Author archives for Chelsi Balfour
Blog
Understanding Mutual Funds, Index Funds, and ETFs
It’s common knowledge that investing in mutual funds, index funds, or exchange-traded funds (ETFs) can help build a diversified portfolio. These funds hold diverse baskets of securities, including stocks, bonds and other assets from real estate to derivatives. By investing your money in a v …
Read More
Blog
The Advantages of a Family Trust
Family trusts are an important tool for managing wealth across multiple generations. They can help you avoid the time-consuming and costly process of probate, keep your assets private, minimize taxes, and ensure that your wealth is distributed according to your wishes.
Read More
Blog
Let’s Talk About Midterm Elections and Your Investments
This week was midterm elections and we’ve had many questions about what it all could mean, which we’ll tackle in today’s blog. We consider it a great honor to vote, and while we may not know the final results of the election for days (or even months), what we do know is the election will …
Read More
Blog
The Benefits of Donor-Advised Funds
As tax planning season and end-of-year charitable giving begin, it’s a good time to consider the benefits of donor-advised funds. Charitable giving has many facets, most notably as an oppor- tunity for you to support the causes and organizations that reflect your values. But giving is also …
Read More
Blog
Investing During a Bear Market
Lately, financial pundits seem to be constantly warning that a bear market is coming, arguing over whether one has begun or predicting when one will end. It’s less common for them to actually define one. From their ominous tone, you can tell it’s less appealing than its counterpart, a bull …
Read More
Blog
Understanding the Charitable Remainder Trust
The charitable remainder trust (CRT) is a popular retirement- and estate-planning tool. It can be a convenient way to create a stream of lifetime income for yourself and others or donate to a charity while minimizing and deferring taxes. But there are many choices to make when establishing …
Read More
Blog
Smart Ways to Save for Your Child’s Education
If you’re a parent, the start of a new school year may have you considering how much you’re able to set aside for your child’s college fund.
Read More
Blog
An Introduction to Bond Ladders
Bonds play an important role in a diverse investment portfolio. As fixed-income securities, they can provide a stable return until they mature. As with any investment, bonds are subject to a certain amount of risk. Interest rate risk, for one, is the possibility that interest rates will ris …
Read More
Blog
The Sequence of Returns Risk in Retirement
Markets go up and down in ways that are not entirely predictable. For long-term investors, what the market is doing in the present isn’t that troubling; they’ve got a long time to ride out potential downturns. But for recent retirees, an ill-timed market downturn can have a negative impact …
Read More
Blog
How to Weather a Market Correction
Sometimes stock prices drop across the entire market at once triggered by a range of things, such as a natural disaster, political turmoil, concerns over rising interest rates, a global health crisis, or problems within a single sector that cause a domino effect across the market.
Read More