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Traditional vs. Hybrid Long-Term Care Insurance: Which is Appropriate for You?
Growing old is simply one thing you can’t avoid. The goal is to enjoy your retirement years as you imagined after a lifetime of working. One aspect of growing old that young people may overlook is long-term care insurance and how...
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High Net-Worth Individuals: Are You Missing Opportunities in Your Financial Planning?
High Net-Worth executives and those that have been self-employed, can experience common problems in their financial planning journey. Often, they have missed opportunities in their financial planning because they haven’t planned...
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What to Know Before You Open Your Next Investment Account
Understanding the difference between taxable, tax-deferred, and tax-exempt accounts can improve portfolio diversification and make a difference in how much you earn over time. But investors may not fully understand how a strategy...
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Understanding 401(k) and IRA Withdrawals for Education Expenses
A student's education expenses may be reduced when a parent uses their tax-advantaged retirement account to help cover tuition and other related costs. With many students graduating with college loan debt, using a 401(k) or IRA may...
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LPL Financial Research Midyear Outlook 2023: The Path Toward Stability
Our 2023 investing outlook started with a theme of returning to normalcy. Considering 2022’s market volatility and the aftereffects of the pandemic, the idea of finding balance was certainly a welcomed change. It’s a theme...
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Financial Freedom, Market Volatility, and You
If recent market volatility has you questioning your opportunities for financial freedom, you are not alone. Due to rising inflation, higher interest rates, a volatile stock market, and recession fears, many investors find themselves...
Read More6 Important Financial Strategies for Your 20s and 30s
Personal finance goals look a little different when you're in your 20s and 30s. While your parents are focused on managing retirement, you might be navigating the challenges of paying off student-loan debt, establishing yourself in a...
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Retirement Annuities Explained: What They Are and How They Work
Having enough retirement income for what you need and want is essential and must be planned for, even in the best economic conditions. A way to provide income safety is by using annuities as an asset class in your retirement portfolio.
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Pre-Vacation Home Safety Tips
Vacation is something that we all look forward to, but it’s important not to forget about your home—and its safety—while you’re away.
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Financial Planning for Foster Care Parents
If you are a current foster care parent or you hope to foster one or more children in the future, your financial planning needs are likely different than those of non-foster parents. Becoming a foster parent in any state requires...
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Life Insurance: How Much Is Enough?
You may already be aware of the importance of having enough life insurance coverage to handle financial matters that could affect your family in the event of your death. However, determining the appropriate amount of coverage for your...
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529 Plans: The Ins and Outs of Contributions and Withdrawals
529 plans can be powerful college savings tools, but you need to understand how your plan works before you can take full advantage of it. Among other things, this means becoming familiar with the finer points of contributions and...
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5 Handy Tools and Resources for Building Financial Literacy
Increasing your financial literacy may allow you to make better decisions about your money and your financial future. Many great resources are available to get you started on the path to financial literacy and to expand your current...
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The Best Investment: Teaching Your Children to Save and Invest
A 2022 Gallup Poll found that 58% of all adult Americans own stock. The top 1% owns more than half the total amount invested among those who own stock. 1 Making investing possible for your children, nieces, nephews and other loved ones...
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Buyer Beware: 4 Educational Tips for National Consumer Protection Week
This year's National Consumer Protection Week is March 5th through March 11th. It's a time to educate people about their rights as consumers and how to make informed decisions about their money. Whether it's taking a hard look at your...
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Spring Has Sprung: Time to Refresh Your Retirement Plan
Spring can be a fantastic time to refresh your retirement plan and savings habits. With 2023 bringing increased limits for 401(k)s, individual retirement accounts (IRAs), Health Savings Accounts (HSAs), and other tax-advantaged...
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5 Steps to Becoming a Wise Health Care Consumer
February is Wise Health Care Consumer Month, designed to help consumers understand more about their health care costs and options. But with about one in four emergency room (ER) visits deemed unnecessary, the improper use of health...
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Lowering the Cost of Health Care
America's spending on health care is growing faster than the rest of the economy. What are the reasons for this, and what can you do to lower your health-care costs?Why is the cost of health insurance rising?The main reason for premium...
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3 Ways to Tackle Your Financial Goals
Though the New Year may bring with it a new opportunity to set and achieve financial goals, the thought of making sweeping changes to your budget and lifestyle may be overwhelming. What can you do to improve your odds of success in...
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Your Financial Fresh Start: 12 Resolutions in 12 Months
Change may be difficult, especially when you try to change your financial habits. The process might be easier if you take an incremental approach. Do you want to get on top of your finances this year? Are you looking for ways to...
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Outlook 2023: Finding Balance
Through all the challenges, newfound opportunities, and every high and low we’ve experienced during the last couple of years, it’s no surprise why we might be striving for more balance. Whether it’s about the markets...
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How to Survive the Holiday Spending Splurge
The holidays should be full of joy, so don’t let the potential for significant spending on gifts and travel linger over your head. Instead, use these tips to look ahead and bounce back to a comfortable financial situation if you...
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A Year-End Wealth Planning Guide
As we approach the end of the year, you may want to review areas that may impact your wealth and estate planning next year. In this year-end planning guide, we examine four critical areas to consider that may affect your finances:...
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Transitioning from a Family Caregiver to Long-Term Care: What You Need to Know
For many families, having a family member act as the caregiver for an aging loved one seems like the perfect option. While it is usually most comfortable for the loved one to be cared for by a family member, it may become difficult for...
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A Quick Guide to Estate Planning for Those With High Net Worth
Even if you never thought of yourself as especially wealthy, there may be a fair chance that you fall into the category of "high net worth individuals"—those who have liquid assets of $1 million or more.1 For many individuals who...
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Tax Planning Tips: Life Insurance
Understanding the importance of life insurance is one thing. Understanding the tax rules is quite another. As insurance products have evolved and become more sophisticated, the line separating insurance vehicles from investment...
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Treat Yourself to These 5 Retirement Savings Tricks
Your retirement is the reward after years of hard work and saving. You might dream of traveling, want to invest in a vacation home, or want to take up a new hobby. For an enjoyable retirement, saving is critical. Take charge of your...
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Celebrate Fall with These 5 Festivals
What’s a better way to celebrate autumns highly anticipated arrival than a harvest festival? From splendid foliage, to flying pumpkins, and delicious seasonal treats, these five annual festivals are certainly one-of-a-kind and...
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Four Tips for Gaining Financial Independence
The golden rule of financial planning: if you can plan it, you can pursue itOver the past July 4th, we celebrated our country’s history of declaring independence and guaranteeing basic human freedoms. But true freedom includes...
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5 Financial Facts About the Sandwich Generation
The "sandwich generation" is the descriptive term for adults generally between the ages of 40 and 59 who are raising a minor child (or supporting a grown child) while also caring for a retirement-age or older parent. With financial...
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Four Things to Know Before You Take Social Security
Preparing for retirement may be an exciting and stressful time. While the idea of leaving the workforce and enjoying more leisure time may be appealing, the prospect of no longer receiving a regular paycheck might be intimidating for...
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Invest in Your Financial Education During Financial Literacy Month
April brings more than possible rain showers. It also marks Financial Literacy Month in the U.S. Whether you’re interested in a quick refresher or seeking to learn something new, it may be worth the effort to brush up on some...
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In 2022 RMD Tables Are Changing, and That's Good News for You!
RMD Tables are changing to keep up with The SECURE Act of 2019. Under The SECURE Act, if you turned age 70 1/2 in 2019, you would've been required to take your first RMD by April 1, 2020. If you turned age 70 1/2 in 2020 or later, you...
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5 Types of Retirement Plans for Small Business Owners
Small business owners are different from the average hourly employee in a lot of ways. One often-overlooked difference is how they plan for retirement. Although small business owners may offer a classic 401(k) for their workers along...
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March Madness and the DJIA – Winners & Losers
Newspapers, radio, and TV news programs refer to the Dow Jones Industrial Average every day, calling it the Dow, sometimes the Dow Jones or even the DJIA. And economists and financial professionals pay close attention to its...
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Retirement Plan Limits on the Rise in 2022
Many IRA and retirement plan limits are indexed for inflation each year. Although the amount you can contribute to IRAs remains the same in 2022, other key numbers will increase, including how much you can contribute to a work-based...
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Inflation: The Not-So-Silent Retirement Killer
Your long-term retirement strategies must account for inflation – or else You hear it all the time: you should make sure your retirement savings at least keep pace with inflation. But what is inflation and how does it really...
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Five New Year's Resolutions for Those Nearing Retirement
Getting ready for retirement is both exciting and daunting. While you are likely looking forward to the enjoyment and relaxation that retirement may bring, you are also cautious about ensuring you have enough money to be able to retire in t
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How to Create the Best Personal Finance Spreadsheet
Creating budgets isn’t always the most fun activity, but it can be easy to budget if you take the time to make a template that works for your needs. There are various financial trackers out there, but the most widely used (and...
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Beware Scams at Tax Time
Identity theft runs rampant during tax season. Here’s what to know and how to protect yourself. Identity thieves often swipe your bank or credit card account numbers, birth date information or Social Security Number (SSN) to...
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