Insights

Last fall, I helped my daughter move to Philadelphia to start her next chapter. It was her third day in the city when I found myself reflecting on a topic  that has felt more personal lately: how to ensure your spending aligns with your values.

As families face aging, illness, or recovery, the need for in-home healthcare has become more common, and more personal. Finding the right professional to care for your loved one is more than a logistical task. It’s an emotional and financial decision that directly impacts your family’s quality of life.

Financial scams targeting older adults are sadly becoming more common, and more sophisticated. Seniors are often targeted because scammers assume they have significant savings, are less familiar with digital technology, or may be more trusting in unfamiliar situations.

It all begins with an idea.

It all begins with an idea.

Election years can stir up a whirlwind of emotions among investors...

It all begins with an idea.

You may have heard the term Financial Wellness tossed around on the web over the past few years—especially since the onset of the pandemic. I have always believed in this concept and am happy to hear it has gained a lot of traction—if one doesn’t feel financially well it can lead to all sorts of stresses and impact one’s mental health.

For those not familiar with the phrase “aging in place,” simply put, it refers to choosing to stay in your home with family, friends, and neighbors around you as you grow older (instead of moving to a residential facility designed to support long-term care, such as an assisted-living facility)

It all begins with an idea.

We recently launched a weekly team post entitled Thursday Thrive! which is intended to offer snackable ideas on how to grow and develop well (and vigorously). Subjects include tips on productivity, wellness, and team collaboration in an effort to offer insights that will enable us individually—and as a team—to thrive.

We talk a lot around the office about work/life balance, and for some reason, while it has always been a concept that I support, the terminology has never seemed to resonate with me. Perhaps because I am not sure that there is ever truly a balance—which to me has meant equalization—in my family, my marriage, and my unmet goals.

Investors are often preoccupied with generating attractive returns and managing risk in their portfolios. However, one aspect that should not be overlooked is the tax efficiency of our investments. Diversified portfolios hold a wide range of investments with different asset classes/securities having different return and tax efficiency characteristics. Tax-efficient asset class placement can have a significant impact on long-term wealth accumulation and should be an integral part of any investor’s strategy. This is a strategy that we, at Meira, have regularly used over the years.

Our MEIRA clients are increasingly utilizing charitable giving by donating to charities through Qualified Charitable Distributions (QCDs) from their IRA Investment accounts (if you’d like to learn more, please let us know). In some cases, we’ve had clients who wanted assistance in identifying a charitable organization, so I developed a bit of a how-to-guide below.

Some people like to take quizzes and if you’re one of those read on. The answers are at the end of the article, so don’t peek.

Winter of 2022…it was a regular working day, where in the evening I was to meet a friend for dinner. As I was leaving for dinner, my cellphone stopped working and said SOS—little did I know it wasn’t because I didn’t have a signal!

Part of our role as Financial Planners is to ask questions that go beyond the numbers. Most of our clients have a goal of accumulating assets and making sure that they spend their money wisely. These are very important goals, but it's important to make sure that we think about other risks that we all face as we age.

Most people when asked what investment risk is typically respond with the phrase "losing money." There are many more layers than just that simple answer and knowing how to respond to the different kinds of risk can help you be more knowledgeable about your investments.

I was blessed to have been raised by a mother who believed in spending less than you make. Thankfully, that belief is ingrained in me and particularly came into play when my older child went off to a private college four years ago! I reexamined our monthly expenses and was determined to find ways to save money.

After a recent client meeting about estate planning (when we were asked if it was required that your body be processed with formaldehyde whe you die), I told them that I would look into the matter about alternative options for burial.

Frequently, we find that a client’s estate plan does not address the placement of pets or provide for their financial support after their owner’s incompetence or death.

Since I can remember, I have always tried to practice making the most of any situation in life. One of my favorite things to do outside of work is to travel.

A few weeks ago, our team enjoyed an offsite meeting at a resort in Key Largo that included some fun activities to disconnect and also some focused work as a team. One of the particularities of the resort is their restrictive policy around cell phone usage in certain areas. On the way back, my wife and I started a dialogue about the impact the 24/7 connectivity that our smartphones and the internet are having in our lives. It was just a few decades ago that we were still consuming information at a slower pace, outside of the digital world. Are we better off as a society, as a result? Certainly, the ability to provide access to information and knowledge to a wider audience will generally lead to progress. At the same time, are we happier than older generations in this hyper-connected world? I will let you answer that question for yourself.