In Our Own Words

Saving Money

These are some light personal finance stories that you might enjoy.

● Allison May Hate This, But I Think Our Maintained $4,000 SUV Works Just Fine
● Sometimes Tom’s Articles Bore Me
● ‘Tis The Season to Consider Giving: Food for Thought
● Costco Tip to Maybe Save You $400
● 99 things to do with extra cash
● Property & Casualty and The Commodity Sales Trap
● Discrimination (against the not yet wealthy) is Still Open and Common in Wealth Management
● Periodically the Share, Save, Spend program we do with our three oldest kids can be a little bit of a burden around our household.
● Overcoming Shame and Fear with Your Finances
● How Some of Your Goals Might Be “Aspirational” or Unnecessary
● Money Saving Ideas That Work For Me
● Health Savings Account – The ROTH IRA on Steroids
● Up to our eyeballs!
● 7 Tips to staying the course with your investment strategy at work
● Middle Class Savings Account Shenanigans
● How to save $50,000 or more per year pre-tax with a cash balance plan

Financial and Estate Planning

Your hard earned money and financial resources will keep moving around whether you know it or not, here are some tips for doing it right.

● BREAKING NEWS: NOT ALL HEADLINES ARE IMPORTANT
● Dance Like the Undertaker
● The Million Dollar Meeting
● The Marriage Penalty and You
● Loving Equally and with Mathematical Precision
● The Cabin Trust Solution
● The Financial Football
● Not Funny
● Stress Testing - What If I Get Killed in a Car Accident Today?
● Social Security Tips from the Guru Herself
● Why Not Have Your Cake and Eat It, Too?
● What Are Your Dominant Charitable Motivations? Decision Decisions – If you get to the bottom maybe you should convert some dollars to a Roth IRA
● The top 10 reasons someone actually seeks out (financial) advice
● #FirstWorldProblems & Alleviating Complexity
● Tax Planning Idea for Physicians
● Knowing Your “Money Scripts” Can Change Your Life
● One Way to Think About Purchases Is in Ratios and Percentages
● When Home Improvement Makes Things Worse
● On Gratitude and Making the Days Count
● This Concept Might Be the Most Important Math Problem for the Next Five Years of Your Financial Life
● Entitlement Spending in Retirement
● The Top 10 Reasons to Start Financial Planning Early
● Credit Card Debt: Where to start?

College Planning

This is an important topic if you don’t have gobs of extra money laying around. Here it’s important to remember “you don't know what you don't know.” The topic is very complex, and there are a lot of valuable tips I’ve collected over the years.

● Will Your Kids or Grandkids Be Going to Private School?
● Eight Late-Stage College Planning Strategies That You Should Know About
● Don't count on sports scholarships and several other great tips from JPM on college planning
● If You Are Serious About Your Child Getting into and Through College Without Crippling Debt
● Some Benefits You Might Not Know About This College Savings Vehicle
● Rising Education Costs: Paying more to be paid less

Aging Well

Monitoring your finances, and tweaking money movements to keep more money in your pocket.

● Fitbit for Your Finances
● How to Make Money on Your Tax Payments in Retirement
● Turning 70 Can be a Confusing Time for Investors
● Burial Insurance
● A brilliant Seussian adaptation to an important topic
● Finding a silver lining of high long-term care medical expenses
● Did you give to charity directly from your IRA last year? If so read this
● There will be no service.
● Nothing Quite Makes Me Sit up and Listen Closely like an Estate Planning Attorney living with Stage 4 Cancer
● Should My Family Worry About the New Inherited Retirement Rules?
● 6 Things We Think You Need To Know
● The Growing Problem of Divorce Late in Life and How It Impacts Finances

Investing

This is such a wide topic, I’ve tried to condense it to the most valuable observations that might be helpful to you.

● The Pomposity of Investing
● You Never Know
● If You Bet on the End of the World and You “Win”, Who Are You Going to
Collect From?
● Knowing That We Don’t Know
● Gut Check - Now That The Market is High, It Might Be Time to Revisit The Risk
● On Market Timing and Risk Management
● When Will the Market Crash?
● The DOW Just Passed Twenty-Six Thousand, Should You Sell?
● What is a “Hybrid Bond” Investment?
● New Capital Gains Tax Rates
● The World is Changing, Should Your Investments Change, Too?
● Paperwork is Boring, But It Can Be Good
● It’s time to change the conversation regarding qualified plans
● The Smart Money
● How to use your Health Savings Account (HSA) to save for more than just medical expenses!
● How Much Risk We Are Okay With Is Fluid
● Stop the dividends!
● For Those That Invested in Their Health Savings Account, This Is the Season to Be Thankful
● Tips to staying the course with your investment strategy in your retirement account
● The one that almost got away…

Never Use Absolutes and other Miscellaneous items

● Tax Planning for 2018-2025
● An 8% Simple Return for Eight Years
● So excited with my new normal distribution device!
● Should I Take an Early Distribution from my Retirement Savings Account?
● I’m Moving to a No Tax State, Do I Need A New Financial Planner?
● PSA on Health Savings Accounts
● A Picture is Worth 10,000 words
● So, You're Eligible for Your Company’s 401k, Now What?
● You Know You Own That Right?
● Bad News for Charities
● Times continue to change for the better
● I literally just got 10 Trillion dollars in the mail
● The Big Data Breach and You
● If You Know Someone Who is Grieving, These Rough Notes May Be Helpful
● Schwab is now Providing Charitably Minded Clients a Checkbook for Their
IRAs’s!
● Have You Ever Heard These Sayings?
● I Told a Millionaire to Think About Taking Out a Car Loan the Other Day
● Ninety Pounds
● Another Day, Another Dubious Fear Mongering Sales Pitch
● I feel duped
● What we do is not hard compared to what you did
● Our Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis
● For those few Quicken users left, if you have money at My529 for college savings
● Should We Buy Life Insurance on Junior?
● Tim Jaynes Earns Accredited Investment Fiduciary Analyst AIFA® Designation from Fi360
● Should I Pay Myself More?
● Tough Mudder Completed

Notes From Interesting Speakers We Have Heard

● Lessons from the Bernie Madoff Scandal
● Medical Crisis & Medical Debt Pro Bono Workshop Notes
● I had the opportunity to hear a billionaire speak the other day
● Notes from Enron expert and author Bethany McLean
● For those of you who love podcasts like me, I thought this might be interesting.
● Views from Ben Bernanke
● Insights from Janet Yellen
● Allison and I recently attended an interesting talk on Capitalism by the great-grandson of President Taft, John Taft.
● Lessons on Making a Difference in the Lives of Young People from Alan Page
● What Will They Say About You When You Are Gone?
● Wealth = Responsibility

Financial Planning Infographics

COLLEGE PLANNING

• What Issues Should I Consider To Fund My Child’s College Education?
• Is the Distribution From My 529 Plan Taxable?

ESTATE PLANNING

• What Issues Should I Consider Before Closing The Estate
• What Issues Should I Consider After Getting Married?
• What Issues Should I Consider If My Parent Passed Away
• What Issues Should I Consider During My Divorce

PERSONAL FINANCE

• What Issues Should I Consider If I Lose My Job?
• What Issues Should I Consider When Buying a Home?
• What Issues Should I Consider When Having (Or Adopting) A Child?
• What Issues Should I Consider For My Aging Parents?
• What Issues Should I Consider When Reviewing My Property & Casualty Insurance Policies?
• What Issues Should I Consider When Reviewing My Health And Life Insurance Policies?
• Should you roll over your old retirement account?
• Am I eligible for Medicare?

SOCIAL SECURITY

• Will I Avoid The Social Security Windfall Elimination Provision?
• Will I Avoid Social Security’s Government Pension Offset?
• What Issues Should I Consider If My Spouse Passed Away
• What Issues Should I Consider Before I Update My Estate Plan
• How does Social Security work for divorced people?
• How does Social Security work when your spouse dies?
• Will my Social Security benefit be reduced?

RETIREMENT PLANNING

• What Issues Should I Consider Before I Retire
• If I Retire Early, Should I Buy Health Insurance Through The Health Insurance Marketplace?

TAXES

• Will I Receive A Step-Up In Basis For This Gifted Property
• Can I Make A Mega Backdoor Roth IRA Contribution?
• Will I Receive A Step-Up In Basis For This Inherited Property?
• Will The Deductibility Of My Retirement Plan Contributions Be Impacted By The QBI Rules?
• Will I Have To Pay Tax On The Sale Of My Investment
• What Documents Do I Need To Keep On File?
• As Someone Who Is Working, What Issues Should I Consider When Reviewing My Tax Return?
• As A Retiree, What Issues Should I Consider When Reviewing My Tax Return?
• Important Tax Planning Numbers for 2020
• Can I do a qualified charitable distribution from my IRA?
• Will a distribution from your Roth IRA be tax and penalty-free?
• Can I make a deductible IRA contribution?
• Should I set up a 401k for my business?
• Am I Eligible For A Qualified Business Income Deduction?
• Can I contribute to a Roth IRA?
  
• Can I make a backdoor Roth IRA contribution?
  
• Will my Roth IRA conversion be penalty-free?
  
• Can I Do A Net Unrealized Appreciation (NUA) Distribution?
• Can I Make A Deductible Contribution To My HSA?

Getting Started with ISC Financial Advisors

● Are there accounts for family members that you don't see when you log in?
● An 8% Simple Return for Eight Years
● We are excited to announce the launch of your new online account dashboard!
● Your Financial RoadMap