The data breach at Equifax, which exposed at least 143 million people’s financial data, is a symptom of the Age of Accelerations. Accelerations in globalization and technology are enabling thieves to be ever more sophisticated in their crimes. If even a company where data security should be paramount can be compromised, how are far less sophisticated consumers to protect themselves? Until the system changes, it is on us to protect ourselves. Read more
With over 100,000 people displaced by the North Bay fires, chances are even if you weren’t directly impacted by them, you may know someone who was. Recovering from a catastrophic loss of this nature is complicated by the emotional challenges of grieving from the loss. We’ve included some tips below to help begin the long road to recovery, gathered from survivors of previous fires and insurance experts. Read more
Redwood Grove Wealth Management is pleased to announce that Tanya Steinhofer was awarded the 2017 Heart of Financial Planning award by the Financial Planning Association (FPA). The Heart of Financial Planning Award recognizes financial planning professionals, firms and organizations that demonstrate remarkable commitment and passion to contribute or give back to the financial planning community and/or public.
A Massachusetts woman recently won the biggest lottery prize in US history – $759 million. She did what many lottery winners do and contrary to what most financial planners would advise, which is to quit her job and take the prize as a lump sum of $480 million before taxes, instead of installments over a period of years.
A book I recently read, Thank You for Being Late by Thomas Friedman, helped make sense of the crazy world we live in. I’ve been feeling like things are moving ever faster and finding it overwhelming at times to deal with the hectic nature of life. This book helped me understand why I am feeling this way and had some good ideas on how to deal with the world we live in.
With summer vacation around the corner, you might be wondering how you will keep your kids occupied all summer and not hear, “I’m bored”, constantly. While figuring out what to do on their own has its own benefits, if you’d like to offer them some helpful ideas, here are a few activities that can help them learn something useful, too. Our job as parents is to raise independent, responsible adults and our time with them is fleeting, so it’s important to maximize every teachable moment.
This time of year, parents of high school seniors may find themselves experiencing dual emotions related to their kids – pride over the top-tier colleges their child has been accepted to and shock over how much it’s going to cost. Another emotion might quickly set in for those who haven’t saved enough for college – panic over how in the world they are going to pay for their child’s dream college. With the average annual all-in cost of a private university now approximately $50,000 and some elite schools in the $70,000 range, many people can’t easily pay for college out of cash flow. What’s the panicked parent to do?
April is financial literacy month. Financial literacy is an understanding of money – how to make it,
how to manage it, how to invest it, and how to give back. Understanding money and how it works has
never been more important. The collective debt burden of United States citizens is $11.5 trillion dollars. This is 75% of US GDP. Only the United States and European Union have a consumer debt-to-GDP ratio this high. College loan debt is on the rise and now totals over $1 billion dollars. 38% of adults don’t think they’ll have enough to retire. Since 1 in 3 people have no retirement savings, they’re probably right.
Raising kids is expensive. By my estimate, it can cost close to $500K to raise a child, including college, in expensive parts of the country like the Bay Area. So, it’s helpful to know that there are certain tax advantages to having kids. A few of the more common ones are outlined below.
If you are like the 44% of Americans who made New Year’s resolutions in January, you might by now also be feeling like the 92% of people who fail to keep their resolutions. If so, you might be wondering what is the best way to stay on track? What can I do if I fall off the wagon? Or why bother setting them at all?