Walnut Hill Advisors, LLC

In my evening reading, I came across a nice article tip on saving money by getting oil changes when your auto manual recommends them, not every 3,000.

In summary, many newer cars today require oil changes every 5,000 miles or more, so changing oil every 3,000 miles is excessive. Why is 3,000 recommended? It was in the past the regular cycle and I’m sure it helps the business of your local quickie oil change center if their thousands of customers come twice as often as they need to.

Interestingly though, there are numerous other ways you can stretch how far your income goes (and for retirees, how far your retirement income goes!) just be changing the frequency of routine service. Things like: Read more »

From the blog of the famous Seth Godin:

The honest broker

It’s coming. The fastest growing economies are just tired of our BS. As a nation we use our military and our dollars to try to influence other countries. Contrary to what many people think, these folks don’t like that. Which is why they’re doing things like this:

India Will Transact with Iran in Rupees

What does this mean? It means India doesn’t feeling like playing the US’ games with Iran. If the US bans Iranian oil exports from being paid with dollars, India will not just directly pay in their own currency. Commodities are often settled in dollars but now that’s changing. India is the latest in a string of countries bypassing use of the US dollar for direct trade in their own currencies.

What This Means to You – Consider Gold Read more »

Many of my clients are aware of the fact that their children’s activities with the family car and other family property exposes them to liability.

However, I would guess that many people don’t think about the consequences of letting a friend outside the household borrow their car (or boat etc). A recent example: Read more »

While traditionally the elderly have been taken care of by their family, the emergence of retirement homes causes worries that families might be more inclined to abandon them.

~ Rwanda Focus

The above quote could have come from any American newspaper. But interestingly, it comes from a Rwandan newspaper, where it appears they have a similar problem. As the economy expands, younger Rwandans are moving to the cities leaving older relatives out in the countryside alone. Retirement communities have been popping up to satisfy this need in Rwanda, a trend that Americans have seen Read more »

In a recent article, Medical News Today highlighted a recent Census Bureau report which predicts that there will be 9 million people in the USA over the age of 90 by the year 2050. Simply amazing.

Of course we get an endless stream of headlines that some older age is the new younger age (60 is the new 50 etc) mainly because, in my opinion, we have the boomer generation who never wanted to “get old” in the driver’s seat. And comments like that appeal to that generation (as they will to generations after too).  But why discuss this on a financial site? Oh you know the reason.

What’s that Risk called? Read more »

“How much are you willing to sacrifice?” Mr. Ellis recalls asking the retired couple. “Are you willing to give up your own needs?”

Mr. Ellis’s clients made the tough, and right, call. They cut off their daughter.

~from Wall Street Journal

I saw THIS article (Don’t Let Your Adult Kids Ruin Your Future) in the Wall Street Journal, and like many other financial planners I’m sure, thought immediately of a handful of clients who could have been featured.

The short article’s premise is the increasing number of near retirees Read more »

Among my various readings over the past 2 weeks, I cam across these two articles:

11 Reasons Why 2011 Was an Outstanding Year for Investors

and

This Chart Explains Why 2011 Was One of the Hardest Years Ever for Investors

Both articles were interesting reads, though I didn’t notice the opposing titles until I reviewed my “article ideas” folder on Evernote (side note: an awesome service by the way). So you must be asking, why can people be saying such opposite things about the climate for “investors?” And I’m sure you’re wondering, which one is correct?

Let’s remove that need that we all have these days to skip the meat and go beyond the headlines. Let’s dig into the arguments in the two articles. Read more »

You’ve done your estate planning. You’ve put assets into a trust, that distributes to your heirs upon you and your spouse’s death. You and your spouse are the trustees and instructions are clear for the backup trustee. Most of your assets will avoid probate. You also took care of any estate tax issues with trust and insurance planning. Furthermore, any heirs that can’t handle the influx of wealth will be restricted for their own benefit according to your trust. Nice work and congratulations! You are ahead of millions of people when it comes to estate planning.

But wait, you made your trust the beneficiary of your IRA’s and 401ks? Why? Read more »

A wonderful story appeared in the financial blog GetRichSlowly:

Rather than blab let me share the author’s words:

But the most unexpected financial lesson my father taught me came after he passed away. I am the executor of his estate. My dad was always a planner, but the things he did to make this processes easier are amazing. I feel compelled to share them with just about everyone I know. Today, I’m sharing them with GRS readers

In the article, the author Jody (who is a reader of the blog)  shares the steps her father took before he died to make the estate planning process easy on his children. She took it as an act of love and his level of detail simply amazed her. Likewise, I recommend my clients develop a thorough estate plan with the help of a qualified attorney. I often work in conjunction with my clients and the attorney to help think through the thoughts of what would make an ideal, customized, estate plan.

Please read the story here – What My father’s Death Taught Me About Estate Planning

And then take the time to work on your own estate plan, which believe me, needs to be developed no matter what your age is. Estate planning isn’t just for 80 year olds!

If you’d like help in moving in that direction, give us a call or drop us a note on our QUICK contact form HERE. We can help you get started thinking and brainstorming and help you find a suitable attorney if you don’t have one. And very importantly, help you work your estate plan into your overall financial plan.

Thanks for reading.