Financial video library

ACAT Scam ACAT Scam Explained: How Thieves Can Transfer & Liquidate Your Brokerage Account Fast We discuss an “ACAT scam” involving the Automated Customer Account Transfer Service (ACAT). This system was created in 1985 to quickly move accounts from one broker to...

What Is A 72t Distribution? This episode discusses a little-known option for retirement accounts: a 72(t) distribution. These are also called substantially equal periodic payments (SEPP). While distributions from pre-tax retirements will be taxable, these...

The Why Behind Data Gathering Data Gathering is an essential part of financial planning. We believe data gathering is the starting point for financial planning. "Winging it" is not productive. A firm grasp of your numbers is essential, prior to retirement....

Should My Financial Advisor Talk to My CPA? Should my financial advisor talk to my CPA? For the best outcomes, we feel the answer is yes. When your accountant, advisor, and attorney don't talk to each other, problems can develop. And you're usually the one who pays,...

What Happens When Your Advisor Retires? What happens when your advisor retires? It's a question almost nobody asks (usually) until it's happening. About a third of all U.S. financial advisors plan to retire within the next decade. More than a quarter aren't even sure...

The Dow Jones 1976 vs. Today: What Survived? The Dow Jones 1976 - on July 4, 1976, the 30 companies making up the Dow Jones Industrial Average were considered the biggest, most permanent-seeming names across the fruited plain. Fifty years later, twenty-nine of them...

A Roth 401k Tax Surprise? What we mean when we say "Roth 401k tax surprise," is that contributing to a Roth 401(k) at work COULD create unexpected taxable income, through the employer match. While employee making Roth 401k contributions knows their contributions are...

What Is A Sinking Fund? The sinking fund: the simple way to plan for expenses you know are coming. In this video, we cover what is a sinking fund.  And how is it different from an emergency fund? We give examples of sinking funds such as budgeting for office items,...

It's Not Luck. It's Planning. "It's not luck, it's planning" has been the line this firm has run on for 24 years. Tom came up with it back in 2002 — and he's spent every year since watching it prove true. From the outside, a lot of financial outcomes look like luck. -...

Should You Be Managing Your Own Money in Retirement? DIY: managing your own money in retirement works until it doesn't. Here's why that's usually worth a second look. Takeaways: -   As retirement nears, the money decisions pile up fast — and many are ones you've never...

Does New Jersey Tax a Qualified Charitable Distribution? A qualified charitable distribution can provide valuable federal tax benefits. But the state tax treatment of a qualified charitable distribution is not always the same. In this (Part II), we explain why a...

5 Facts About QCD Qualified Charitable Distributions Qualified Charitable Distributions (QCD): A Tax-Smart Way to Give From Your IRA After 70½ If you're age 70½ or older and regularly support charitable organizations, a Qualified Charitable Distribution (QCD) may be...

Your Beneficiary Form Decides Who Gets Your NJ Pension In many cases, beneficiary designation forms determine where assets like your New Jersey pension benefits, your retirement accounts or life insurance go.  This is regardless of what is written in your will. Here...

Stay NJ part III Stay NJ part III Changes in 2026 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ksWV3ppP4Q Stay NJ part III: This is our third video on this property tax program.  Hence the title, Stay NJ part III.  In this we cover Roth Conversions, Income Cliff, and Retirement...

Retirement Planning For Couples: The 74% You Can't Ignore When we're retirement planning for couples, there's something worth thinking about. When statisticians say there's a 74% probability of something happening, they don't call that a risk to manage. They call that...

3 Ways Retirement Could Affect Your Ability to Borrow Money Retirement can change more than just your income stream. Your ability to borrow money could be impacted.  Certain financial tools and lending options may become less accessible once employment income stops,...

Roth Vs. Pre-Tax 401(k) If you’ve ever wondered whether to choose Roth vs. pre-tax 401(k), you’ve probably seen a lots of different opinions!  And not a lot of clarity. The right answer depends on how your taxes actually work, not what someone else is doing....

3 Questions For Your Stress Tested Retirement Plan https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gC7nFqoHhZ4 A stress tested retirement plan should do more than project average returns.  It ought to evaluate how your financial plan during retirement may perform.  We don't suggest...

New Jersey Estate and NJ Inheritance Taxes New Jersey Estate Tax vs. NJ Inheritance Taxes: New Jersey Rules (and How DE, PA & NY Compare) Estate planning often gets derailed by a simple misunderstanding: the difference between New Jersey estate taxes and NJ...

5 New Jersey Retirement Tax Facts To Know 5 New Jersey Retirement Tax Facts To Know (and how NJ compares to PA, NY & DE) Understanding state income taxes is a critical part of retirement planning—especially in a high-tax environment like New Jersey. In this video,...