a new location is your best choice, what might hold you back?

Low interest rates, along with all their advantages and pitfalls, have defined much of the last decade. While prior recessionary periods have seen overnight shifts by the central bank to sub-1% interest rates, 2020 appears to manifest an extreme version of it so far. As the Federal Funds Rate was slashed from 1.5% to nearly 0% in March of 2020, the 10-year Treasury, the widely followed proxy for long-term rate setting purposes, registered a low of just 52 basis points within days of the Fed actions, an historic low.

We continue our series profiling different financial advisors at Carnegie Investment Counsel with our newest portfolio manager, Chris Carey.

According to Chris Carey, portfolio manager at Carnegie Investment Counsel, the jobs you do in life may provide an even greater education than the theories you learn in school… even the internships and work experience you may do for free.

Carey didn’t go to school with the intention of going into finance. He was interested in the food industry after working for an upmarket grocery store, Waitrose, in his hometown of London, England, during his time at high school.

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.