Bear Mountain Capital Inc.

College Expenses Covered by 529 College Savings Plans?

| 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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Owning Your Company’s Stock

| 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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What is Dollar Cost Averaging (DCA)?

| July 26, 2016

The global investment community has been focused on the recent vote by the UK to leave the European Union, broadly referred to as the “Brexit.”  This historic event will have economic impacts on the UK and the European Union, as well as their trading partners.  Unsurprisingly, equity markets experienced sharp declines in the days following Brexit and have since seen a significant rebound.  If you haven’t already, please read our…

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What is Dollar Cost Averaging (DCA)?

| July 26, 2016

  The global investment community has been focused on the recent vote by the UK to leave the European Union, broadly referred to as the “Brexit.”  This historic event will have economic impacts on the UK and the European Union, as well as their trading partners.  Unsurprisingly, equity markets experienced sharp declines in the days following Brexit and have since seen a significant rebound.  If you haven’t already, please read…

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College Planning and Financial Aid

| 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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Benefits of a Health Savings Account?

| 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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Are You In Good Financial Shape?

| 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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Backdoor Roth IRA’s – Are They a Good Idea?

| February 17, 2015

Many people are aware of the benefits of a Roth IRA: you put your after-tax money into it, after 20 or 30 years when you retire, you pull all of the money out tax-free.  This can be a big benefit when you consider the effect of compounding returns over time. However, not everyone can contribute to a Roth IRA.  The reality is the IRS puts limitations on who can contribute…

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Savings and Willpower

| March 14, 2014

Finding ways to save money is not an easy exercise. There are ways to make it less painful, such as setting up automatic savings plans. However, if you haven’t done a long-term plan to determine what you are saving for and how much you need to save, then the commitment to maintaining a savings plan is greatly diminished.

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Roth IRA vs 529 Plan for College Savings

| September 23, 2013

We often get questions about the various ways to save and pay for college expenses. Many people are aware of the benefits and availability of 529 plans (either pre-paid tuition plans or college savings plans). However, did you know you can also use Roth IRA funds for educational expenses?? In fact, for purposes of Qualified Higher Education Expenses (QHEE), you can withdraw funds from a Roth IRA prior to the…

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