Your Social Security Benefits
Social Security is one of the largest assets for most retirees, but very few understand its basic rules. About a third of all people claim social security at age 62, but there are many benefits that are left on the…
Obamacare and your Tax Return
The Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare or ACA) will have a limited, if any, impact for most taxpayers. However, there are several items to be aware of when completing your tax return. 1) Itemized Medical Deduction There has been an…
North Carolina Tax Changes – 2014
As you finalize your 2013 federal and state income tax returns you should be aware of the significant changes to North Carolina state taxes in 2014. In July 2013, the state legislature passed a material overhaul to the state tax…
Emerging Markets Outperformance?
In our recent mailing about the CAPE formula, we discussed how we use this valuation measure in our investment outlook strategy. The graph below (Graph 1) demonstrates that when an asset class is undervalued there are high correlations with stronger…
Federal Reserve Taper Decision
The Federal Reserve (“Fed”) recently announced in its January 2014 meeting that it will continue to reduce (aka taper) its bond buying from $75 billion to $65 billion per month in 2014. The Fed has seven remaining meetings in 2014…
Grayson Blazek Joins Financial Symmetry’s Operations Team
Financial Symmetry has hired Grayzon Blazek as our newest Data Specialist to support our operations department. Grayson joins the firm after participating in FSI’s financial planning internship program since January 2013. He recently graduated from NC State University with a B.S….
How Much did you Spend Last Year?
The start of a new year is often when we tell ourselves “This year I am going to [insert resolution here].” Maybe last year you decided to really start tracking your expenses (you know, with a budgeting tool, like Mint.com…
The Top 10 Economic Stories of 2013
As we did last year, Financial Symmetry has covered several current events on our blog throughout 2013, and here are what we think the Top 10 Economic Stories of the Year have been:
The Reality of Target-Date Funds
Older workers who are using target-date funds as the primary vehicle for saving in their 401ks are facing a difficult reality. An article in Bloomberg’s Businessweek, titled Target-Date Funds’ Risky Balancing Act, discusses the problem that the current low interest…
FSI sponsors O’Berry Center Annual Golf Tournament
2013 marks the sixth year that Financial Symmetry has sponsored the O’Berry Center Foundation Golf Tournament. This year, Chad Smith, CFP®, and Bill Ramsay, CFP®, participated in the Foundation’s 21st annual event on October 2nd. Serving 67 North Carolina counties,…
