Your Insights

A Simple Guide to Understanding TIAA’s Unique Structure

In this post, I aim to demystify TIAA’s structure by breaking it down into 7 distinct layers. We will start with the broadest layer (TIAA itself) and work our way down to the most specific (the individual investments available to you in your TIAA contracts).

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New Requirements for US Businesses: The Corporate Transparency Act

Are you an owner of a corporation, LLC, limited partnership, or any entity whose existence is created by a filing with a secretary of state in any state? If so, your business may be subject to new requirements under the Corporate Transparency Act’s (CTA) Beneficial Ownership Information (BOI) reporting.

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My University Offers a Phased Retirement Plan. Should I Accept It?

Phased retirement programs have long been a tool used by universities to retain key faculty members, facilitate institutional knowledge transfer, manage costs, and attract new talent.
As a professional financial advisor dedicated to helping professors plan for retirement, I’m an advocate for phased retirement programs, but that doesn’t mean they are right for everyone.

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When Is “Retirement Age”? Well, It Depends…

“Retirement age” doesn’t mean the same thing it did twenty years ago—or even ten years ago. From the “FIRE” movement—with advocates focused on retiring in their 50s or younger—to those pursuing a “second act”—a second career following a full first career—retirement age has come to mean many different things to many different people. But what’s the right age for you? Our article can help you decide.

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Are You Building Wealth, or Just Making Money?

An older businessman once asked a young associate what the term “financial independence” meant to him. The young man thought a moment, then replied, “It’s when your paycheck is always enough to take care of your expenses.” The older man smiled and shook his head. “Financial independence,” he said, “is when it doesn’t matter whether you get a paycheck or not.”

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Maximizing Your Executive Compensation Package

The nuances of executive compensation require careful attention to some specific elements and potential issues. Let’s talk about some of the basics of executive compensation, how they might fit into your long-term financial strategy, and some particular matters that deserve specific focus.

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RSUs Demystified

Most of us have heard the stories about famous people who died without a will or other estate planning documents: Aretha Franklin, Pablo Picasso, Howard Hughes, and even Abraham Lincoln all passed away without leaving documents to guide their heirs as to the disposition of their estates.

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When Should You Review Your Estate Plan? Six Examples.

Most of us have heard the stories about famous people who died without a will or other estate planning documents: Aretha Franklin, Pablo Picasso, Howard Hughes, and even Abraham Lincoln all passed away without leaving documents to guide their heirs as to the disposition of their estates.

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529 Plans Are Better Than Ever, Thanks to SECURE 2.0

Since their creation by the state governments of Florida, Michigan, Ohio, and Wyoming in the late 1980s, 529 education funding plans have become an increasingly popular way for parents, grandparents, and others to fund the education of the next generation while also saving on taxes.

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Year-End Tax Planning Tips for 2023

To borrow a baseball metaphor, the year 2023 is “rounding third and heading for home.” Typically, this is the time of year when you should start looking at your income for the year and considering what might be needed to be ready for filing your 2023 tax return, next April.

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“The One Thing”: Understanding the “Why” of Your Retirement

One of the most memorable scenes in the movie City Slickers is when Curly, the crusty ranch foreman (played by Jack Palance) explains to Mitch, one of the city dudes (played by Billy Crystal) what really matters most in life. Turning toward the inquisitive greenhorn, Curly holds up an index finger. “This,” he says. “Your finger?” Mitch asks. Curly goes on to explain that the secret of life is knowing what your “one thing” is: the thing that matters most—that lies at the center of everything else you do and are. “So,” Mitch asks, “what is the one thing?” “That’s what you gotta figure out,” Curly replies.

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