BMC Insights Blog

Recently, I had a chance to preview a personal finance book by a best-selling author that focused on how to build and manage your wealth. During the process of reading an early draft of the book, it struck me that it is easy for many to think of wealth building and wealth management as the same thing. However, they are distinctly different and should be considered separately.

In today’s world, where information about the stock market is readily available at our fingertips, it can be easy to overlook the importance of developing good savings habits. While investment returns are a critical part of any financial plan, developing consistent savings habits is a tried-and-true way to build financial security over the long run.

LOOKING BACK It’s difficult to know what the future will hold without understanding the past. 2022 was a difficult year in the market.

If you were to ask someone “What are the best benefits an employer could offer?”, most would respond with perks like health insurance, time off, remote work, and if it’s been a long day… a company sponsored happy hour might be a popular choice. They’d also be remiss if they didn’t mention the valuable 401(k) match, which is a benefit that’s often used synonymously with the phrase “free money”, and who doesn’t love “free money.”

Thank you to Haley Sanford of New York Life for the status update regarding WA LTC Tax: Earlier this year Governor Inslee signed a bill that postponed the tax by 18 months. WA State did this to try and address a few bipartisan issues such as options for those who are close to retirement and […]

During most years, the stock market tends to go up in value, 73% of the time since 1928, to be precise.1 Using historical returns as an indicator, in any given year, you’re usually better off investing in ‘the market’ than not investing at all.

Unfortunately, the S&P 500 (often referred to as the ‘the market’), is having one of its worst starts to the year ever and at the time of this writing, the index is down nearly 20% from its January highs.

Given the growing popularity of equity compensation plans amongst the country’s largest corporations, offering stock to employees has become a crucial employee benefit. One of the most common forms of equity compensation are known as Restricted Stock Units, or RSUs for short.

According to a 2020 survey from Charles Schwab, 5 in 10 millennials said that equity compensation was one of the main reasons why they took their job. Clearly, equity compensation is playing an increasingly important role in attracting and retaining talent in today’s labor market.

Each year the Social Security Administration releases their Annual Trustees Report, which provides information about the projected funding levels of the Social Security trust fund. Unless you’re looking for great bedside reading material, you probably haven’t read this year’s report. Here’s the TLDR version – the Social Security trust fund will run out of money by 2033.