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All Hands on Hope

Katey McCabe, and her son, Fritz (age 6), volunteering at the 2017 packing event for Feed My Starving Children.

Earlier this month I had the chance to participate in a MobilePack™ event at Incarnation Lutheran Church in Shoreview, MN. It’s become an annual tradition for me and my family.

Since I also make a monthly financial contribution to Feed My Starving Children on behalf of my clients, it’s also a great opportunity to see my investment at work, actively participate in this event and help assemble the packages of soy, rice, vitamins and veggies that will be distributed to children around the world.

The theme for this year’s event was “All Hands On Hope”. To paraphrase Pastor Gary Medin, Senior Pastor at Incarnation, if you contributed financially to this event or to the church’s capital campaign or volunteered to help assemble meals, you have a hand in making this possible.

To that I would add, if you are a client of mine, you too have had a hand in supporting the life giving work of Feed My Starving Children. Thank you for your continued support and for your part in making this event possible.

Below is a “repost” of an article I posted last year describing this event. This post has been updated with current stats and facts. 

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Yield vs. Total Return. What’s The Difference?

Photo by Mathieu Turle on Unsplash

Retired clients often wonder how they will generate income in retirement. Beyond Social Security, pension payments, and other forms of guaranteed income how does their investment portfolio actually produce the money they will need to keep up with inflation and pay the bills?

Two ways in which your investments can support you in retirement are “yield” and “total return”. In this post I will share how they are different and what role they play in your long-term retirement income plan.

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Confused About Those Letters Behind Your Advisor’s Name?

Photo by Amador Loureiro on Unsplash

CFP, CPA, CLU? What do the letters behind your financial advisor’s name mean and which type of advisor is right for you?

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (aka FINRA) lists over 183 professional designations on their website. Knowing what each one is can help you choose a financial advisor that may have specialized training and expertise to help meet your needs.

The short video below explains what the most common designations mean and the type of financial professional most likely to use each one.

 

 

FINRA does not endorse any professional designation or credential. In fact, many financial designations are total #&@^%$!, and are often banned by reputable broker-dealers and others in the industry.

Of course, even the most highly regarded credentials don’t guarantee success. As you would with any professional, do your homework, ask questions and do a quick background check before sharing your data or making any serious commitments.

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“Swedish Death Cleaning” For Your Estate Plan

How the Swedish concept of "Dostadning" can help you get your affairs in order

Photo credit: Tom Skarbek, Unsplash.com

Cory Wessman is an estate planning attorney with the law firm, Erickson & Wessman. His office is in the Broadway Place West building in NE Minneapolis where I work.

He sent the following letter to his clients and I thought it would make a great guest post.

You can find out more about Cory and his services at his website, www.cericksonlaw.com.

Below, he offers great advice for “spring cleaning” your estate plan. If you need help creating and updating your “Master List of Accounts”, let me know. We have this information for all our financial planning clients and are happy to provide it to you in a secure way.