Twelve points Blog

Is This a Good Time For a Roth IRA Conversion?

Whether you are in the early stages of building your retirement nest egg or you are lucky enough to have already accumulated a significant amount of assets in tax-preferential accounts, this could be a good time to consider having some of the funds located in after-tax or “Roth” accounts.

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Tips for Strategic Giving

The end of the year is a great time to ensure that you are using the right tools and techniques to maximizing your annual gifting program to family and philanthropy. This month, we discuss the spectrum of gifting strategies, such as traditional or outright cash gifts, dealing with more complex assets, and gifting for families with young children. We also review the impact of charitable gifting on income taxes.

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Keep Your Family Safe with These Essential Legal Documents

This month, we look at the legal documents to keep you and your family safe and sound. We’ll dive into estate planning topics such as living trusts, wills, the variations on power of attorney (durable, nondurable, special, limited, springing, and medical), advanced medical directives, and protection plans for children.

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Things to Know When Buying or Selling a Home

Buying and selling real estate is one of the most confusing and multi-pronged undertakings you’ll ever be involved with. Twelve Points breaks down the process for you with easy-to-understand discussions, including topics of credit scores, affordability,

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Strategies to Minimize Your Tax Contribution

Learn strategies to minimize your contribution to the government as we explore the topics of paycheck savings, FSAs vs. HSAs, job changes, charitable donations, child-care reimbursement, avoiding the marriage tax in a given year, and renting vacation homes vs. owning them.

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How Rising Interest Rates Affect You

When you hear about the Federal Reserve it may be hard to imagine that their actions have a direct affect on you. The truth of the matter is that their policies, including those related to interest rates, are felt all the way down to the consumer level, for better or for worse.

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3 Tax Tips to Save Your Spring

Filing taxes can be an intimidating process and in the stress of it all, sometimes we can forget to do the obvious or skip over the basics, making it even harder on ourselves. If you file your own taxes the following three simple tips can save you time, headaches and even money in the long run.

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Getting Your (Personal Document) House in Order

While financial planning and investing services are the most prominent aspects of wealth management it’s important to note the smaller steps on the path to financial success. It is essential clients have their personal documents in order before financial planning occurs.

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Finding the Right Home for Financial Documents

Financial document storage and organization can be overwhelming, especially when considering the choice between physical or cloud storage. We refrain from throwing anything away because we never really know when we might need to reference a certain document, and getting a new copy is often a time consuming inconvenience.

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How to be Second Home Savvy: An Introduction

Few assets can bring a family together like a second home.  Whether it is beachfront property on Cape Cod or a house on Lake Winnipesaukee, the second home is a source of tremendous joy for many families.  Imagine all of the time spent at the beach, skiing or simply sitting

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Who Should Have a Financial Plan?

I was meeting with an attorney friend of mine the other day, when she asked me a simple, but profound, question: “Who should have a financial plan?” Although my answer (“Anyone with a heartbeat.”) certainly sounded brash, her question got me thinking 

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Is Your Advisor Talking with You…Or Avoiding You?

Good relationships are built on trust and communication. While this rings true for how you interact with your significant other, it also applies to your relationship with your financial advisor. The recent volatility in the market put relationships between advisors and their clients to the test

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Finance Lessons for Your Teen

The current economic environment has caused many people to reconsider their personal finances and drastically change their spending and savings habits. Out of this economic malaise may come an opportunity to finally instill good habits in your teens that can carry them

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