Let’s get in a time machine and go back to ten years ago today, October 9th, 2007, the day the Dow Jones Industrials Average hit its pre-financial crisis high. You arrive to a world where there are no iPads, no Tesla electric cars and George Bush is president. Facebook has only been open to non-college… read more
Your Personal Info Has Been Stolen—What to Do
September 11, 2017
Posted in: Financial Planning
Equifax, one of the three major credit reporting agencies, announced yesterday that criminals had accessed the personal information of about 143 million Americans, more than half the adult population. According to Equifax, “The information accessed primarily includes names, Social Security numbers, birth dates, addresses and, in some instances, driver’s license numbers.” And over 200,000 credit… read more
Retirement Tax Planning Opportunities
August 14, 2017
Posted in: Fee Only, Financial Planning, Retirement Planning, Taxes
Pre-retirees are often focused on how much money that they’ll be able to draw for their retirement income, but how much you can spend will depend on how the withdrawals are taxed. Incorporating sophisticated tax planning into your retirement income plans can offer some opportunities to save a substantial amount of taxes. Most couples with… read more
Can You Afford a Vacation Home?
July 14, 2017
Posted in: Financial Planning, Investments
By Frank Moore, MS, CFP Back in the mid-1990’s I was in my mid-30’s and discovered a great vacation property “up north” in Michigan. The area offered great amenities and the prices were more affordable than some of the more popular tourist towns. There were places to rent in the area, too, but I wondered… read more
Vintage Named to FT 300
June 22, 2017
Posted in: In the News
Vintage is pleased to announce that we were named to the Financial Times 300 list of the country’s top RIA firms for 2017. We were one of just nine firms in Michigan to make the exclusive list. The average firm on the list manages $2.7 billion and about two thirds of the ranking formula is… read more
Tax Troubles with Annuities
June 13, 2017
Posted in: Estate Planning, Financial Planning, Investments, Retirement Planning, Taxes
If someone has tried to sell you an annuity, chances are one of the main benefits that they pushed was the tax deferral. What they didn’t mention is that you could pay at least ten times more in taxes with an annuity than with a taxable mutual fund. Let’s say that you’re 50 years old… read more
Eighth Wonder of the World
May 23, 2017
Posted in: Financial Planning, Retirement Planning
It’s graduation season and thousands of new college graduates will be starting their first “real world” jobs in the coming months. As they prepare to begin “adulting” they’ll face all kinds of demands on their new paychecks including security deposits, new furniture, a work wardrobe and maybe even their own cell phone plan. At the… read more
Fight Back on Health Care Costs
May 9, 2017
Posted in: Financial Planning
If you’ve been billed for medical costs in recent years, you might well have been outraged at the amounts charged and the lack of explanation about your bill. If you’re lucky, your health insurance provider negotiated a discount, but chances are your deductible and co-pay amounts have climbed in recent years so that you got… read more
The Rule That Would Help Investors—Won’t
April 10, 2017
Posted in: Fee Only, Financial Planning, Investments, Retirement Planning
The new Department of Labor rule to protect investors was supposed to go into effect today. It would require any financial advisor giving you advice or selling you products for your retirement accounts to put your interests first and act as a fiduciary. But it didn’t happen. The DoL has spent the past seven years… read more
Jim Burns Quoted in Financial Planning Magazine
March 20, 2017
Posted in: In the News
Jim Burns was quoted in Financial Planning magazine last week in an article titled, “Advisers Split on Morningstar’s New Mutual Funds.” One of Jim’s quotes was “We are focused on risk-, tax- and cost-adjusted returns to make sure we’re providing the best investment options we can.”