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Briefcase Study: Has Spring Finally Sprung?! Spring Cleaning, Anyone?

In Articles, Articles: Kansas City Office, Articles: Salt Lake City Office, Briefcase Studies, SLC Spring 2024, Spring 2024 by Scott Dougan

Spring has to be your favorite season; or at least in your top three or four. Everything is new again, fresh, bright, ripe with hope of new adventures. I’m a sucker for spring. If you share even a fraction of my spring enthusiasm, you may also feel that deep-down desire to get things cleaned up and sorted after a long …

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Back to the Basics: Social Security’s Health and Taxation

In Articles, Articles: Kansas City Office, Articles: Salt Lake City Office, Back to the Basics, SLC Spring 2024, Spring 2024 by Scott Dougan

After decades of doing your job, saving money, and just plain navigating life, retirement approaches and shocks you with its complexity. The number of things to consider when planning a retirement is daunting, and Social Security is no exception. While the options have been reduced slightly, there’s still a lot to consider when claiming the benefit that you’ve funded and …

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Election Year Thoughts Worth Thinking About

In Articles, Articles: Kansas City Office, Articles: Salt Lake City Office by Scott Dougan

During a recent meeting, and then at another meeting, and another…the question came up: “With an election coming up, what should we be doing about our investments?” Here we are, in the midst of a presidential election season, and we’re all searching for answers. People are asking themselves, “Why on earth would someone in their right mind vote for that …

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Does a Presidential Election Really Affect the Markets?

In Articles, Articles: Kansas City Office, Articles: Salt Lake City Office by Scott Dougan

It’s time to discuss the elephant in the room, the upcoming election. I’m regularly hearing concerns during meetings about the upcoming election and its possible effects on the stock market. While I wish I could just tune out politics entirely, I suppose we can spend an article on elections and then get back to our regular programming soon enough. Here …

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Cash is Undefeated

In Articles, Articles: Kansas City Office, Articles: Salt Lake City Office by Scott Dougan

Have you ever gazed upon an heirloom-quality piece of furniture, a new gourmet kitchen, or a stunning sports car and thought to yourself, “The glue-work is simply exquisite.” Probably not. I know I haven’t. But what would that object look like if it wasn’t fastened together correctly, or at all? It’d be little more than a pile of individual parts …

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Fall Festival Thank You and Save the Dates

In Articles: Kansas City Office, Community Involvement, Winter 2024 by Scott Dougan

Thank you for attending and/or participating in the Fall Festival! We thought the Luau, Hawaiian dancer and Comedian, Michael Saccone, were a hit. All the raffle/auction items were generously donated by companies in our neighborhood. Some of our wonderful clients donated items as well. We can’t thank them enough. We raised $18,489.35 for CASAJWC. These funds directly benefit children who …

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Team Corner

In Articles: Kansas City Office, Team Spotlights, Winter 2024 by Scott Dougan

Welcome to the Team Joe Wild, Paraplanner Joe graduated from Kansas State University in 2019 with a degree in History. He previously worked in the life insurance industry as well as in the banking industry. Joe prides himself on his ability to build strong personal relationships with clients to help them feel confident in their financial decisions. In his free …

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2024 Winter Newsletter: Kansas City

In Newsletters, Newsletters: Kansas City Office, Newsletters: Kansas City Office by Scott Dougan

I don’t have to tell you how quickly 2023 passed us by. It seems like we just ushered in the New Year and now we’re about to get to know 2024, just like that. Over the past year, we’ve seen incredible rises in interest rates, a stock market that’s finding its footing once again, and a news year that continues …

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Can You Make Retirement Planning…Easier?

In Articles, Articles: Kansas City Office, Articles: Salt Lake City Office by Scott Dougan

We often talk about building a retirement plan that allows you to sleep well at night, free from the worry of the markets, economy, and scary headlines. And while this will continue to be our goal as retirement planning professionals, what about actual sleep habits? If you’ve ever been to leadership training, you know that’s where you’ll find some of …