While each person is at a different place in their financial journey the number one sacrifice that needs to be made is time:

• Time to earn your money.
• Time to actively build and manage your financial plan.
• Time to learn about the different types of investments and which ones you should use.
• Time to optimize your spending by finding a good deal on the things you buy.
• Time to find strategies to minimize your taxes.
• Time to improve your mental strength to better deal with things when they go wrong.

There are many factors that influence this decision. If you want to get into the details, just schedule a meeting with me above! For now, let me leave you with these questions:

1. Are you in a financial position to buy?
2. How long will you stay?
3. Which is a better value in your area?
4. If your home’s value doesn’t go up, would you still buy?

There are steps that should be taken to build wealth:

• Understand your cash flow and income situation.
• Save 6-9 months of expenses, personally and for your business.
• Look for ways to lower your tax bill.
• Make sure that you have insurance in case something happens that is unexpected.
• Earn your money and you earn your wealth.

This is one of the most complex situations that you could deal with, it takes time to settle an estate and time equals money and effort, which you will face during the time of loss, when bad decisions are often made. At the most basic level the assets will be used to pay debts and taxes, and then what is left over will be passed on to the beneficiaries or as determined by a probate court.

There are many more questions you need to be asking yourself prior. Set up a time and I can help you make sure you are your family are prepared.

Being wealthy is a mindset that is not meant for every person, it takes discipline, effort and time. The good news is that it has never been easier to build wealth, there are more tools and resources available than ever before. The “bad” news…You will have to earn it, being “rich” is different from being wealthy. Those who are wealthy have put in the time to build their empire, they have taken the time to learn what it takes to achieve their definition of wealth and have planned to ensure that they don’t lose their wealth. Is it difficult to be wealthy? Yes, but it is worth it for the piece of mind that it will bring to your life.

There are times when spending time and money to get a tax deduction is not the right answer and that is dependent on everyone’s specific situation. There are a few strategies that may lower your tax bill.

1. Work with a financial advisor to contribute to the correct retirement account for your situation. Traditional 401(k), Roth 401(k), 403(b), 457 Plan, Traditional or Roth IRA.
2. Work with your CPA and financial advisor to have review any money that you may inherit and adjust how this inheritance is structured to send less to the IRS.
3. Work with a CPA who is proactive and reaches out to you, outside of tax season so that you can adjust your strategy to maximize your tax efficiency.
4. Structure your assets and liabilities to maximize the dollars you keep out of the deep pockets of the IRS.

1. Develop a plan to manage both care and finances, it may be worth it to hire an outside planner or wealth manager to do this work for you and your parents. You and your parents will need to know where all the pieces to the financial puzzle are located (over a lifetime this can become a mess, and things can get lost), know what resources you have available and what the potential cost of their lifestyle and needs will be.
2. Spend time discussing what is important to them, where they want to live, the things they want to do, who they want to care for them and where they want to live, if they need that kind of assistance, you will probably be surprised with their answers.
3. Ensure that they have a current estate and tax plan. These need to be updated regularly as things change, we recommend reviewing every 2-4 years or sooner if needed.
4. Before providing financial resources ensure that you understand the legal and financial implications.

With interest rates so close to all-time lows and banks not paying much in interest since 2008, this is a perfectly normal question to be asking. We view savings as funds for opportunities and emergencies, money that will either allow you to grow your wealth or money that will allow you to face the unexpected without the additional stress finances can so often bring. The higher your level of wealth the higher the amount you should have in savings. The research shows that wealthy families around the world benefit regularly from having 6-9 months of expenses in an emergency fund and an additional dollar amount equal to your emergency fund that is earmarked to take advantage of opportunities in investments, business and life.

Write it down or use a budgeting system, like the one we give our clients 24/7 access to. You need to start with what you pay out of each paycheck, then make sure you have added any monthly, quarterly, semi-annual, or annual expenses. We often see expenses like taxes, insurance, education, vacations and entertainment missed when people build a budget. After you have done this, you need to first put money into savings or investments so that you can accomplish your future goals. Then you will need to save for your non-monthly payments and your monthly bills and then make sure you are paying down debts and adding to your entertainment and vacation funds.

First, you must understand good and bad debt, Good debt is defined as debt that is used to buy assets that put money in your pocket, such as rental property. Bad debt is debt that is used to buy liabilities (depreciating assets) that take money out of your pocket, such as a car.  After you have a budget in place and have accounted for the dollars you have coming in, you need to build a plan for paying off bad debt. We have found that our clients that are most successful in shedding the debt and building wealth is what is known as the avalanche method. This method has 3 steps:

1. Make the minimum payment on all your accounts.
2. Put the rest of your debt budget towards the account with the highest interest rate.
3. Once you have paid off the highest interest rate debt, start paying off the account with the next highest interest rate and then continue these steps until all the bad debts are paid off.

Good debt is defined as debt that is used to buy assets that put money in your pocket, such as rental property or a business. Before you go into debt, we recommend having a financial planning discussion to analyze your intentions and the cash flow that the asset will bring in. You should also understand the legal implications and how you should structure your debt to make it the most tax efficient transaction possible. Good debt, when used and planned for correctly can be used to create access to streams of income for today, tomorrow and generations into the future.