Don't pay more than needed by checking out these tax-reducing steps.
At Axial we feel it is always important to recognize our team members for their extraordinary determination and development in their careers. Dan Lahiff, a Retirement Plan Associate from our benefits department, was recently named one of NAPA's Top 100 Young Retirement Plan Advisors in the country, also known as, "Aces".
2021 Market Outlook
Posted by The Axial Company
We’re nearing the end of a hard year, with the pandemic raging once again and the economy starting to slow. On the other hand, vaccines will soon be coming into play, companies are adapting, and there is the possibility of a spending boom next year. Despite risks ahead (e.g., the chance of another surge of infections with holiday travel), could 2021 be better for medical news, for the economy, and for the markets?
© 2020 Commonwealth Financial Network®
© The Axial Company. All Rights reserved. 5 Burlington Woods, Suite 102 Burlington, Massachusetts
Disclosure: Certain sections of this commentary contain forward-looking statements based on our reasonable expectations, estimates, projections, and assumptions. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve certain risks and uncertainties, which are difficult to predict. Past performance is not indicative of future results. Diversification does not assure a profit or protect against loss in declining markets. All indices are unmanaged and investors cannot invest directly into an index. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is a price-weighted average of 30 actively traded blue-chip stocks. The S&P 500 Index is a broad-based measurement of changes in stock market conditions based on the average performance of 500 widely held common stocks. The Nasdaq Composite Index measures the performance of all issues listed in the Nasdaq Stock Market, except for rights, warrants, units, and convertible debentures. The MSCI EAFE Index is a float-adjusted market capitalization index designed to measure developed market equity performance, excluding the U.S. and Canada. The MSCI Emerging Markets Index is a market capitalization-weighted index composed of companies representative of the market structure of 26 emerging market countries in Europe, Latin America, and the Pacific Basin. It excludes closed markets and those shares in otherwise free markets that are not purchasable by foreigners. The Bloomberg Barclays Aggregate Bond Index is an unmanaged market value-weighted index representing securities that are SEC-registered, taxable, and dollar-denominated. It covers the U.S. investment-grade fixed-rate bond market, with index components for a combination of the Bloomberg Barclays government and corporate securities, mortgage-backed pass-through securities, and asset-backed securities. The Bloomberg Barclays U.S. Corporate High Yield Index covers the USD-denominated, non-investment-grade, fixed-rate, taxable corporate bond market. Securities are classified as high-yield if the middle rating of Moody’s, Fitch, and S&P is Ba1/BB+/BB+ or below.
Posted by Sam Millette, Commonwealth Financial Network, Dec 14, 2020
Tis’ the season for giving. And taking. As more Christmas shopping is done online, scammers are coming up with clever ways to con you out of your hard-earned dollar. The days of worrying about the fraudulent cashier’s check in the mail are long gone. Scammers are getting more clever and sophisticated in the ruse to trick you into giving them your money. With Black Friday and Cyber Monday on the horizon, scammers are deploying the latest tricks of their trade to catch you in the midst of a post-Thanksgiving food coma. Experts warn that now is the time to be most vigilant while taking advantage of those annual holiday deals.
Authored by Brad McMillan, CFA®, CAIA, MAI, managing principal, chief investment officer, at Commonwealth Financial Network®.
© 2020 Commonwealth Financial Network®
© The Axial Company. All Rights reserved. 5 Burlington Woods, Suite 102 Burlington, Massachusetts
Disclosure: Certain sections of this commentary contain forward-looking statements based on our reasonable expectations, estimates, projections, and assumptions. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve certain risks and uncertainties, which are difficult to predict. Past performance is not indicative of future results. Diversification does not assure a profit or protect against loss in declining markets. All indices are unmanaged and investors cannot invest directly into an index. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is a price-weighted average of 30 actively traded blue-chip stocks. The S&P 500 Index is a broad-based measurement of changes in stock market conditions based on the average performance of 500 widely held common stocks. The Nasdaq Composite Index measures the performance of all issues listed in the Nasdaq Stock Market, except for rights, warrants, units, and convertible debentures. The MSCI EAFE Index is a float-adjusted market capitalization index designed to measure developed market equity performance, excluding the U.S. and Canada. The MSCI Emerging Markets Index is a market capitalization-weighted index composed of companies representative of the market structure of 26 emerging market countries in Europe, Latin America, and the Pacific Basin. It excludes closed markets and those shares in otherwise free markets that are not purchasable by foreigners. The Bloomberg Barclays Aggregate Bond Index is an unmanaged market value-weighted index representing securities that are SEC-registered, taxable, and dollar-denominated. It covers the U.S. investment-grade fixed-rate bond market, with index components for a combination of the Bloomberg Barclays government and corporate securities, mortgage-backed pass-through securities, and asset-backed securities. The Bloomberg Barclays U.S. Corporate High Yield Index covers the USD-denominated, non-investment-grade, fixed-rate, taxable corporate bond market. Securities are classified as high-yield if the middle rating of Moody’s, Fitch, and S&P is Ba1/BB+/BB+ or below.
On October 22, we hosted our annual Social Security and Retirement Planning Webinar with our loyal
With the presidential election just around the corner, we want to keep you informed on possible tax policies and plans in place depending on who will win. The below article will explain, in brief, the major points of each candidates plan.
After the election, we will be in touch with additional year end tax planning information in more detail.
As always, please feel free to contact us with any questions.
Social Security and Retirement Planning: Expert Answers to your Social Security Questions As Baby Boomers reach retirement age, they are beginning to realize that Social Security is going to play a bigger part in their retirement than they had previously thought. But they are also starting to realize that they don’t know as much about the system as they should. |
Medicare Open Enrollment for 2021 Begins October 15The annual Medicare Open Enrollment Period is the time during which Medicare beneficiaries can make new choices and pick plans that work best for them. Each year, Medicare plan costs and coverage typically change. In addition, your health-care needs may have changed over the past year. The Open Enrollment Period — which begins on October 15 and runs through December 7 — is your opportunity to switch Medicare health and prescription drug plans to better suit your needs. |
Posted by Brad McMillan, CFA, CAIA, MAI, October 1, 2020
September was a tough month for the markets. They began the month with a drop and ended with everything down, but by much less than feared.
Salene Hitchcock-Gear, President of Prudential Individual Life Insurance, June 30, 2020
By Alexis Leondis, 6/3/20
Presented by The Axial Company
Presented by The Axial Company
They did it again! For the 7th time in a row, J.D. Power has ranked our broker-dealer firm, Commonwealth Financial Network, #1 in it’s 2020 U.S. Independent Financial Advisor and Customer Satisfaction Study!
By James Royal , Jun. 18, 2020
The coronavirus pandemic has hit Americans hard, and a new Bankrate survey says Americans’ top financial regret is not having enough emergency savings to withstand the crisis.
The survey shows that of Americans with financial regrets, the biggest regret is a lack of emergency savings, which was noted by 23 percent of respondents. But when it comes to their biggest financial priority going forward, Americans are focused on paying down debt (22 percent), followed by saving more for emergencies (17 percent).
“At first blush, the regret about lack of emergency savings and the prioritization of debt repayment may seem at odds with each other — but not so,” says Greg McBride, CFA, Bankrate chief financial analyst. “Consumers can actually make meaningful progress on both fronts at the same time by setting up a direct deposit from their paycheck into a dedicated savings account and earmarking more discretionary dollars toward debt repayment.”
Bankrate surveyed 1,343 American adults about their financial regrets as they relate to the coronavirus. Below are the main findings from the survey.
Key takeaways:
•Americans’ biggest financial regret about the coronavirus pandemic is lacking emergency savings, with 23 percent citing this reason.
•Americans’ top financial priority for the future is paying down debt, with 22 percent naming this goal.
•Not enough emergency savings was the top regret for every income group, but not every age group.
The biggest financial regrets since the pandemic
Americans said that their largest financial regret about the coronavirus pandemic was not having enough emergency savings, with 23 percent of Americans targeting this regret. Other top responses included not having enough retirement savings (20 percent) and having too much debt (17 percent). About 20 percent of respondents said they didn’t know their top regret.
As a May Bankrate surveyed showed, more than one in four Americans have taken or anticipate taking money from their retirement accounts to make it through the coronavirus crisis.
The top financial priorities going forward
While Americans cited not enough emergency savings as their top regret, their top financial priority once the U.S. starts to recover from financial hardship doesn’t exactly match up. Instead, Americans are more focused on paying down debt, with 22 percent of respondents mentioning this goal.
Many Americans seem unprepared, and about 17 percent said they didn’t know what their top priority was. A similar number said they intended to save more for emergencies.
Among respondents who cited a financial priority, paying down debt was the top priority among millennials (20 percent), Generation X (24 percent) and boomers (25 percent). Generation Z cited finding more stable income (22 percent) as their top priority, while the Silent Generation said “some other financial priority” was the biggest deal for them (21 percent).
Broken out by income group, paying down debt was cited most often as the financial priority among those who expressed a priority:
•27 percent among households earning $30,000 to $49,999
•28 percent for households earning $50,000 to $79,999
•21 percent among households earning $80,000 and more
Among households earning less than $30,000, the top priority was saving more for emergencies at 21 percent, though a further 22 percent said they didn’t know what their priority was.
How much Americans regret their financial choices
Bankrate’s survey also asked Americans to rate their level of regret about their financial status (emergency savings, retirement savings, debt, income stability and living beyond their means) since the coronavirus started.
Americans evoked similar levels of regretfulness about saving for emergencies and for retirement:
•Emergency savings: 16 percent of Americans were very regretful and 22 percent somewhat regretful.
•Retirement savings: 16 percent were very regretful and 23 percent somewhat regretful.
The regretfulness associated with the remaining three categories was notably less:
•Amount of debt: Very regretful (13 percent) and somewhat regretful (18 percent)
•Income stability: Very regretful (11 percent) and somewhat regretful (18 percent)
•Living beyond your means: Very regretful (9 percent) and somewhat regretful (18 percent)
Of those who expressed regret, not enough emergency savings was the top regret for every income group (below $30,000, $30,000 to $49,999, $50,000 to $79,999 and more than $80,000).
By age group, not enough emergency savings was the top financial regret for millennials (24 percent) and Generation X (25 percent). In contrast, not enough retirement savings was the top regret for boomers and the Silent Generation who expressed a regret.
Lower income was associated with a higher tendency to list income stability as the top financial regret, with households earning less than $30,000 per year being the highest at 18.6 percent.
The list is rounded out by:
•12.6 percent of households earning $30,000 to $49,999
•11.6 percent of households earning $50,000 to $79,999
•11.3 percent of households earning more than $80,000
How Americans can protect themselves
Whether it’s emergency savings or retirement savings, Americans regret not saving more, with about 43 percent of respondents noting one or the other. The results from this survey echo those from a recent Bankrate survey showing that Americans are behind in their retirement savings.
One of the best steps to take is to automate savings, whether it’s retirement or emergency savings. By doing so, workers can avoid the temptation to not save.
For retirement savings such as a 401(k), it’s easy to have the money pulled directly from your paycheck and invested. If you’re already saving there, you can also easily increase how much is pulled from your pay. But you can also set up your IRA to deposit money from your bank account automatically.
For emergency savings, you can set up the same kind of automatic transfer. Have your bank transfer money from your account on a regular basis, for example, whenever your paycheck hits the account.
Second, you’ll also want to take advantage of a high-yield savings account. While it can be convenient to keep your money with one bank, that approach may be costing you. And with the ease of moving money from one bank to another, it’s simple to have an online bank account that offers you a higher level of interest, but you’ll need to shop around for the best rates.
This study was conducted for Bankrate via online interview by YouGov. Interviews were conducted from June 3 – June 4, 2020 among a sample of 1,343 adults. Data are weighted and are intended to be representative of all U.S. adults, and therefore are subject to statistical errors typically associated with sample-based information.
The accompanying pages have been developed by an independent third party. Commonwealth Financial Network is not responsible for their content and does not guarantee their accuracy or completeness, and they should not be relied upon as such. These materials are general in nature and do not address your specific situation. For your specific investment needs, please discuss your individual circumstances with your representative. Commonwealth does not provide tax or legal advice, and nothing in the accompanying pages should be construed as specific tax or legal advice. Securities and advisory services offered through Commonwealth Financial Network, Member FINRA/SIPC, a Registered Investment Adviser. Fixed insurance products and services offered through Axial Financial Group are separate and unrelated to Commonwealth.
Featured image by Getty Images; Illustration by Bankrate. © 2020 Bankrate, LLC. A Red Ventures company. All Rights Reserved.
© The Axial Company. All Rights reserved. 5 Burlington Woods, Suite 102 Burlington, Massachusetts