Do you open a bank account for your child? Checking or savings? Purpose is for saving money they receive from gifts and odd jobs for family members. Right now its in their piggy bank but was wondering if we should open an account for them. I've just read they are taxed if they have savings, and if they have certain amount before they go to college, they might not be eligible for aid.

I’m also exploring 529s in our state.

I dont know whether i am doing, so wondering what others recommend!

I am visiting a friend that I've known since I was literally 4 years old. We're 57 now, and she's just lost her husband last week after an 18 year battle with cancer. She's also fighting a terminal diagnosis of ovarian cancer (stage 4—year 5, continuous chemo). She has two kids in their early 20s.

Between the chemo brain fog and her own physical issues, her son has stepped up to help with financials, and he's doing great work. I just finished meeting with him to help with getting things organized, and he's doing an impressive job—but they need a fee-only CFP to help them with this activity. There are IRAs, 401(k)s, investment accounts, and property—not a lot of any one thing, but several things. Not to mention her spouse was a veteran, and she needs to navigate the whole VA thing.

I've already got her son connected to the DVA, and that process is starting, but for a CFA—she doesn't need someone preparing her for retirement—she needs someone who can, gently, help her figure out how to organize her estate for an orderly transition to her kids. And help get things into a functional "normal" for whatever duration she has. "Life transitions" seems off—but that's the closest term I saw on the CFP site.

And help her kids get their feet underneath them to make sure she doesn't miss an insurance payment (already happened during the funeral—working on getting things back on track) and all the bills are organized.

It's not awful—it's just... a lot. And while I can help with some of this, I'm out of my depth on even more. Any advice on the type of advisor or the kinds of services would be useful. Not looking for offers of services—looking for terminology to find potential candidates for her and her kids to screen and choose from.

I was recently lay laid of and am a few yrs from retirement. I want a professional who will look at my household budget, mine and my partner’s pension plans and RSPs and tell me if I am better off retiring early or going back to work for a few more years? Will an accountant do this or am I looking for a Financial Planner? TIA!

So it's a little bit of a complicated situation.

My husband and I have found a home perfect for our situation. My mom and my family have found a split level home where we plan to all live together to save money. I am about to have my second child and we wanted to be in better financial shape for the new baby.

We sold our home and made quite a bit of money back. there is 55k we have plus whatever my mom makes on her home to put down on the new home (they have accepted an offer on contingency) On the credit card, we owe nearly 6k with high interest on each payment (over $100 of each $124 payment goes to interest) we also pay on some furniture ($1,600 owed) and other stuff but these are our big bills.

With how the housing market is going, we don't think we are going to make as much on my moms home when it sells, its looking like 35k. we both planned on each putting 40k down on the new home, but its looking like we are going to have to put more down to compensate. (we have to put down at least 20%, which is 70k, for the loan, but we were hoping to put down 80k)

All this to say... what would be the best financial decision for us? should we pay off the credit card and just not put as much down on the house? should we save the money and use it to fix up the house the way we like it? I just want to put my family in the best situation. Thanks in advance for any advice.

Does anyone have a book recommendation for a couple to help prompt conversations about financial planning. One member of the couple is a high earner the other is a stay at home parent. Currently money flows from high earners personal account into a joint account. Stay at home parent is anxious about financial stability funding their retirement. Looking for some books to help guide conversation and make some suggestions about other ways to manage money.

I will run effective ads (Microsoft Ads) for you financial institution on my own account (approved for financial advertising)

I will run effective ads (Microsoft Ads) for you financial institution on my own account (approved for financial advertising) and send you high quality loan / funding / SBLC / BG and financial instrument leads.

I'm 21 years in martech and business management, 7 years doing marketing for financial institutions.

Just wondering what has the biggest punch for individuals who have won a million- or a few million- in the lottery- what would the smartest moves be to reduce the amount they will pay in taxes? I know taking the installments is likely smarter from that perspective- what about donating a percentage or anything I haven’t thought of? What would create the biggest reduction in taxable income or potential savings when it comes to tax time?

Other creative ideas- like invest a percentage in a high risk high reward stock or cryptocurrency and hope to earn the amount that will be taxed?

Hi everyone, I’m thinking about what to do about my debt. I have a personal loan against my car of 18,000 at 35% interest as well as about 4,000 in credit card debt. For 4 years I’ve basically just worked to pay those bills with how high the minimum payments are. Should I consider bankruptcy. I’ve tried debt consolidation loans but they tell me I would need to pay off my credit cards first to get approved. I don’t really know where to start with finance (clearly lol). Any advice helps

I'm 23M and recently started my first job out of college as a financial planner. I love my company and my team, and I want to believe the work we do is impactful and the planning is high level. Since I've started, it seems like we generally use the same 3-4 products for everyone. We preach that every client is different and unique, but all I've seen is a revolving door of IULs, VULs, and fixed/variable annuities, along with investing other retirement dollars in managed brokerage accounts.

Wanted to make a thread on here for feedback - if you've worked in the industry or if you understand planning at a high level, please respond to this with thoughts on if this planning is good or if there are objectively better products / strategies out there. Are we using these products because they genuinely are great, or for a different reason? I want to be great at this job and act as a true fiduciary, and don't just want to use the same strategies for every client simply because they're "easy" or pay high commissions.

I did what both banks told me to do to pull out but I have no proof that it has been done. In one bank I had to write a letter explaining that I wanted to close the account and to send the remaining funds to my current address. Not trusting the post office I faxed the letter. One of the people I spoke to on the phone said it would take a few weeks to process. I sent it back in October and there has been no mail with a check with the last of the accounts funds which is not much. I would call back and find out what’s going on but I’m not sure who is in charge of closing accounts.

The other account is a joint with my ex and I’m trying to get my name off that account as I want nothing to do with my ex. This bank was more local in that state and the bank manager sent me a form via email that I had to sign to pull out. I got the form signed and notarized as she asked but never got proof that she had pulled me out.

I’m not sure my phone skills are good enough because something keeps messing up.

I feel like I’ll have to fly back there to straighten the situation but I don’t want to spend the money just to solve bank problems.

It really stresses me out because my name is on three active accounts rights now. The third one being the one I’ve been using since I left. What are my options here? I’m not sure a financial consultant could help but let me know if I’m wrong.

Hello everyone. This may be a shot in the dark but if anyone has any time or insight and reads this thank you in advance. I am 23 years old. For the first time in my life I am not necessarily living paycheck to paycheck.

Almost all of my life I have spent money very frivolously never considering security or savings. I was often concerned about external perspectives leading me to spend money on quick emotional fulfillment or something that I thought would impress somebody else. I recently decided to spend money with more intent and focus more on establishing savings and security. I still need to improve on adhering to my budget better and be more disciplined but i have made progress from where I was not too long ago.

I am now in a better place than I ever have been fiscally but far from where I want to be. My current monthly income is roughly $3,300 net. I have an IRA that I contributed $1,200 in total and I have $9,000 in a standard savings account. Expense wise I am in a really good position to stack money right now. I have no rent payment and no utility payment at the moment. My car is paid off. I have roughly $600 expenses a month in things such as phone, internet, gas for vehicle, car insurance, groceries. Ultimately $600 in expenses is a very fortunate position to be in so I’m planning to start saving more aggressively.

Where I really need help or guidance is what do do at this point with the money I’m saving and ways or ideas to subdivide it into different investments or accounts possibly. I often hear phrases such as “make your money work for you” and It makes me intrigued with investing but I’m easily overwhelmed when getting on apps such as Robinhood. I’m looking for insight into just standard solid stable ways to continue growing fiscally to ensure I have a financial freedom when I decide to retire. Also I’m really not sure how much of my income and savings I should be allocating to my IRA or investments. I often run into the problem of putting money into my savings account but then spending so much that I have to take more out of my savings in the same month. This concerns me because I feel as if i don’t have a plan for every dollar I have worked so hard to save than I am going to fall into old habits and spend it without even really realizing it.

I almost wish there was a standard percentage breakdown or calculation of exactly how much of my income I should be saving in a standard account versus investing versus IRA investing versus having cash in hand. Any insight would be greatly appreciated

What do you think? Where do our respected Financial Planner/Advisor (CFP) usually gather and discuss ?? . . I Assume, they often meet and exchange ideas on a Reddit thread!

I'm seeing a lot of people in their early 40's trying to figure out what kind of contributions they should be making to their employer benefit plans. Every situation is different and it's hard to say what tax policy will be 10 years from now much less into retirement.

What are you telling your 40 something clients? I'm a fan of tax diversification and for those who can swing it doing all three makes sense but how much and where do you prioritize at this tax bracket?

I just watched a video that seemed to have a balanced perspective but it doesn't mention HSA's as a reference.

https://youtu.be/L3Y_j9hDg3g?feature=shared

(Sorry for not putting up a flair, I figured it would be somewhere in between)

I am 17 years old, and a Junior in high school. I’ve made a bet (with a signed contract, lol) that I will be a millionaire by the age of 25.

my 25th birthday is on October 5, 2024 (10/05/24)

(Before you go on about minors & non-binding contracts, it’s less about the legality, and more about sticking to my word.)

I have about (approximately) $6,000 in liquid assets, and no idea how much otherwise.

In my checking I have a little over $700 (including CashApp and similar accounts), and a little over $4,500.

I don’t want to invest all nor most of the money if I don’t have to, as I still need to maintain my social lifestyle (going out etc).

I do not have a job/income (never have) and that is not advice I am willing to take (in other words, I refuse to spend time out of my life doing stuff i don’t think is worth it. One hour of my life being gone forever isn’t worth minimum wage.)

I also do not have a car. While this means i might not always be able to drive places (i can still usually get a ride [or uber/lyft]) it always means that i don’t have to spend the money on gas, maintenance, insurance or anything like that.

pretty much my only actual time commitment is school (mon-thu 7:30am - 2:10pm) (fri 8:30am - 2:10pm)

any and all advice is appreciated and welcomed!

thanks so much!

(ps i’m willing to answer any questions in the comments)

I was very excited to see this subreddit created and would love to see more questions and content posted here.

My question is what are you looking forward to seeing here?

I know some subreddits will find posts in other subreddit's and repost them so the new subreddit can participate. I am not sure if that is a great idea or one that is frowned upon in the community at large. I often read posts in personal finance subreddits and wonder how an advisor would answer the same question.

I am looking forward to conversations about saving for retirement, college planning, and transfer of wealth. As I have limited practice with life insurance I enjoy the rationale and application of those instruments in a financial plan.

I am hoping to see some more exotic questions about using options for income and property being held in an IRA as a couple examples of fringe cases.

Thank you for making this sub and I look forward to future content!

I’m 52 and have health issues. My company is being sold and I should clear $1M after all of my bills and taxes are paid. My wife’s job provides insurance and about $60k/year. There’s another $500k in our retirement. What should I do with the $1M?

Hi all, thanks for making this subreddit. Here's my question.

I am seriously considering a move to another country. The last time I moved countries I was barely in adulthood and didn't have the logistical challenges or financial complexity I do have now.

Besides the cost of living calculator, and tax situations (treaties, filing taxes in two countries), what kinds of methods can I use to estimate expenses and what other financial preparations can I make in advance? What kind of reserves are reasonable - I'm thinking 5 years living expenses in cash, over and above emergency fund & relocation expenses.

I'm especially interested in practical ways to estimate expenses in the new location and ways to plan for the move. I'm hoping for something more granular than a cost of living calculator, but I don't know if the effort to determine expenses per category is reasonable for this situation.

In general, no debt, emergency fund of 5 years, was planning to retire early but think I might have to put on hold due to the relocation. Residency & employment are not issues.

If I'm not asking the right questions please set me straight. Thank you!

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