What to Do With Your Tax Refund
Last year, the IRS reported it was giving out more than $305 billion in tax refunds, with the average refund being almost $2,5001. For 2021, the tax deadline was extended to May 17th and many people will be receiving their refunds soon. There are plenty of ways to...
Rent or Buy?
Buying or renting a property is often the largest expense for most people and one of the most important financial decisions they’ll make. This is a dilemma I am currently running into in my own personal life, hopefully through my research I can also help you come to a...
March Madness: Stock Market Edition
With the NCAA college basketball tournament getting underway this week, LPL Research is getting in the spirit with its own version of March Madness. Here we share our “Final Four Factors” for the stock market in 2021: Vaccines, Policy, Profits, and Rates. While we see...
Always a Reason to Sell?
Last week we had our 28th correction of 5% or more since the March 2009 low. During that time, the market has returned 473%. Short term the market outlooks have been largely unpredictable but long term it has been favorable. The market has since recovered and hit new...
Herd Immunity and Vaccines are Possibly The Best Stimulus We Need
As you probably know we’ve been on the math side of the Covid argument from the beginning and it’s helped guide us in some important decision making for our clients’ accounts. So far that’s paid off as we had a good year in 2020. For the purposes of our blog we’ve...
Preparing for 2021 Tax Season
The 2021 tax filling season started February 12th and Tax Day is Thursday, April 15th. You should be preparing to file your 2020 tax return and be familiar with the new tax laws. Below I’ll review some of the notable items. RMDs Delayed The SECURE Act changed the...
Impact of Inflation on Your Investments
The stories your parents told you about buying a candy bar for a dime are true. The goods and services that one dime could buy in 1950 is equivalent to about $1.10 in today’s money1. It’s tempting to plan for retirement based on the prices of today, but the impact of...
Congrats to Jeff Bezos!!
This Tuesday during the earnings release for Amazon, Jeff Bezos announced he would be stepping down from the CEO position for Amazon. Jeff Bezos left his prior employment and moved to Seattle to start his new concept company from a desire to participate in the...

Reddit and Robinhood Mania
Last week, you could not turn on the news without hearing about the market mania. How a Reddit forum almost put a hedge fund out of business, the little guys vs the big guys. There has been a lot of misconception about what happened and hopefully I can clarify it for...
RMDs Back for 2021. What Are Your Options?
Last year, required minimum distributions were waived and that worked out great for people who stayed invested. For 2021, they are back on and if you are 72 or turn 72 during 2021 plan to take a RMD this year. In 2020, the SECURE Act, increased the age at which...
Plan to Rise Above®
Welcome to the Plan to Rise Above® Blog. Continue to check back for new and exciting content in the world of financial planning, wealth management and personal finance.