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Financial resolutions to maintain throughout the new year

Posted By Lineweaver Financial Group
January 25, 2023 Category: Resolutions, Finance, Goals, Coordination

By Jim Lineweaver, CFP®, AIF® President and Founder It might not be so shocking to learn that many of us don’t stick to our New Year’s resolutions. In fact, according to a study conducted by the University of Scranton in Pennsylvania, only 8% of people achieved their New Year’s resolutions in 2021.  One problem that typically arises is that we set aspirational goals for ourselves instead of ones based on the reality of integrating them into our everyday activities. This can set us up for failure and create self-doubt in our abilities. Here’s a list of attainable resolutions I’ve put together to give you the confidence needed to stay true to your financial goals throughout the new year.  The first resolution that will help set a solid foundation to your financial plan is to set aside time to look at your insurance plans. You’ll want to make sure all your insurance is in proper order including life insurance, disability insurance and even property and casualty. Because we specialize in working with retirees, long-term care is of top priority to our clients. And if you have rental or vacation homes, you may want to consider an umbrella policy.  Another resolution is to establish your financial goals. Both long and short financial goals should be driven by your personal goals. That could look like sending your children or grandchildren to college, passing on the family business or having a retirement plan tha

The Power of Coordination

Posted By Lineweaver Financial Group
April 18, 2019 Category: Coordination, Tax, Legal, Insurance, Financial, Wills, Estate Planning, Taxes, Retirement

  At the Lineweaver Companies, we believe a team approach to coordinating all your financial, legal, tax, and insurance needs helps save you time, money and worry.   For example, we had clients who were both close to retirement, and unfortunately the husband had been diagnosed with terminal cancer. The first thing we did was to work with them to make sure his pension was triggered in such a way that the wife could receive a greater lifetime benefit - almost a million more dollars than she would have otherwise received.   At the same time, in this sort of situation, you have to consider powers of attorney – and other basic estate planning documents that everyone should have, like wills, and even if trusts make sense for your particular situation.   There were also huge student loan balances of more than $120,000. But, because they kept the loans entirely in the father’s name, when he passed, the debt was forgiven. But what many people don’t know is that the forgiveness of debt – in this case student loan debt - is considered income by the IRS – and therefore taxable. As you can imagine, in this case it was significant: an additional $40,000. However, we were able to work with the family and the IRS to get the entire amount forgiven as well – so they ended up having the debt and the tax bill forgiven.   Given the pension payouts and their savings, they had significant assets that needed to be managed eff