Your outlook may influence your financial outcome.

What kind of retirement do you think you’ll have?

Qualitatively speaking, what if the success or failure of your retirement begins with your perception of retirement?

A whole field of study has emerged on the psychology of saving, spending, and investing: behavioral finance. Since retirement saving is a behavior (and since other behaviors influence it), it is worth considering ways to adjust behavior and presumptions to encourage a better retirement.

Never touch your principal in retirement? Think again.

More than a century ago, an American financial archetype emerged – the household that lived on the interest earned by its investments, never touching its principal.

Times have changed.

While the Vanderbilts, Carnegies, and Rockefellers could do that back in the Gilded Age, you will likely face a tough challenge trying to do the same in retirement. The reason? Low interest rates.

Build your emergency fund this year.

How much does the average American household have in the bank?

Estimates vary, but the short answer to this question is “not enough.”

Last year, a GoBankingRates poll discovered that 57% of U.S. households had less than $1,000 in deposit accounts (although, 25% reported having at least $10,000). A 2017 analysis from Moebs Services, a research firm consulting banks and credit unions, noted that the average U.S. checking account contained around $3,600.1,2 

Eyeing these numbers, you get the sense that – in an emergency – most households have less than a month before their liquid savings run out. Is this true for your household? Hopefully, your cash reserve is much larger; if that is not the case, now is as good a time as any to bolster your emergency fund.

Your approach to building wealth should be built around your goals & values.

Just what is comprehensive financial planning?

As you invest and save for retirement, you may hear or read about it – but what does that phrase really mean? Just what does comprehensive financial planning entail, and why do knowledgeable investors request this kind of approach?

While the phrase may seem ambiguous to some, it can be simply defined.

Comprehensive financial planning is about building wealth through a process, not a product.

Financial products are everywhere, and simply putting money into an investment is not a gateway to getting rich, nor a solution to your financial issues.

Wise money moves for parents under 40.

As you start a family, you start to think about certain financial matters. Before you became a mom or dad, you may not have thought about them much, but so much changes when you have kids.

What to check (and double-check).

Provided by Brower Financial Group

A valid will may save your heirs from some expensive headaches linked to probate and ambiguity. A solid will drafted with the guidance of an estate planning attorney will likely cost you a bit more than a “will-in-a-box,” but may prove worth the expense.

"Too few Americans understand personal finance fundamentals."

Provided by Brower Financial Group

Here is a quick video regarding our process, and the importance of a comprehensive coordination tool.

What is it? What kind of benefit could it provide?

Provided by Brower Financial Group

Seemingly everyone has heard of an IRA, but few people know about IRA trusts. Perhaps more people should, for an IRA trust may provide a way to “stretch” IRA assets for decades to benefit multiple generations.

An IRA trust is simply a revocable living trust designed to hold IRA assets.

It will continue to house them after your death, but that will not prevent you from distributing those assets to your heirs. This is because an IRA trust also contains one or more sub-trusts, which can be designated and customized for your beneficiaries.¹

Financially speaking, what do some households do right?

Provided by Brower Financial Group

Why do some households tread water financially while others make progress? Does it come down to habits?

Sometimes the difference starts there. A household that prioritizes paying itself first may end up in much better financial shape in the long run than other households.

Some families see themselves as savers, others as spenders.

The spenders may enjoy affluence now, but they also may be setting themselves up for financial struggles down the road. The savers better position themselves for financial emergencies and the creation of wealth.