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Category: Financial Planning

February 4, 2025

2025 Tax Update: What Do You Need to Know?

Navigating tax laws in 2025 feels a bit like waiting for the next season of your favorite TV show — you know big changes are coming, but you’re not quite sure what the writers (or lawmakers in this instance) have in store. With potential twists like the sunset of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act [...]

Vince LeeDavid Mcintosh
Contributions from: Thanh Evoniuk, CPA, CFP®, MSF, Vince Lee, CFP®, CPA, David McIntosh, CFP®

February 4, 2025

The Value-Add of an Advisor

How does an advisor add value for the fees that you pay? The value that a financial advisor brings to the table can extend far beyond the quantifiable. Coldstream’s work to integrate financial planning and investment management is multi-faceted and often reaches into many areas of our clients’ lives. In this brief, we examine recent [...]

February 4, 2025

The Social Security Fairness Act: Will Your Benefits Change?

On January 5, 2025, the Social Security Fairness Act was officially signed into law, repealing both the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and Government Pension Offset (GPO). These changes stand to meaningfully increase monthly Social Security benefits for workers who receive a pension based on work not covered by Social Security. What is the Windfall Elimination [...]

Ian Curtiss
Contributions from: Ian Curtiss, CFP®, CFA®, CPWA®, ChSNC

January 29, 2025

The Psychology of Retirement

One of my favorite tasks as a financial planner is to help clients plan for retirement. We gather data and run Monte Carlo simulations and tax analyses, but often that planning process runs much deeper than asset allocation and withdrawal strategies. Recently I had the pleasure of meeting with a couple in their early fifties. [...]

Contributions from: Larissa Vidal, CFP®

January 24, 2025

How to Decide When to Pay Off Debt or Invest

Let’s face it: monthly debt payments can feel overwhelming, right? If you chat about it with anyone, chances are you’ll find someone who understands. Many of us carry debt, whether it’s from student loans, a car loan, or personal loans. The interest rates can vary greatly depending on when you took on the debt and [...]

Contributions from: Katelyn Spangler, CFP®

January 7, 2025

Ditch the New Year’s Resolutions: Set Some Goals Instead

My fitness class always starts with a “question of the day” so we can get to know each other. Yesterday’s question was particularly well worded, so I am going to steal it for our purposes of this blog post. The question was: “What is a short-term goal (2-3 months) and a long-term goal (12 months) [...]

Rachel McCrackenDavid Bigelow
Contributions from: Rachel McCracken, CFA®, MBA, David Bigelow, CFP®, MBA, Elaina Shemeta, CFP®

January 1, 2025

What to Consider if You Want to Retire

“Choose a job you love and you’ll never have to work a day in your life” ~ Confucius. As you approach retirement age, the first step to set yourself on a path for a successful retirement is to envision what that successful retirement will look like. Being able to visualize what you want for your [...]

January 1, 2025

Funding Graduate School by Gifting Appreciated Stock

If you have a student beginning graduate school, you may be looking for the best source of funds for the tuition payments. Clients who plan on funding all or a portion of the tuition for adult children or relatives often ask what the optimal funding method is – especially if other allocated savings, such as [...]

Katie Mietus
Contributions from: Katie Berntson, CFP®

December 31, 2024

Important Update: New BOI Reporting Requirements Under FinCEN – Are You Ready?

Update (December 30, 2024): BOI Reporting Requirements on Pause Again with the Reinstatement of the Injunction On December  26, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals vacated its earlier decision removing the preliminary injunction that blocked enforcement of the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA), such that BOI Reporting requirements are once again on pause. Given the challenges [...]

Contributions from: Anne Marie Stonich, CFP®, CPA

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