The Latest From Our Blog

“A few weeks ago, my sister was contacted by a debt collections agency requesting payment for a credit card that she didn’t recognize. After some digging, she found out that a fraudster opened a credit card in her name and charged thousands of dollars! Now I’m scared something like this could happen to me. What can I do?” With fraud on the rise, there are steps you can take to protect your credit. Services like LifeLock provide credit monitoring for a monthly fee, but if you’re looking for a no-cost step to take, you can protect your reports proactively for free with a credit freeze.

Through the last two years, investors have seen social and geopolitical events send the stock market into historic highs and lows. Each time the market takes a turn, many clients ask, “How do I preserve my wealth in this volatile market?” FAI's answer always starts with our investment principle of diversification. Read more about the strong impact of diversifying investments in today's market here.

One of the most important decisions that must be made at some point is where your parents should live as they grow older. Each type of housing option has its advantages and disadvantages. Compare a few options here.

Tax deductions and tax credits lower the amount of taxes owed to the government. Understand the fundamental differences between these two terms here.

Nadine was overjoyed when she called to tell us the news: her daughter and son-in-law were expecting – she was going to be a grandma! While Nadine is most looking forward to spoiling her future grandson or granddaughter with playdates and lots of sweets, she also wants to make sure her grandchild can pay for college someday. Read our blog to learn about 4 strategies for college savings.

Investors cannot know with certainty what performance stocks and bonds will return next quarter, next year, or even five years from now. Research indicates that market timing does not work. For example, what was the state of the U.S. economy between 2007 and 2010? The housing market had collapsed, causing broad economic damage. Large banks Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers had gone bankrupt the year before. Unemployment was nearing 10%, a high not seen since 1983.

There are a lot of big things to plan for in a new year such as upcoming vacations, charitable goals, and everyone’s favorite… tax law changes! But don’t worry, we work together with our clients’ CPAs to monitor tax law changes so you don’t have to. While we don’t yet know all the changes that will be put into law, the IRS has released some guidance for contribution limits that you can plan on. We outline four easy ways to make 2022 your most tax-efficient year yet in this blog post.

Annette is a proactive client – she and her husband Charlie have been working through our checklist of conversations with their children and are simplifying their financial records. Annette prioritizes staying organized and can easily handle her monthly cash flow but knows that an unexpected illness or accident would mean that Charlie or her children would have to step in and be her “Chief Operating Officer” as she recovers. We encouraged Annette to draft a Letter of Instruction. Read more here and access our Letter of Instruction template.

When Kelly first came to FAI Wealth Management, she was drowning in paperwork. She had been told to keep important documents anywhere from one year to forever! Kelly was feeling overwhelmed by this mountain of records. She was downsizing and asked her FAI advisor if it was smart to get rid of some of these documents as she prepared to move to her new home. Below is an outline the advice we gave Kelly.

Many people choose to purchase a long-term care (“LTC”) policy to help cover the high costs of in-home health care and nursing care. To help you understand long-term care insurance, here are key terms and benefits. The terminology below is most applicable to traditional long-term care policies but may be found in hybrid policies as well.