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Back to the Basics: Why A Successful Retirement Starts with Income Planning

In Articles, Articles: Kansas City Office, Articles: Salt Lake City Office, Back to the Basics, SLC Spring 2023, Spring 2023 by Scott Dougan

There are several questions that hopeful retirees are consistently asking as they seek to build a successful retirement. Some of these questions are: When can I retire? How much do we need? Will I have enough? What if there’s a major healthcare, stock market, or inflationary event that threatens what we’ve saved? While all of these questions are certainly different …

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Briefcase Study: Team of Three: Who’s in Your Financial Planning Trio?

In Articles, Articles: Kansas City Office, Articles: Salt Lake City Office, Briefcase Studies, SLC Spring 2023, Spring 2023 by Scott Dougan

There’s such power in the number three. Whether in literature, joke telling, the meats of a club sandwich, or nature itself, three represents completeness, rhythm, and strength. In fact, the triangle is the strongest geometric shape; you see the triangle in roof trusses and bridges. There’s just an elegance and magic to it that is so easily overlooked. We see …

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Welcome Lindsay Platt

In Articles: Kansas City Office, Spring 2023, Team Spotlights by Scott Dougan

Welcome to the Team Lindsay Platt Lindsay provides administrative support to our client accounts. She has nearly eight years of administrative experience working in financial services, and she truly enjoys building strong relationships with clients. Lindsay was born and raised in the Kansas City area and graduated from Pittsburg State University. She and her husband, Aaron, have two children, Stella …

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A Single Pill for a Successful Retirement?

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 …

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Retirement Preparation: The Critical Financial Components

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

If you’re choosing to invest in a retirement plan of any sort, then you likely have aspirations of retirement someday; maybe you’ve already retired. Whether it’s 30 years from now or was 3 months ago, the financial finish line of retirement holds great promise as a reward for decades of hard work and deferred gratification. So it begs the question, …

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SECURE 2.0 Act

In Articles, Articles: Kansas City Office, Articles: Salt Lake City Office, SLC Winter 2023, Tax Planning, Winter 2023 by Scott Dougan

Congress recently passed SECURE 2.0 Act, which includes over 90 new provisions for retirement plans. The goal is to help improve Americans’ retirement savings. This effort is a continuation of the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement (SECURE) Act that was signed into law back in December of 2019.    We wish to highlight just some of the notable …

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Looking Forward In 2023

In Articles, Articles: Kansas City Office, Articles: Salt Lake City Office, SLC Winter 2023, Tax Planning, Winter 2023 by Scott Dougan

Let’s be blunt: 2022 was rough for many investors. With many of the year’s events unforeseen and unfavorable, this was a year we’d like to soon forget. That said, many of the opportunities in 2023 are the direct result of some of the challenges that 2022 brought us, and as we enter the new year, some of these challenges remain. …

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Welcome Pratik J. Mehta, CPA

In Articles: Kansas City Office, Articles: Salt Lake City Office, SLC Winter 2023, Team Spotlights, Winter 2023 by Scott Dougan

Welcome to our new Director of Tax Preparation & Tax Planning Pratik was born and raised in Mumbai, India. In June of 2002, he moved to Overland Park, Kansas. Pratik received his Bachelor of Business Administration with an emphasis in Finance as well as a Bachelor of Science in Accounting from University of Missouri, Kansas City. Pratik’s number one priority …

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Back to the Basics: 10 Ways To Improve Your Family’s Future, Starting With You

In Articles, Articles: Kansas City Office, Articles: Salt Lake City Office, Back to the Basics, SLC Winter 2023, Winter 2023 by Scott Dougan

I’m yet to meet somebody who doesn’t want a brighter future for his or her family. Let’s face it; changing other people to see your point of view isn’t easy. In fact, it’s nearly impossible. Because of that sobering reality, the best chance we have to improve our family’s future is to look inward and start improving ourselves. As Gandhi …

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Briefcase Study: The Aspect of Debt You May Not Have Considered

In Articles, Articles: Kansas City Office, Articles: Salt Lake City Office, Briefcase Studies, SLC Winter 2023, Winter 2023 by Scott Dougan

If you’re like many of our fellow Americans, you’re considering what rising inflation, a declining stock (and bond) market, and higher interest rates mean to you and your financial choices. And while there are a lot of varied consequences to this new ‘normal’, I think we can agree that one big change is that it’s immediately more painful to borrow …