Having a baby (or babies!) and starting a family means so many exciting, happy, but also unknown things. For first time parents, in particular, it means navigating the often head-spinning tasks of feeding, caring for, and cleaning a baby while also working, taking care of the house, and if you’re lucky, sleeping. For most new parents, there’s not enough time in any day to get everything done, and by the end of every day you’re exhausted. Making time for budgeting, financial planning, and taking steps to prepare for the child’s future can often seem so far out of reach. But at the end of the day, it must be done. A recent study found that in the first year alone, the cost of raising a baby can run upward of $21,000 – and that’s not even factoring-in any unexpected illnesses or conditions an infant might have early-on, which are quite common. From the time the baby is born until he or she turns 18, the total cost of upbringing can range from $260,000 (“no-frills”) to $745,000.¹ In short, it’s no financial walk in the park. [+] Read More

A recent study of 22,000 publicly traded companies found a correlation between profitability and women in leadership roles. Specifically, when companies increased leadership positions for women from 0% to 30%, profitability increased by 15%. In the private technology sector, it was found that women-led companies were not only more efficient, but also brought in a 35% higher return on investment.[1] But statistics also show that the business world has yet to fully bridge the benefits of women in leadership roles with actual participation and investment. Recent data showed that less than 2% of all venture capital goes to female founders and fewer than 8% of investors are women. And even though American, women-owned businesses represent 28% of American enterprises – while employing 7.7 million people[1] – in the publicly-traded sphere women only hold 5% of CEO positions at S&P 500 companies.[2] [+] Read More

Most readers have been down this road before. Work hard in your job and in your career, and you get to a point where it’s time to ask for a promotion or a raise (or both!). As workers and professionals, it is not outlandish to think of ourselves as assets just like stocks or real estate – we have a market value, and often times that market value increases over time because the company makes a profit or the property is in high demand. In that sense, salary negotiations are not all that different from stock investing – investors often pay a premium to own a good company, just as a company should pay a premium to have a valuable team member on staff. Negotiating a higher salary means asking for a fair value where the value is due. But there is another, crucial factor that gives importance to salary negotiations: Making more money can mean more aggressively pursuing our long-term financial and retirement goals. [+] Read More

For about 85 million Americans, owning a pet is a joy and marvel of everyday life. Indeed, according to the 2017 - 2018 National Pet Owners Survey, about 68% of US households own a pet. This marks a remarkable 56% increase from pet ownership levels in 1988, the first year the survey was conducted. That’s a lot of furry and fuzzy (and fishy and flighty) friends across the country. Many of these pets are considered a part of the family because of the companionship they offer. According to a 2015 poll, 95% of pet owners in America think of their animal as a member of the family; even going so far as to buy them birthday presents! This perhaps explains why for many, no amount of money can replace the happiness and health benefits of owning a pet. [+] Read More

In the realm of investment advice, all it takes is seeing the definition of “fiduciary standard” to understand why it’s so important: Fiduciary - “a Financial Advisor held to a ‘Fiduciary Standard’ occupies a position of special trust and confidence when working with a client. As a Fiduciary, the financial advisor is required to act with undivided loyalty to the client. This includes disclosure of how a financial advisor is to be compensated and any corresponding conflicts of interest." Put simply, abiding by the Fiduciary Standard means putting your clients’ interests first. Most investors might read the above definition and think, wasn’t this the rule the entire time? It should be that simple, right? Not necessarily. [+] Read More

With less than a month left in the year, time is running out to make adjustments to your IRAs that count towards this tax year. Here is a short checklist of IRA actions to consider before year-end, but please note that this list is by no means comprehensive. We would strongly recommend reaching out to a financial advisor between now and the end of the year to make sure you’re in good shape going into the New Year. [+] Read More

In a recent post, we reminded investors of the importance of naming and reviewing beneficiaries – especially as the holidays approach. The end of the year is filled with (good) distractions, so now is a great time to double check your investment accounts. It can give you one more thing to be thankful for – that your hard earned assets will be distributed to your family, consistent with your wishes. In our previous post, we mainly focused on retirement accounts, like 401(k)s and IRAs. Retirement accounts, life insurance policies, and annuities all have beneficiary designations. You can just fill out a form to indicate how and to whom you want your assets dispersed, in a fairly straightforward and easy process. But what about taxable accounts like a brokerage account or joint tenants with rights of survivorship (JTWROS) accounts? These types of accounts are common amongst investors, yet there is no beneficiary designation attached to them. That’s where establishing a “transfer on death” (TOD) registration comes into play. [+] Read More

The end of the year is fast approaching, which means the holiday season and family-time are also near. Life tends to get busy and time tends to move quickly once November hits, so if there’s an ideal time to review your estate plan, now could be it. There are several elements to thorough estate planning, but in this post we want to focus on the important—but often overlooked—step of reviewing your beneficiary designations. [+] Read More

The U.S. presidential election has capitalized the news media, social media, and pop culture for nearly a year now, and we still have several months before the campaign's end and the voters have their say. Here at WrapManager, we don’t take a political stance on elections, but we do track market trends and activity and the election environment can have an effect on the stock market. It’s interesting to look back at how politics have affected financial markets in the past. Though we can’t predict what might happen this time around, looking back can help us identify previous trends. [+] Read More