The Consulate Journal is our written blog, dedicated to educating our audience on a wide range of topics. Sometimes we’ll be sharing our financial planning philosophies, and other times sharing our views of money and its place in our lives. Most often, we’ll be sharing specific and actionable financial planning strategies that we use with our clients.
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Equifax Data Breach Settlement – What do you need to do?
Equifax Data Breach Settlement What do you need to do? 147 million American’s data was stolen from Equifax in 2017. The data maintained by a credit bureau is immense and put all people affected by this breach at serious…
Read MoreWhat to Do With an Existing 401(k) Balance
On a weekly basis, we answer many personal finance questions, either for our clients or for radio listeners. The most common question asked is what to do with an existing 401(k) balance that was accrued when working for a former…
Read MoreThe 5-Year Roth IRA Rule
Most people know that Roth individual retirement accounts (IRAs) have a “5-year rule,” that is, you must have owned your Roth IRA for at least 5 years and be over the age of 59.5 years to withdraw earnings tax-free during…
Read MoreA Voters Must Read to Tax History
There is an old saying that is worth remembering when it comes to income taxes: “Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” As increasingly more politicians demand that the rich pay their “fair share,” it would…
Read MoreInertia: The Number 1 Enemy of Personal Finance
To an investor, the main obstacles to wise investing are greed and fear. How often do people buy stock simply because they think that they are going to make a significant amount of money? Greed can make the most rational of investors…
Read MoreThe Elements of Estate Planning Most Missed
Many equate estate planning with creating a will. So, when you finally get around to writing your will– a task most of us prefer avoiding rather than addressing, you feel satisfied that you took care of everything. Unfortunately, though, you…
Read MoreTo Extend or Not to Extend?
It seems every year most people want to have their taxes filed by April 15th, and nobody wants to file an automatic, no questions asked extension till October 15th. It seems to us as many feel they are doing something…
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