If you are a small business owner in the State of California and do not carry a retirement benefit plan for your employees, the deadline for the CalSavers Program is quickly approaching. If you have 5 or more employees and do not currently offer a workplace retirement plan you must register by June 30, 2022.
Financial Planning is often a term used colloquially to mean managing one’s money, but it isn’t exclusive to saving and implementing market strategies. It is also safeguarding those assets for the future through analyzing special financial needs (death, disability, job loss, monetary windfall), taxation implications, medical/health planning, and liability concerns. Most professionals offer a couple specialized services but not all.
Inflation causes prices of goods and services to increase. Consumers can purchase fewer goods per dollar, input prices go up and revenues and profits go down. If economic growth accelerates very rapidly, demand grows even faster, and producers raise prices continually. In all, this action, slows down the economy so that supply & demand can recoup and become stable again. So, we understand on a base level what this does to our pocketbook but what does it mean for our savings and investments.
Socially Responsible Investing (SRI) is the investment in companies that promote ethical and socially conscious ideals such as environmental sustainability, justice, corporate ethics and/or advocate against discrimination. This can be accomplished by either specifically including companies that are making positive impacts and/or can exclude others that are making negative or questionable impact.
Many equate saving with investing. Yet the two concepts are not entirely interchangeable, there is a difference between saving and investing. Saving is putting money away that is for later use with little to no risk of loss. While you save in order to invest, you then take on some risk by investing in assets which ideally will increase in value but that doesn’t always occur. Here are some of the key differences to understand.
Human Capital refers to the monetary value of a worker’s experience, skills and working years available. Employer/state sponsored disability is inadequate or, at best, a limited solution to risk of loss of the ability to work. With that in mind it is important to acknowledge that every household faces the potential of unexpected disability or death and the loss of income associated with that. In order to mitigate that risk, individuals should consider certain additional insurance products to protect against loss.
Insurance is the base of the financial pyramid, creating a solid foundation upon which you will build your wealth. It provides protection against any unforeseen event that can potentially jeopardize your long-term goals. The most important idea to understand about insurance is that it is pure and simple the best way to protect yourself against the risk of loss. If you do not put anything aside for your financial protection you are exposing your plans to risk.
Cryptocurrency is a digital based currency that is used to buy and sell goods but also trade for profit. I’m sure, most of you know someone who has invested in some version of cryptocurrency. They work using technology called blockchain, a decentralized technology spread across many computers and manages & records transactions. Most of the appeal of blockchain tech is the security.
In today’s employment environment, it is more important than ever for employers to provide incentives to retain employees. One such benefit can be found in retirement plan offerings. There are several types of retirement plan options available to small businesses. While the same plan is not necessarily perfect for every company – the size and ownership structure of the company can help inform business owners’ decision as to which plan to offer.
Here is what to expect next year for the Social Security program:
