Blog

Everybody knows that good savings habits are an integral part of a sound, healthy financial plan.  However, some people who think they are good at saving because they save consistently aren’t actually as good at it as they think.  There’s a lot more to being a good saver than just regularity. 

Most aging Americans agree that the best place to spend your latter years is in your own home.  In a recent AARP survey, 85% of respondents said, "What I would really like to do is stay in my current residence and local community as long as possible."  This is known as “aging in place.”

It probably comes as no surprise to you that one of the main reasons for investing in the stock market is to protect against inflation, which gradually erodes the value of our dollars over time. While keeping your money safely under a mattress certainly protects against market risk, it does not shield you from inflation risk as your money steadily decreases in value.

We talk a lot about setting goals because as the famous Ben Franklin quote goes, "If you fail to plan, you plan to fail."  And we at BCR are passionate about helping people succeed! ®

Today, I want to talk about one of the tools that can help you track your progress toward any goal: a scorecard. 

Annuities are a popular sales product of commissioned salespeople in the insurance and investment world.  Ask someone about an annuity they purchased and 9 out of 10 times they will say it was sold to them, not “I bought” or “I chose” an annuity.  Many offer promises of guaranteed rates of return, income for life and tax avoidance.  But those promises only

Now and then someone asks me how to decide if a car should be repaired or replaced. Of course, I also have had to face this decision. Here’s thoughts on possible considerations to take into account, and of course, the decision may rest on the specific facts and circumstances.

Most experts suggest carrying enough disability insurance to replace 60-65% of your gross earnings with non-taxable benefits.  The reasoning behind this suggestion is that the other 35% of income you're not replacing equals the estimated amount of taxes that are withdrawn from your paycheck, savings you needed to do while working and other expenses that would go away if you weren&rsquo

I recently received counterfeit bills in change from the grocery store.  Someone had gone to a lot of trouble to paste a “5” over the “1s” at the corners of the bill.  I thought it seemed like an awful lot of work and a lot of jail time to do (if you get caught) for only four dollars! Turns out, it’s actually common practice.

When people talk about retirement planning, they generally mean “planning” in the financial sense.  That kind of planning is a big job, and it’s not uncommon for couples to leave their focus there and neglect to plan for what they want day-to-day life to be like during retirement.