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Navigating your financial journey with the heavy burden of student loan debt on your back can feel overwhelming. You're faced with a critical decision: should you prioritize paying down those loans, or should you focus on the future, contributing to your workplace retirement plan? It's a tough call, especially when choosing loan payments means missing out on the opportunity to grow your savings through employer retirement matches.

But there's good news on the horizon, thanks to the SECURE 2.0 Act. This groundbreaking legislation is here to offer a helping hand, allowing your student loan payments to qualify for employer retirement matching contributions. It's a win-win, enabling you to tackle your debt while also building your nest egg.

Are you wondering if this financial boost applies to you? Keep reading, because we're about to explore how the SECURE 2.0 Act could be the solution you've been searching for.

What The SECURE 2.0 Act Means for The Student Loan Dilemma

For many of us,...

A comprehensive Life & Legacy Plan is about creating a strategy that lets you enjoy your life to the fullest while protecting your loved ones' future when you can no longer be there. It might seem like life insurance is an easy way to help secure your loved ones’ future – and it is – but your policy must be set up in the right way to have the best possible impact on your family.

The way you set up your beneficiary designations on your insurance policy can significantly impact its effectiveness, how it’s used, and who controls it after you die. In this blog, we'll explore how not to name beneficiaries on your life insurance and how to name beneficiaries to ensure your loved ones have the funds they need to thrive when something happens to you. 

DO NOT Name a Minor As The Beneficiary of Your Life Insurance Policy  

Naming your child or grandchild as a direct (or even backup) beneficiary of your life insurance policy may seem like a natural...

If you’ve been traveling around the sun for a while, you’ve no doubt heard of a Will, a document that says what happens to your money and belongings after you die. You may even have a Will, or know you should get one. And maybe you’ve heard of a Trust and wondered what it is and how it works. You may have even done research on Google about how to do your own Will or Trust.

In fact, it’s hard to poke around the internet and not find a do-it-yourself (“DIY”) Will and Trust service. Legal Zoom, TrustandWill.com, and even media personalities Dave Ramsey and Suze Orman offer cheap DIY documents. What these websites won’t do, however, is explain the potential consequences that can happen if you use one of their services. 

Legal Documents Have Legal Consequences

The truth is that Trusts and Wills, and other documents that all adults should have in place, like a health care directive and power of attorney, are legal documents with legal...

Wedding season is winding down, and if you are a newlywed or are planning to tie the knot soon, it’s time to make your first legal move as a married couple – creating an estate plan. With all the joy and happiness a new marriage brings, planning for your potential incapacity and future death may feel out of place, but creating your estate plan as part of your post-nuptial to-do list is the greatest gift you can give your new spouse.

A lot changes once your marriage is official, but how you and your spouse want your finances to be managed or how you would want medical decisions to be made for each other are not automatically documented when you say “I do.”  

If you become incapacitated for any reason before your estate plan is complete, your spouse would not have the legal authority to make medical decisions for you even though you’re married. Your loved one would also have no access to your bank accounts, and in the event of your death,...

Trying to find the right lawyer to help with legal matters, especially if you are under the gun in a crisis situation, but even if you aren’t, can often feel like navigating uncharted waters. You want to find an attorney you like who will understand your family’s needs, but you also have to consider the cost of the attorney you’re hiring, and whether they can meet your immediate needs and be there for you in the long term. 

Depending on the type of legal work you need handled, whether it’s a high-conflict litigation matter, a one-off transactional matter, or ongoing strategic support, the options can be confusing to say the least. Maybe you’ve even considered a legal insurance plan or a pre-paid legal program. While the idea of legal insurance is fantastic, the execution is often lacking. 

In this blog, we’ll explore your options for hiring a lawyer just by looking at the legal billing models. In future articles, we’ll consider...

As winter takes hold, and back-to-school excitement dies down, there is one crucial task that is often overlooked designating legal guardians for your minor children. Legal guardians are the individuals you entrust with the care of your children if, for any reason, you are unable to do so yourself. 

In the hustle of back-to-school shopping and end-of-season summer fun, it might seem like naming legal guardians for your kids is a low priority, but nothing could be farther from the truth. 

As kids return to school, they’ll spend most of their day in the care of other people - their teachers, coaches, and babysitters. That means that your children will spend most of their time with people who do not have any legal authority to take care of them for more than a brief time in the event you are in an accident or can’t be reached for any reason. 

And, if your kids are going off to college, you’ll no longer be able to make decisions for them or have...

As the need for affordable legal services becomes even more important in today’s world, it's common to opt for group legal insurance offered through your workplace benefits. These group insurance plans provide free legal assistance for a variety of needs from law firms that have contracted with the insurance company to provide the legal work.

While group legal insurance might seem like an easy option to save on your family’s legal needs, it’s often inadequate for creating the kind of estate plan you really need to protect your assets, your choices, and your loved ones. In fact - the type of estate plan, will, or trust created through legal insurance programs could leave your family with a big mess.

Here are the reasons why estate planning for your family demands a heart-centered, counseling-oriented approach and guidance beyond the scope of your group legal insurance coverage. I’ll help you understand the potential pitfalls of using group legal insurance for...

 July is National Family Reunion Month and the perfect time to reconnect with family from near and far, share life’s updates, and reminisce about the wonderful memories you share together. If you’re getting together with family this month, it’s also a perfect time to talk to your loved ones about your shared goals, family resources and the legacy you want to leave behind for the next generation. 

You might think that estate planning is too somber a topic for a happy family reunion, but it can actually be an opportunity to bring you closer to your loved ones by giving everyone time to speak openly about their wishes for the family and can help everyone feel unified by working together toward the family’s future wellbeing.

Not sure how to bring up estate planning in a way that makes your family feel empowered? Keep reading to learn how to navigate the conversation without scaring away party guests!

Invite Your Loved Ones to the Conversation In...

When you think of estate planning, a Will is usually the first thing that comes to mind. In fact, most people who contact me tell me they don’t need anything complicated for their estate- just a Will. Indeed, Wills have a reputation as the number one estate planning tool and can be seen all over TV shows and movies, from the dramatic “reading of the Will” (which rarely happens in real life) to characters plotting how best to defraud their billionaire uncle’s Will in order to inherit his lavish estate.

But although Wills are a key part of your estate plan - and a big part of the movies - relying on a Will alone won’t solve your estate planning needs - no matter what Hollywood says. Instead, using just a Will to plan your final wishes is likely to leave your loved ones with an expensive mess that won’t distribute your assets in the way you intended.  

What’s more, a Will alone won’t ensure that you’re taken care of in the...