Kick-Start Your Child’s Retirement Savings by Rolling Over Unused NYS 529 Plan Assets
With college costs increasing at a rate greater than inflation, investing within a 529 plan offers participants the opportunity to keep up with rising education expenses with some immediate tax savings upon funding. Since there are many unknown factors as to how much your child’s future education expenses will cost, it can be difficult to […]
New Options for SUNY ORP at TIAA
Starting July 23, 2024, TIAA is offering a new lifecycle fund program and an investment option for the SUNY Optional Retirement Program. SUNY Targeted Allocation Retirement Series (STARS) The STARS program is a hands-free approach that utilizes a combination of investment options to arrive at an allocation based on the participant’s projected retirement date. STARS […]
Revisiting I-Bonds
I-Bonds were a fantastic investment opportunity in 2022 as inflation rates were the highest we had seen in decades. I-Bonds purchased from May 1st through October 31st of 2022 earned a return of 9.62% (annualized) for the first six months. Since then, rates on I-Bonds purchased during that period in 2022 have been much more […]
TIAA Traditional – Interest Rate Renewals
Many clients have employer sponsored plans with TIAA-CREF which offers various investment options including TIAA Traditional, its flagship fixed annuity product. This type of financial product guarantees a minimum rate of interest while you save, and if you annuitize your retirement plan, it provides a minimum monthly amount of income during retirement like Social Security […]
Cash Management In A Declining Interest Rate Environment
Over the last two years, interest rates have risen at a historic clip. As a result, Rockbridge has dedicated moretime helping clients manage cash reserves to take advantage of the current market environment. In previous years, “high yield” savings accounts were (and some still are) paying less than 1%. Now, it is easy to find […]
Maintaining Equity Exposure in the Current Interest Rate Environment
In today’s interest rate environment, some investors are tempted to lock in “guaranteed” returns through fixed income instruments yielding 5% or more. However, investing solely in fixed income would be a mistake for most long-term investors. Discussed below are a few reasons why that is the case: Higher Long-Term Returns Over the past 90 years, […]
Staying the Course and Holding Fast to Your Investment Strategy
From social media feeds to financial news outlets, we’re constantly bombarded with a stream of updates, opinions, and analysis. Access to so much information can be empowering, but can also be overwhelming. How do we know which sources to trust and where should we focus our attention? With inflation making daily headlines, stock market volatility, […]
Why hire a fee-only financial advisor?
If you are looking for a financial advisor, you may have heard the term “fee only financial advisor” and wondered what it means. A fee only financial advisor is an advisor who is compensated solely by the fees they charge to clients for their services. They do not receive commissions from selling financial products, which […]
Interest Rate Outlook – November 2022
In early November, the Fed raised interest rates by 75 bps, marking the sixth rate hike since March 17th, 2022, and four consecutive .75 bps increases. This puts the Fed Funds rate (the short-term rate guiding overnight lending) up to a range of 3.75% to 4.00%, pushing borrowing costs to a new high since 2008. […]
How Do We Choose the Funds We Use?
Does it seem like there’s been an extra level of uncertainty lately, threatening your investment plans? Of course, there are always big events going on; that’s the world for you. But today’s brew of geopolitical threats, inflation trends, rising interest rates, recessionary fears, and lingering COVID concerns may feel especially daunting. The market’s volatile reactions […]
