Living Well With Wealth Series 1 of 3

In this first blog post in our Living Well With Wealth series, we discuss giving money to family. Next in the series, we offer insights into charitable giving.  

It’s highly common for our clients with children, grandchildren and other family members to direct their assets to things or activities that will help those family members financially. Allocating portions of your legacy and offering financial assistance can make a lifelong impact on your loved ones. So, how and when should you get started, and what do you need to consider?

After many years where the divorce rate for American adults was constantly on the rise, recent decades have shown a modest decline. However, those statistics disguise a change in the divorce rate for older adults. According to multiple studies, including a Bowling Green State University Family Profile Information 2021, there has been an increase in the divorce rate for those who are 50 years and older.  

This so-called gray (think graying hair) divorce phenomenon can have a significant impact on retirement plans. If you are older and considering a divorce, keep in mind that assumptions you and your spouse made decades ago about finances may no longer apply, including the financial benefits of marriage.

Several high-profile gray divorces have been in the news recently, including Bill and Melinda Gates. Let's assume that dividing up their assets will be a bit more complicated than what you might be facing if divorce is likely. However, there are practical considerations for all non-billionaires when dealing with the financial consequences of a divorce.

Chad Warmbein has been a Portfolio Advisor at Carnegie’s Pittsburgh office for six years. He is passionate about helping clients create a customized financial strategy aligned to their financial goals. Plus, Chad helps work with prospective clients both for individual wealth management portfolios and retirement services plans. In this blog post, we meet Chad and learn about his Portfolio Advisor role.

One of the most important aspects of responsible financial planning is risk management. A proper understanding of risk can help you anticipate losses and gains and create an investment strategy with your financial planner as you build wealth. Assessing your risk tolerance can guide you in your investment decisions. Armed with this knowledge, you can start to see the risk of avoiding risk.

It is important to identify your financial goals, what it will take to reach those goals and understand the level of risk you are willing to take to get there. Your goals and behavior must be aligned.

When you work or volunteer for a nonprofit agency, your work is important and valuable. You might even say you are “doing good in the neighborhood!” When you combine your nonprofit mission with strong financial management you can make an even greater impact for those you serve.

Strong financial management is critical to the success of nonprofit organizations and helps them be more effective. This is true now more than ever, with the impact of COVID placing increased demand on financial resources. It helps to enlist the support of a qualified financial advisor to help navigate your nonprofit through volatile times.

So, what’s the case for engaging a nonprofit financial advisor for your organization? Here are some key benefits:

Are you considering hiring a planner to help navigate your financial future? If so, do you know what financial planning entails? Financial planning revolves around taking a holistic view of a client's financial situation and advising them on how to achieve realistic economic goals.

While it seems simple enough, there are several myths surrounding financial planning that might prevent you from enlisting a planner. Let's examine four of these in detail to help you reach a better understanding of how a financial planner can meet your needs.

We continue our series profiling different financial advisors at Carnegie Investment Counsel with our Portfolio Manager Linda Fousek. Linda is a Chartered Financial Analyst® and her expertise areas are investment strategy and asset allocation, including portfolio construction and implementation.

The Internal Revenue Service anticipates that more than 150 million tax returns will be filed this year. In a normal year, this is a colossal undertaking. But in a world still altered by a pandemic, it becomes a bit more complicated for all parties involved. We are here to help you navigate the process.

This year, tax time may be a little different. On March 17, 2021, the U.S. Treasury Department and the IRS announced that the federal income tax filing due date for individuals for the 2020 tax year would automatically be extended from April 15, 2021, to May 17, 2021. This postponement to May 17, 2021, of the federal tax filing deadline, only applies to individual federal income tax returns and tax payments otherwise due April 15, 2021. Also, note that this relief does not apply to estimated tax payments due on April 15, 2021.

As a portfolio manager at Carnegie Investment Counsel, I am involved with creating portfolios designed to help clients meet their goals. For individuals, corporations or nonprofits, investment policy statements (IPS) are a way to outline goals and objectives. Outside of work, I serve as an investment committee member for my church's endowment. As such, I am sharing my IPS experience as a portfolio manager and as a community member in my church. Let's start with some basics.