March 22, 2023

One of the more common ideas I hear from a client is that, “I don’t want to move all of my money to you.  I have another guy and I want to see how you both do.”  This creates some problems.  For one thing, quite often the more you invest with a given company, the lower the costs are.  This is true with per-transaction business as well as with advisory (fee-based) accounts, and the difference can be substantial.  As an example, you might be paying 1% of assets for a $400,000 account, but 0.5% for one over $500,000.  A 0.5% difference at that portfolio value is $2,500 that goes unnecessarily to fees.  In other words, splitting your accounts between multiple advisors can amplify your cost to invest and erode your overall return. 

Revised March 15, 2023

According to the CFP Board, the financial planning process can be broken down into a number of steps and areas.  It always starts with a conversation to define the relationship between advisor and client.  You need to be on the same page with your professional about the scope of what you hope to accomplish.  Later in the process are the fun things such as implementation and monitoring (stuff like picking appropriate investments or having review meetings where you get free Nespresso coffee).  Pretty early on, though, you should be working with your advisor to gather data—a lot of it.  What we’re trying to help you do here is to define your financial position.  So let’s take a look more in depth at that. 

Revised March 7. 2023

Did you know that Social Security is the most common source of retirement income?   Many retirees depend on the steady payments as a major source of their retirement income, but there are other types of benefits as well.  I get asked about this topic quite often, so I thought I’d tackle some of the more common questions. 

Revised March 1, 2023

We recently signed another client that found The Krajniak Group in a web search.  While the majority of our clients find us through a referral from a friend or family member, it’s exciting to know that we’re developing a web presence coupled with a positive reputation!  If you don’t currently work with a financial planner (and we may be biased, but we still think that you should), and if you don’t know who to trust, here are a few suggestions that you might find valuable:

November 29, 2017 ---- Updated February 23, 2023

Think back to January, and you might remember making a New Year’s resolution.  Maybe the goal was to get into better shape, or perhaps you wanted to pay off debt or start saving money.  If you’re anything like me, you did get into shape—although that shape may more round than intended.  The problem may be that you didn’t go into the year having thought about how exactly to accomplish your goals.