Articles

How important is your credit history?  It can be critical if you are needing a mortgage, buying a car, applying for insurance, renting an apartment or house, or even when you are applying for a job. Sometimes even having no credit history can be a big barrier to obtaining a loan. An important step in building...Continue Reading

If you’re married or cohabitating, at some point you must decide how to manage you and your partner’s joint finances.  There are multiple ways to successfully manage joint finances, so you both must decide which money management style works best for both parties. Using one of these three methods of jointly managing finances is easy...Continue Reading

The new tax law is making it a little more difficult to decide how you make your gifts to charity. Here’s why: The standard deduction has increased from $12,000 to $24,000. So, what does that mean to you? On your tax return you can deduct the larger amount of the standard deduction (12,700 for married...Continue Reading

FMP Wealth Advisers is a fee-only financial planning and investment advisory firm that provides solutions to comprehensive financial planning, investment management, qualified plans, and private investments. Milton Hixson founded FMP Wealth Advisers in 1987 as one of the first fee-only personal wealth management firms. FMP has since grown into a 14-person client-focused team that helps...Continue Reading

Summary of Legislation by FMP Wealth Advisers Congress passed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act on December 20, 2017. We have reviewed the details of this new legislation and summarized in this document the items we believe to be of most impact and interest to our clients. In favor of brevity, we have not included...Continue Reading

Traditional IRAs and Roth IRAs have similarities and differences. Some people may wonder which account type is better, but no answer applies universally. Which account to use depends on the personal financial situation and goals of the individual. People who are considering using an IRA should evaluate the features of each so they can determine...Continue Reading

Investment returns should be evaluated and compared in reference to a specified length of time. A 7% total return is not meaningful performance data without knowing the length of time it took to earn the 7%. Likewise, comparing a 7% total return over three years versus a 7% total return over five years will not...Continue Reading

As you may have noticed by the advertisements, a currently popular trend in retirement planning is to calculate “your number.” This refers to the amount of savings you need to have at retirement. From a marketing perspective, “your number” attracts consumers who prefer simplicity and an easily defined goal, but from a financial perspective, “your...Continue Reading

A CFP® certificant is an individual who has successfully completed the initial and ongoing certification requirements established by the Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards Inc. (CFP Board). CFP® practitioners voluntarily submit to the certification requirements in order to demonstrate their competence and expertise as a financial planner. Anyone may call themselves a financial planner,...Continue Reading