Joe Day | January 13, 2017

  Our friends at Helsell Fetterman have prepared a 2017 Estate Planning Update which we are providing below.  Helsell Fetterman is a local law firm located in Seattle, WA, whose Estate Planning and Probate group is headed by Laura Hoexter.  Her group maintains expertise in many areas, including estate planning, trust administration, generation skipping transfers, and family business succession planning. Estate Tax Update Federal Estate Tax, Gift Tax and Generation-Skipping…

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Joe Day | December 15, 2016

  College is expensive. Being prepared and putting money aside in a qualified 529 college savings plan can help you get ready for the onslaught of expenses you and your child will face when your child is ready to leave home for the college experience. Our friends at American Funds have put together a summary list of qualified and non-qualified distributions from a college savings plan for college expenses, updated for…

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Joe Day | October 19, 2016

  Currently, one of the nation’s biggest banks, Wells Fargo, is in the middle of a serious scandal. The company fraudulently opened extra customer accounts without their consent or knowledge in order to boost revenue. (Click here to read story) Prior to the latest news, Wells Fargo was considered to be one of the darlings of Wall Street. Warren Buffett, a major stakeholder, loved to talk about the bank. However, since the…

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Joe Day | September 29, 2016

  We get questions from clients all the time asking about life insurance. What type should I get? How much coverage should I purchase? Where should I get a good policy? There are two types of life insurance: term and permanent life insurance. Permanent life insurance can be broken down into several other categories: whole, universal, variable or variable-universal. Permanent life insurance is just that, permanent, as long as you continue to…

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Joe Day | June 24, 2016

    Yesterday, the United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union. While a close vote was highly anticipated, the markets had discounted the possibility of a “Brexit” the last several days by pushing the markets upward. After the final results came out last night, the markets had to reverse course. The “Leave” group had voted 51.9% in favor of leaving the union. Unsurprisingly, the result was a big sell-off today across…

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Joe Day | December 17, 2015

  If you have children nearing high school, you may feel anxious as you prepare to help pay for college expenses. Some mitigate this feeling by starting the planning process early by opening and funding college savings accounts (529 savings plans). Those who get a jump start, carve out a piece of their monthly cash flow, put it aside and allow it grow as their child gets closer and closer to leaving the house….

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Joe Day | November 5, 2015

How do you solve a problem like commodities? Sound of Music, anyone? Well, if you are not a fan of musicals, that is okay. Chances are at this point in the market cycle, you are probably not a fan of commodities, either. Commodity prices are clearly a hot-topic right now and not in a good way.  As anyone who owns commodities knows, returns for the asset class have been more than frustrating the…

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Joe Day | October 9, 2015

      Halloween is almost upon us and it seems the market is doing its part to spook investors.  As a result, many people may experience higher levels of anxiety regarding their investments. We prepared the following commentary as part of our most recent quarterly update to our clients.  We think it provides useful perspective. Market Volatility The global equity markets the past two quarters can be summed up in one word: volatile.  As…

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Joe Day | September 22, 2015

  (This post has been updated with additional information from our friends at Accountability Services.) When we sit down with clients to review their long-term objectives, often we discuss the basics such as retirement and college savings. These topics are heavily covered and the savings vehicles available to help meet these needs are well known. However, another top planning priority tends to be long-term health care. Most of the people…

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Joe Day | May 18, 2015

What is financial shape? What does it mean? Being in good financial shape is a lot like being in good physical shape. It generally means you are routinely doing things to improve your current state. It doesn’t mean you have the biggest savings account balance, largest investment portfolio or are an early investor in Uber. It means you are doing the right things, consistently, so you can meet your personal…

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