<p>David Wray, the president of the Plan Sponsor Council of America, once said that the purpose of profit-sharing plans is “to generate goodwill and a feeling of partnership” between employer and employee. Profit-sharing plans give employees a share in the profits of a company each year and can help fund their retirements. All the money contributed [&hellip;]</p>

<p>There are a number of different gifting strategies available for planned giving. Each has its advantages and disadvantages. Instead of making an outright gift, you could choose to use a charitable lead trust. With a charitable lead trust, your gift is placed in a trust. The recipient of the gift draws the income from this [&hellip;]</p>

<p>There are a number of short-term cash management instruments available to the individual establishing a sound cash management program. These alternatives include money market mutual funds, Treasury bills, and certificates of deposit. Money market mutual funds simply pool investors’ dollars and purchase large denomination money market instruments. Individuals invest in the mutual fund for as [&hellip;]</p>

<p>As with virtually all financial matters, the easiest way to be successful with a cash management program is to develop a systematic and disciplined approach. Spending a few minutes each week to maintain your cash management program, can help you keep track of how you spend your money and pursue your financial goals. Any good [&hellip;]</p>

<p>Recently, fixed mortgages were near their lowest rates in almost 30 years. And if you are one of the many people who took out mortgages in the few years prior to that, you may be wondering if you should look into refinancing. If your mortgage was taken out within the past five years, it may [&hellip;]</p>

<p>As people move through different stages of life, there are new financial opportunities and potential pitfalls around every corner. Here are common money mistakes to watch out for at every age. The Weight of Too Much Debt Approximately 70% of workers with non-mortgage debt say their debt has impacted their ability to save for emergencies [&hellip;]</p>

<p>Although scammers often target older people, younger people who encounter scams are more likely to lose money to fraud, perhaps because they have less financial experience. When older people do fall for a scam, however, they tend to have higher losses.1 Regardless of your age or financial knowledge, you can be certain that criminals are [&hellip;]</p>

<p>Most people have good intentions about saving for retirement. But few know when they should start and how much they should save. Sometimes it might seem that the expenses of today make it too difficult to start saving for tomorrow. It’s easy to think that you will begin to save for retirement when you reach [&hellip;]</p>

<p>If there’s one financial lesson many people will take away from the pandemic, it’s the importance of a well-stocked emergency fund. In fact, a mid-2020 survey found that respondents’ top financial regret was not having enough emergency savings to withstand the crisis — and this was true for every income group.1 A sudden job loss, [&hellip;]</p>

<p>Many Americans realize the importance of saving for retirement, but knowing exactly how much they need to save is another issue altogether. With all the information available about retirement, it is sometimes difficult to decipher what is appropriate for your specific situation. One rule of thumb is that retirees will need approximately 80% of their [&hellip;]</p>

<p>Are you saving for retirement? For your children’s education? For any other long-term goal? If so, you’ll want to know how inflation can impact your savings. Inflation is the increase in the price of products over time. Inflation rates have fluctuated over the years. Sometimes inflation runs high, and other times it is hardly noticeable. [&hellip;]</p>

<p>Just like individuals, the government, corporations, and banks often need to borrow money for a short time to make ends meet. Unlike most individuals, however, the scale of this borrowing is phenomenal. The money market is the name given to the arena where most of this short-term borrowing takes place. In the money market, money [&hellip;]</p>

<p>The most important attribute of a cash reserve is its availability in time of sudden need. And even though a federally insured savings account is considered one of the safest places to put money being reserved for emergencies you may want to consider other alternatives when interest rates are low. When selecting ways to invest [&hellip;]</p>

<p>U.S. consumers won’t soon forget the troubling shortages of personal protective equipment during the early days of the pandemic, or when the first stay-at-home orders spurred panic buying and stress-inducing shortages of toilet paper, cleaning products, and food. Now, as the economy reopens fully and all at once, consumers are again experiencing a wide array [&hellip;]</p>

<p>In March 2021, the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) rose 0.6%, the largest one-month increase since August 2012. Over the previous 12 months, the increase was 2.6%, the highest year-over-year inflation rate since August 2018. (By contrast, inflation in 2020 was just 1.4%.)1 The annual increase in CPI-U — often called headline [&hellip;]</p>

<p>Since the pandemic began, disruptions in business activity have varied greatly from region to region, and often from one week to the next, according to the severity of local COVID-19 outbreaks. Unfortunately, many of the official government statistics used to gauge the health of the U.S. economy are backward looking and somewhat delayed. &nbsp; Changes [&hellip;]</p>

<p>During the 12 months ending in June 2021, consumer prices shot up 5.4%, the highest inflation rate since 2008.1 The annual increase in the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) — often called headline inflation — was due in part to the “base effect.” This statistical term means the 12-month comparison was based on an [&hellip;]</p>

<p>Inflation has been relatively low for the last decade, but the economic stimulus packages and recovery from the pandemic are expected to heat up the U.S. economy.1 Even so, the Federal Reserve has indicated it will let inflation run above the Fed’s 2% target for some time before raising interest rates.2 It’s unlikely the Fed will [&hellip;]</p>