by Micah Porter | Oct 5, 2018 | Blog
A lifelong friend of mine recently passed away, and it was a sudden and totally unexpected death. As a financial advisor, I deal with the possibility of death all the time. In the hundreds of plans I have built with clients, if a spouse or dependent was in the... 
by Micah Porter | Sep 26, 2018 | Blog, Federal Government Employees
When President Trump announced several weeks ago that he was freezing pay for Federal employees, it had to feel like Groundhog Day. The top pay increase in the last 7 years came in 2010, and over that timeframe, there was no increase for 2 years and a 1% increase for... 
by Micah Porter | Sep 20, 2018 | Blog, Near Retirement
We’ve all heard the adage that money can’t make you happy, but most of us realize that’s not quite true. If you don’t have enough to cover the necessities, more money will most certainly have a positive impact. Conversely, the fact that on a given day Bill Gates has a... 
by Micah Porter | Sep 19, 2018 | Blog
At some point, most new parents or grandparents begin thinking about how to pay for college. Since educational costs have risen at a rate well in excess of inflation over the last two decades, covering the cost of college is no mean feat. Fortunately, 529 plans offer... 
by Micah Porter | Sep 12, 2018 | Blog
One of my favorite charts on investing is the Callan table of investment returns. The chart depicts the return of various asset classes1 from year-to-year, and just a glance at it shows how volatile relative returns can be. An asset class that leads the pack for... 
by Micah Porter | Aug 29, 2018 | Blog, Near Retirement
A question clients often ask as they approach retirement is whether or not they need long-term care insurance. The basic concept is pretty straightforward – if, at some point in the future, you need long-term care, you should be able to purchase insurance to... 
by Micah Porter | Aug 16, 2018 | Blog, Near Retirement, Retirement Planning
A pretty common stereotype when it comes to retirement is the overworked, underpaid worker who would retire immediately and pursue the Island Life if they only could. And while I have worked with some clients whose immediate answer was “tomorrow” when I asked when... 
by Micah Porter | Aug 10, 2018 | Blog, Near Retirement, Retirees
If you are planning for retirement, estimating healthcare costs should be part of your plan. In recent posts, I have covered a Vanguard study on retirement healthcare spending, as well as the structure of traditional Medicare and Medicare prescription drug coverage.... 
by Micah Porter | Aug 3, 2018 | Blog, Near Retirement, Retirement Planning
In a previous post, I took a look at Medicare Parts A & B, which cover many types of inpatient care along with what are generally defined as medically necessary services. In this post, I’ll examine Part D, which is the portion of Medicare that covers prescription...