Our Insights

Spring is an ideal time to clean up your finances, clear out the clutter, and get a fresh start. Maybe you have extra money left over at the end of the month and could use a budget tweak. Perhaps you have too many automatic expenses, or it’s time to apply the brakes to your credit card spending. Whatever the reason may be, consider the following seven suggestions to get a better handle on your finances this spring season. Clean Up

March Madness is almost here, and as many of us know, the season highlight for college basketball fans is often full of upsets, underdogs, and blowouts. Like investing, filling out a bracket involves balancing risk, reward, and expectations, and winning a pool requires a bit of luck along the way. Here are a few lessons from March Madness that we can apply to the world of investing. Lesson #1: Forget Perfection, Position Yourself Strategically The odds of filling out the

A lot has happened with student loan forgiveness in the US. In fact, the movement surrounding the topic started over a decade ago! Here, we provide a brief timeline of events that have happened over the past year or so regarding student loan forgiveness. January 2021 President Joe Biden was inaugurated into office on January 20, 2021. According to Politifact, a website by the Poynter Institute, one of Biden’s promises was to forgive student loan debt from public colleges and

While doing your taxes always feels a bit tedious, these five tips can help you stay the course for filing your 2022 tax return. Tip #1: Leverage Technology If you are filing without the help of an accountant or advisor, you may find it beneficial to use tax preparation software. You can input the information, and the software can populate the numbers for you. Utilizing software can help you meet compliance requirements and help streamline the process, which in turn

January is Financial Wellness Month, which means it’s a good time to remind people to plan and update their financial strategy. Now is a great time to connect with your Patriot advisor to discuss your financial situation and aspirations for the future. You should also assess if your financial strategy needs any adjustments or changes based on your lifestyle. Defining Financial Wellness The first thing to do is define what “financial wellness” means for you. This varies drastically from person

In the final days of 2022, Congress passed a new set of retirement rules designed to make it easier to contribute to retirement plans and access those funds earmarked for retirement. The law is called SECURE 2.0, and it’s a follow-up to the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement (SECURE) Act, passed in 2019. The sweeping legislation has dozens of significant provisions, so to help you see what changes may affect you, we broke the major provisions of the

Quarterly Market Insights – Fourth Quarter 2022 U.S. Markets Stocks ended a volatile fourth quarter with a slight gain, which helped repair some of the damage since the beginning of the year. For much of the quarter, sentiment was boosted by stronger than expected earnings, a deceleration in inflation, and a growing belief that the Fed may start to scale back on the pace of interest rate hikes.  However, the upbeat mood soured in December as recession fears were rekindled

Wondering if you are best prepared for the upcoming giving season?  The holidays will be here before you know it, and to minimize stress and maximize your gifting abilities, it is important to keep in mind a few details that you may or may not be aware of.   If you are not sure how your finances match up with your year-end giving strategy, now is the time to prepare yourself by making your lists and checking them twice. Organization is

The Internal Revenue Service has released new limits for the coming year. After months of high inflation and financial uncertainty, some of these cost-of-living-based adjustments have reached near-record levels. Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs) IRA contribution limits are up $500 in 2023 to $6,500. Catch-up contributions for those over age 50 remain at $1,000, bringing the total limit to $7,500. Roth IRAs The income phase-out range for Roth IRA contributions increases to $138,000-$153,000 for single filers and heads of household, a

As the holiday season draws near, most people are thinking about their finances over the next few months and budgeting for how they can celebrate the most wonderful time of the year. Which is perfect timing because October is National Financial Planning Month! Let’s use this month to celebrate the importance of proper financial planning and share some tips and tricks on how to get your financial planning in order. Create a Budget The first step in understanding and taking