Going Nowhere Fast
By Jon Aldrich If you had went to sleep at the end of September of last year and just woke up, you might think the markets have been pretty boring these last 12 months. Especially, if you just picked up a paper and saw that the S & P 500 was currently around 2900, which…
Read More(Un) Safe Deposit Boxes
Is That Bank Box Really Secure? By Jon Aldrich You probably consider a bank safe deposit box as a safe, secure place to store some of your precious valuables such as jewelry, watches, coins or important documents. You might want to re-evaluate that notion. Imagine walking into your local bank to access your trusty safe…
Read MoreAre You Really Going to Get $125 From the Equifax Settlement?
By Jon Aldrich You have probably heard by now either on social media, the news, or your friends that everyone is entitled to their $125 for damages from the Equifax data breach in 2017. Wow, this is great, how do I partake in this windfall? Well, not so fast. There is an inconvenient truth that…
Read MoreThink Twice Before You Download That App
By Jon Aldrich Our smartphones have become an indispensable part of daily life to many of us. You not only get phone calls and texts on your little wonder device, but now you use it to surf the internet, play games, navigation, watch movies, hail a ride, take pictures and movies, book vacations, as a…
Read MoreAre We Going To Lose The “Stretch” Provision?
A Discussion of some tax proposals affecting IRA’s currently making their way through legislation By Jon Aldrich Over the years we have grown accustomed to the tax laws affecting those of us with IRA’s. You know, the ones, like having to start taking money out at age 70 ½ as a Required Minimum Distribution (RMD)…
Read MoreHappy Tax Day! Now, Let’s Shred the Old Stuff
By Jon Aldrich Happy Tax Day! That dreaded day when all of us here in the United States need to make sure that we have settled up with Uncle Sam for the previous year’s tax bill. Maybe you were one of the roughly 72% of taxpayers that received a refund, if so, then this day…
Read MoreThe Curse of Single Use Plastic
By Jon Aldrich I am not a hard-core environmentalist by any means, but I love nature and the outdoors and I often dream about what it would be like to go back in time a couple thousand years to see how pristine things were before man left his mark and just view how unspoiled this…
Read MoreHere is Your New “Post Card” Size Tax Return
By Jon Aldrich So, how do you like the new “Post-Card” size tax return for 2018? Well, it is a little bit larger than a post card, it is still 8-1/2 x 11 inches, so it is a really big Post Card, but it is supposedly simper. Due to the new Tax Cuts and Jobs…
Read MoreWhat Do You Mean My Health Insurance Won’t Cover Me Outside the Country?
By Jon Aldrich Have you traveled outside of the U.S. without travel insurance which includes a provision for medical costs? If you have and did so without incident, congratulations, you rolled the dice and may have dodged a financial nightmare. I know I have traveled with my family out of the country several times over…
Read MoreEmergency Planning
Are you at least minimally prepared if a calamity strikes? By Jon Aldrich We plan and prepare for retirement, vacations, parties, sending kids to college and for dinner. But how many of us are prepared for a major disruptive event such as a natural disaster (flood, hurricane, tornado, earthquake, wildfire) or a man-made event such…
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