Beacon Wealthcare

09 Nov 2023 2024 Contribution Amounts, Tax Bracket Changes, and Social Security Increases

Posted at 15:58h in The Friday Brief by Ryan Smith, CFP®, RICP®, CTS™, MSFP

Each year around this time the IRS announces contribution limit and tax bracket increases for the upcoming year. The Social Security Administration does the same, notifying recipients what change in benefits they can expect. You may remember that all of the above--contribution amounts, tax brackets and...

02 Nov 2023 Fed Up With Questions

Posted at 15:16h in The Friday Brief by Jared Korver, CPA, CFP®

How long will the Fed keep rates where they are? Is there another rate hike coming, or will rates start to come down again? If so, when? In the meantime what’s in store for my portfolio? The answer or course—to these and many other important questions—is...

26 Oct 2023 7 Smart Year-End Money Moves

Posted at 16:29h in The Friday Brief by Geoff Hall, CFP®, RICP®

I bet if I asked you for a list of things you're looking forward to during the upcoming Holiday season, tackling a list of personal finance items would not appear in your top 10. Or top 100 for that matter. That's why I like to...

19 Oct 2023 The Lessons of the Crowd

Posted at 17:40h in The Friday Brief by Daniel Logan, CFP®

I recently visited Boone, NC and was able to make a trip to Grandfather Mountain where I enjoyed taking in the beauty of Fall. As I was admiring the changing leaves, I walked past a car in the parking lot that had a "ROBNHD" license...

12 Oct 2023 Don’t Downsize For the Money

Posted at 16:44h in The Friday Brief by Jared Korver, CPA, CFP®

Three and a half years ago, just before COVID hit and housing markets went even higher while interest rates skyrocketed, Ryan wrote a brief entitled "Your Home is Not An Investment (You Probably Won’t Downsize)." An alternative title probably could have been "You Might Downsize...

05 Oct 2023 Control is not a virtue

Posted at 13:31h in The Friday Brief by Jared Korver, CPA, CFP®

There is a pretty strong body of evidence pointing toward the idea that the reduction in independent play in children has been instrumental in the rise of anxiety and depression in children and teens in the U.S. As a parent, this makes intuitive sense on some level,...

28 Sep 2023 Why I Left the NC 529 Plan (And Why You Probably Don’t Need To)

Posted at 15:20h in The Friday Brief by Ryan Smith, CFP®, RICP®, CTS™, MSFP

Emily and I opened 529 accounts for Jack and Gwen within a month of their birth with The College Foundation of North Carolina (CFNC). When I set up Jack’s account more than 10 years ago what initially stuck out was how dated the website was...

20 Sep 2023 How Do You Envision Your Retirement Years?

Posted at 19:50h in The Friday Brief by Geoff Hall, CFP®, RICP®

Several years ago, I stopped asking my clients when they wanted to retire. I came to the realization that it was a difficult question to answer. One of the things that initially tipped me off were the responses I would receive. In terms of frequency,...

14 Sep 2023 The Liturgy of Financial Planning

Posted at 18:41h in The Friday Brief by Daniel Logan, CFP®

One of my favorite books is The Liturgy of the Ordinary by Tish Harrison Warren. In her book, Warren discusses how many of the most mundane tasks and routines we do daily can carry a more profound meaning. I often think of this idea of liturgy...

07 Sep 2023 The IRS On Its Heels

Posted at 12:23h in The Friday Brief by Ryan Smith, CFP®, RICP®, CTS™, MSFP

Since 2010, there have been no fewer than five significant changes to the tax code. It began with the passing of the Affordable Care Act, which added a 0.9% Medicare tax on earnings above a certain threshold plus a 3.8% Net Investment Income Tax (NIIT)...

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