How to Manage your Excess Cash
There are several types of qualified retirement plans employers can establish for their employees. The most common qualified plans are 401(k)’s, 403(b)’s, SIMPLE’s and 457’s. The IRS imposes limits on how much an employee can contribute to these plans each year. For those people with high incomes, it is possible to hit these IRS limits […]
Youth Sports versus Retirement Security
Every well-intentioned parent wants to provide an active and healthy lifestyle for their child. In today’s world of competitive parenting, this often includes enrolling your child in some form of youth sports. As a parent of three active boys, I have seen firsthand how engaging in youth sports can be a very rewarding and bonding […]
Benefits of Early Retirement Savings
When it comes to retirement savings, it is never too early to start. In the early stages of your career, retirement seems so remote that you might think you can delay saving for awhile. You may not earn a high salary, or you may have debt to pay off, but you have one factor on your side that your older colleagues do not. That factor is time. With time on your side, saving for retirement becomes […]
Time To Think About Roth Conversions
We have written several blogs over the years on Roth IRAs. Today though, they have even more importance given the downturn in the market over the past couple of months. As a quick refresher, a Roth IRA provides tax-free growth on after-tax contributions. When funds are withdrawn, normally after attaining the age of 59 ½, qualified distributions are tax-free. There are two ways to introduce money into a Roth IRA. The first […]
Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act
As the coronavirus (“COVID-19”) outbreak continues to create uncertainty across the United States, small business owners and individuals alike are now confronted with many unprecedented and unique challenges. To help us with these challenges, President Trump signed into law on March 27, 2020 the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (“Act”). This Act is […]
Ohio Stay at Home Order – THOR’s Statement
Yesterday, Ohio Governor Mike DeWine’s stay at home order mandating that all Ohioans stay at home unless you are engaged in essential work or activity went into effect. As a financial service firm, THOR is considered essential work and therefore will stay open during this time period. As we have been doing for the past […]
Should I Consolidate my Student Loans?
One of the largest debt discussion points in the media currently is student debt. With student debt at an all-time high, over 50% of students are graduating with student debt. Per Investopedia, the average amount of student loan debt per borrower is slightly above $35,000. A common dilemma for graduates with multiple student loans post-graduation […]
Changing Dynamics in the Discount Brokerage Industry
We live in a time where investors have never been more cost conscious about the fees they are paying and some of the recent changes in the discount brokerage industry reflect this distaste for fees. In early October 2019, Charles Schwab was first among the major discount brokerage firms in the race to the bottom […]
The Importance of Talking to Your Children About Money
Last week, my 11- year old son decided to throw a football across his bedroom resulting in a hole in the plaster wall. This created the perfect opportunity for me to give him one of my infamous money lectures! I informed him that our local handy man charges an hourly rate of $40, and while […]
Tax Reform 2018 – Where do we Stand
As we approach the end of another year, we are close to being two years into the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (“Act”) that was passed late in 2017 and became effective on January 1 of 2018. The Act made significant income tax changes including lowering income tax brackets and increasing standard deductions. As with […]