Financial Planning

Adopting? Congratulations! First, Your Financial Homework

Published on: May 17, 2016 | By McCulloch & Miller, PLLC

Financial planning needs to be part of the equation when doing all of the work involved in bringing a new family member into your lives.

The cost of adoption can start at a few hundred dollars or it can easily exceed $40,000, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. There are many different ways of adopting a child into your home, but however your adoption occurs, you need to do some financial planning.

Biz Times' recent article, "Getting your finances ready for adoption," says that in order to get your finances ready for adoption, you have to do your homework and be certain the price and processing work of adoption won't wipe out your plans for essential financial goals like retirement, saving for your future child's education, and higher daily living expenses with a new family. Begin with these tips:

Estate Planning and Financial Planning—Two Areas Where Houston Military Families Need Help

Published on: May 12, 2016 | By McCulloch & Miller, PLLC

It is not easy to be a member of a military family. They face many challenges that civilians do not, and—all too often—they do not receive the support in two critical areas that could make a difference.

Risks for Houston military families include accidents during training, battlefield injury and the stress of frequent moves. Service members have a far greater than average chance of becoming disabled or dying prematurely. This makes it especially important for military families to have access to financial and estate planning advice.

The Wall Street Journal article, "How to Serve Military Families," says that in many instances military spouses are young and financially immature. Military families don't settle in one place for very long, so a nonmilitary spouse may have trouble finding a steady job that would provide a second income and a retirement plan. In that situation, if something happens to the service member, and benefits are paid out, they need to be able to access them immediately. It's more likely that young military families will need help getting these estate documents in order and updating their beneficiary designations.

Don’t Wait for a Rainy Day to Get Organized, Especially Not in Houston

Published on: May 6, 2016 | By McCulloch & Miller, PLLC

Yes, you have an organizational style. It may be chaos, or it may be hyper-organized. Either way it is still a style. Moving from paper to digital feels more organized, but it also requires management.

There are a number of different ways to approach any problem, including getting financial documents in order. Some people pile papers in a stack, promising to get to them some rainy day that doesn't seem to arrive. Others are calendar driven, filing and shredding at the end of every quarter. Still others hoard documents, shoving them in overstuffed filing cabinets. Millennials keep nothing on paper, operating under the expectation that any needed documents will be easily downloaded when they are needed.

Morningstar's article "How to Organize Your Financial Documents" acknowledges that it's getting easier to go with option three and rely exclusively on digital resources to manage and track your financial accounts and pay bills. Financial services will remind us that paperless is the green way to go. Assuming you take some commonsense actions to protect against financial fraud, it can also be very safe. However, before you go the minimalist route, put some basic infrastructure in place with these steps.

Don’t Dive into Texas Medicaid Without a Full Understanding

Published on: May 5, 2016 | By McCulloch & Miller, PLLC

People think that Medicaid will solve all financial problems if they or a spouse will need expensive medical care late in life. It's not that simple.

Concerns about outliving assets or having all their wealth spent on nursing home care has led many Houstonians in different economic brackets to take steps to qualify for Medicaid as part of their estate planning. But Medicaid was not designed to be the first source for health care costs.

Remember that your income and assets have to be at a very low level to qualify for Medicaid. This program isn't a right or an entitlement—even if your tax dollars paid for it. Medicaid provides assistance for ongoing living needs and services provided by home care or, in advanced cases, at a nursing facility.

Student Loans Can Burden College Grads

Published on: December 3, 2015 | By McCulloch & Miller, PLLC

College graduates can run into challenges when it is time to repay student loans, according to a recent article in Forbes, "How to Tackle The Top Three Student Loan Issues." If the student has a job that isn't paying enough to allow them to pay back a loan and cover living costs, they need help figuring out what to do. Still others go to graduate school, in part, because they know that they can get a deferral on loan payments. But then they graduate and have even more student loan debt.

Students need to make sure they know their rights.

A loan servicer must respond to requests for more affordable income-based repayment plans. Under the federal loan program, a student has numerous options that can help with loan repayments. The article points out some of the most common issues and how to tackle them:

Houston Investors Should Organize Finances for Ease in Planning

Published on: May 27, 2015 | By McCulloch & Miller, PLLC

There are several corners of your financial life that can be simplified through consolidation.

If you feel like your finances are all over the place and hard to manage, you just need to take a moment to de-clutter and get a system going. Also, it’s ok to ask for help!

A recent article in The Tahoe Daily Tribune’s, titled “Simplify your financial life,”provides some very helpful advice on de-cluttering and organizing your important information:

What Lessons Learned from Fox’s “Empire?”

Published on: April 23, 2015 | By McCulloch & Miller, PLLC

Empire is based on fictitious music company called Empire Enterprises. Lead character Lucious Lyon (played by actor Terrence Howard) is racing to name a successor for his company after learning he has months to live due to an ALS diagnosis. His sons Jamal, Hakeem, and Andre duke it out to see who will become the new head of the company. Meanwhile, Lucious’s ex-wife Cookie (played by actress Taraji P. Henson) fights to keep the brothers from destroying their father’s legacy.

What can we learn from this show? Here are a few financial lessons, as reported in a recent article by The Cheat Sheet titled “Top 4 Financial Lessons to Take from Fox’s ‘Empire’.”

Always take the money. When Jamal rebuffs Lucious’s attempt to offer him money for living expenses, Lucious says: “You’re disobeying the very first rule of music, son. Always take the money.” For those of us not in the record biz, we should take advantage of our employer’s retirement plan match program. The article says that only about 77% of employees contribute enough to receive a match, according to a recent survey. Contribute up to the amount required by your employer in order to receive the match. Once fully vested, all of the matching funds are yours. Always take your money.

Seven Financial Tips for Houston Families

Published on: January 29, 2015 | By McCulloch & Miller, PLLC

Here are seven things you can do this month to positively impact your finances all year.

Want to start the New Year off right when it comes to your finances? The Las Vegas Review-Journal article, titled “7 ways to give your finances a facelift in January,”cites some things you can do this month to positively impact your finances all year.

Establish an estate plan. If you have a spouse, kids, elderly parents—if you own your own home, a savings account, or investments—you should have an estate plan. Estate planning will save your loved ones additional strain at a difficult time, and ensure your wishes are carried out after you pass away.

New Year…New Financial Goals for Houston Families

Published on: January 21, 2015 | By McCulloch & Miller, PLLC

The New Year is a great time to regroup on your financial plans, reevaluate and/or create new financial goals. By sticking to your financial resolutions throughout the year, you can keep on track towards achieving your financial objectives in 2015 and beyond.

Make the New Year a happy one by getting your finances in order. Setting some basic goals can help make 2015 one of the best years yet.

Make a budget. Creating a budget is the key to long-term financial success. Nonetheless, a 2013 Gallup poll found that only one in three Americans maintained a budget. A budget takes on even more importance when you plan to move into retirement and leave a steady paycheck to live on a fixed income.

Finding Financial Resources for Your Houston Parents

Published on: January 15, 2015 | By McCulloch & Miller, PLLC

We asked experts to let us in on a few resources most people overlook.

Need more cash to help care for mom and dad? A recent Oprah Magazine article, titled “Sanity-Saving Secrets For Caring For Your Aging Parents,” has some ideas where to look for funds to support your parents in retirement.

Here are some of those ideas from the original article: