Articles Library

The Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement (SECURE) Act

Presented by Aaron Mabon & Summer Deal

Started in 1996, 529 plans provide tax incentives for those saving for post-secondary education. The plan allows funds saved to be used at any eligible education institution, which typically includes colleges, universities, vocational schools or any post-secondary educational institute that is currently eligible to participate in U.S. Department of Education student aid programs.

The New Year is symbolic in many respects. It gives you a chance to start fresh and set some goals that can improve your life in ways large and small. But if you’re like many people, familiar resolutions like “lose weight" or “go to the gym" slowly fade into darkness by mid-February, leaving you feeling disappointed in yourself.

After years of dutiful payments, you find yourself in the enviable position of having enough accumulated savings or discretionary income that you could aggressively pay down—or completely pay off—your mortgage. But should you? Are there better ways to ensure your financial security?

Have you ever used Dropbox or Box.com? How about web-based mail, like Gmail, Yahoo! Mail, or Hotmail? If you consider that all of these are clouds—as are most Google apps—it's hard to find an Internet user who doesn't have some information in the cloud.

The primary purpose of life insurance is to provide financial security for families and businesses. But did you know that it also offers a number of tax advantages?

An income tax-free death benefit
Generally, your beneficiaries won't have to pay income tax on the death benefits they receive from your life insurance policy.

Maybe you and your family have already attempted to have "the conversation." You know the one: the discussion about your and your spouse's assets and what will be done with those assets during the rest of your lives and after you pass away.

If you've checked the news in the past month, you've likely heard of the WannaCry ransomware attack, one of the most widespread cyber attacks to date. Security experts estimate that more than 200,000 users have been infected with this malware.

According to the Pew Research Center, 87 percent of Americans use the Internet. This means most of us maintain at least some personal and financial information online. We pay bills online, keep contact records digitally, and rarely print a photo—because it's in our online photo album.

The Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program (PSLFP) began in 2007 with a simple idea: forgive the student loans of borrowers employed in crucial but often low-paying government or nonprofit positions after they make timely payments for 10 years. Guidance from the U.S.