January 2021 Financial Planning & Investment Newsletter

In This Issue: Financial Planning & Investing

Each month we cover Financial Planning & Investing topics that apply to you.  We cover a variety of topics to point out timely information that applies to you!

Investing:

Will Good News in 2021 Be Bad News for the Market?

The risk of upside economic surprises in 2021 is building. COVID-19 vaccines are being rolled out quickly, which raises the prospect of the economy opening up soon. Meanwhile, Democrats won the final two Senate races of the 2020 election cycle, increasing the chances of more aggressive fiscal spending to prop up the economy. 

There’s an old Wall Street adage for the stock market that goes something like this: “Bad (economic) news is good news (for the market)”. We saw this dynamic play out in spades in 2020, which gave us everything from a pandemic to dysfunctional elections to murder hornets. Despite these worries, the S&P 500 closed at an all-time high on December 31st!

This brings up an interesting question for investors as we head into 2021: Will stronger economic numbers propel the stock market even higher? Or are we facing a risk that “good economic news is bad news” for the market? Read the rest of the article here.

Tax Planning:

Schedule Your Tax Return

[VIDEO] Have you ever thought to schedule your tax return?  Let me explain what I am talking about and the advantages to this.  We know that once January 1st comes we start getting tax documents in the mail.  But after these documents have all arrived people often procrastinate and time just slips by until suddenly April 15th is here!  Watch the video to see how you can schedule your tax return!

Financial Planning:

Consolidating Retirement Accounts

[VIDEO] If you have a 401(k) through your employer you know that very commonly we actually have investment choices.  Let’s say you can choose between a bond fund, a stock fund that has some growth stocks or value stocks, and then an international stock fund.  Your plan provider is required to give you a variety of fund types to diversify between. This is very typical with your 401(k).  In addition to these choices you may have a self-directed 401(k) to choose from too.

A self-directed 401(k) is more common than you think.  We have been finding more and more plans that give you this additional investment option rather than choosing from the pre-picked funds.  These can be called different things such as a self-directed 401(k), or a self-directed brokerage account; it can be called different things.   Read about this investment option you might have available to you inside your 401(k).

Pension Option Analysis

[VIDEO] Pension Option analysis decisions can be difficult to evaluate alone.  Although we are beginning to see them less pensions are still a critical source of retirement planning for many people.  Making the right decision with your pension can save you and your family thousands of dollars over time.  Today we discuss things you should consider as you evaluate which option would be best to take your pension.  Click here to see what to consider when evaluating what to do with your pension.

Grab your copy of our January Planning & Investing Monthly Newsletter by clicking below!

If you’d like to catch up on last month’s December 2020 Newsletter you can grab that at this link!