401(k)

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.

Recent Survey Says 80% of Americans Failed Retirement Literacy Test

Published on: December 30, 2014 | By McCulloch & Miller, PLLC

“We’re not surprised by the fact that people don’t know a lot about retirement income planning,” says David Littell, program director at the American College. “I was surprised at how badly they did.”

Could you pass a retirement literacy test? Apparently, 80 percent of Americans surveyed did not.

These Americans were polled on 38 retirement literacy questions on basics like Social Security, life expectancy, IRAs, life insurance and investments, and the mechanics of bonds. Sadly, only 20 percent were given passing grades, the college said. This isn't the first survey to raise concerns about Americans’ retirement readiness. In an article titled “Americans fail in retirement literacy,“ The (Palm Springs, CA) Desert Sunnoted similar shortcomings in a 2011 report.

Houston Families: Do Your Beneficiary Designations Align With Your Will?

Published on: October 10, 2014 | By McCulloch & Miller, PLLC

One of the colossal failures in estate planning I witness when people make their wills is not coordinating the will with the overall beneficiary designations they have chosen.

Does your will surpass your beneficiary designations on financial accounts?

A recent Wall Street Journal article, titled "How People Undermine Their Own Written Will," explains that most people believe that their written will take priority and supersedes the beneficiary designations on their investments. This isn't true. When you designate a beneficiary on a life insurance policy, a 401(k) plan, or an IRA—that is a binding contract. The basic tenants of contract law apply just as it would in a mortgage or a sale. What this means is that if you stipulate in your will that you want to leave your IRA to your brother and the beneficiary designation form of your IRA says that it is all supposed to pass to your sister, then your brother is out of luck. Despite your explicit instructions in your will, the IRA will go to the named beneficiary.

Houston Twenty-Somethings Can Be Savvy About Estate Planning

Published on: August 13, 2014 | By McCulloch & Miller, PLLC

Now is the time to adopt financial habits that determine a successful retirement,
even if you’re still in your 20s.

(Note: Parents, here is a great article to share with your twenty-something adult children!)

If you are a twenty-something, you have plenty of time to think about investing, right?