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Author: Kelsie Joos

The Essential Step in Estate Planning

Posted on by Kelsie Joos

Estate planning is more than just setting up a will—it’s about ensuring your loved ones receive what you’ve worked hard for without the hassle. Adding direct beneficiaries to your accounts can save time, money, and stress for your heirs. Don’t forget to take this crucial step after creating your estate plan!

“So when it comes to estate planning, there’s a lot of people who don’t understand exactly how that process works and all the benefits that could be added by just adding a direct beneficiary on your accounts. So you have your IRA, you have your 401(k), you have your brokerage account, all these accounts. If something were to happen to you, you need some sort of owner once you pass on. This is what your beneficiary is. So, by going onto your accounts and adding a direct beneficiary, you’re really helping your heirs to have an efficient manner of receiving those assets. Any asset that doesn’t have a beneficiary listed, actually goes to what’s called probate and that is public record. It can be very expensive and timely for the courts to decide who is the rightful heir of those assets. And so by adding just a direct beneficiary onto your accounts and making sure that you either have at least a primary, and possibly even a contingent, you’re really helping your heirs to create an efficient way to pass on your assets.

Taking the steps to create an estate plan is very important and a lot of people do this, which is great, but what can happen is they don’t actually end up following through and taking the last few steps of adding the correct beneficiaries to their accounts. So once you create your estate plan, it’s very important that you go back and look at all the accounts that you have: your work plans, your 401(k)s, your HSA, your brokerage accounts, your checking accounts and make sure that you go and add the beneficiaries on them directly in order to create the most efficient process of passing on those assets.”

Should You Contribute to a Cash Balance Plan?

Posted on by Kelsie Joos

Thinking about your retirement plan? A Cash Balance Plan could be your game-changer! They are perfect if you are a business owner looking to make substantial contributions, have extra cash sitting around, or foresee a large tax bill this year. Ready to explore if it’s right for you? Let’s talk!

“A cash balance plan is a type of retirement plan. It’s a defined benefit plan that qualifies for tax exempt status. Cash balance plans don’t make sense for everybody but for those who they do make sense for they can be really powerful.

Who is a good fit?

Business owners who want to make a large contribution into a retirement plan are the perfect fit, specifically if you’re wanting to get more into the account than traditional plans allow, such as a 401(k) or IRAs. So if you have a lot of cash sitting on the sidelines that you want to get put away for retirement, this could be a really good fit for you. Also if you’re expecting an extremely large tax bill in any given year, getting money put into this account will decrease that tax impact. And then thirdly, if you are getting close to retirement or starting to prioritize retirement more and are really looking to catch up this is a great way to get large lump sums into a plan.

How much can I contribute?

So there is no contribution amount for a cash balance plan that applies to everybody. These plans are age dependent so that means that you’re going to need an actuary to calculate how much you can contribute into a plan in any given year. But that being said it is quite flexible from year to year and so as cash flow changes, we’ll be able to change the plan contribution limits with you. A cash balance plan is an extremely powerful account for those who are wanting to prioritize retirement who have extra cash on the side or who want to decrease their tax bill in a given year. It doesn’t work for everybody but if it does work for you it could make make a huge difference in your plan so if you think that this might be a good fit, please don’t hesitate to reach out ”

2024 P&G LTIP and STAR Award Election: Weighing Your Choices

Posted on by Kelsie Joos

It’s that time of year again when our team collaborates with our colleagues at Truepoint Wealth Counsel to share an analysis on the P&G LTIP and STAR Award programs. These awards can provide significant opportunities to build future wealth and achieve financial goals for Procter & Gamble employees. Because both programs come with a choice between stock options and an alternative (cash or RSUs), there are several considerations to be made when determining the choice that is most appropriate for you.

We created the following LTIP and STAR Award analyses to assist P&G employees in the decision-making process:

Once you have had a chance to review our analyses, please give us a call to discuss. As always, we want to help you make the best elections in the context of your overall financial plan.

When Should You Take Social Security?

Posted on by Kelsie Joos

Deciding when to take social security doesn’t have a one size fits all answer. Your ideal strategy depends on your benefit amount, other savings and investments, and your goals. Let us help you navigate this important decision!

“Social Security is a very common topic among our clients who are thinking about retirement and not as clear of an answer as many people would hope for, I think. When to take Social Security is by far the most common question we get and the answer depends on each client. There may be a different answer for every client. I think a lot of people, there’s two camps really. Some people want to take it right away and “give me my money,” I understand that.

And some people say “I’m going to wait as long as possible because then I can accumulate more Social Security benefits.” Both of those can be right, but sometimes one or the other might make a lot more sense depending on what else you have going on. Do you have a spouse? What does their social security picture look like? What other investments do you have? How much have you saved for retirement? What other types of accounts is that money in? There’s a lot of different variables that can impact the answer to the question “When I should take Social Security,” and we certainly help people navigate that.”

Navigating Your Equity Compensation at Google

Posted on by Kelsie Joos

Working at Google offers a robust equity compensation package in addition to your salary and cash bonuses. Hear from Commas advisor Katelyn on a rundown of the perks including 401(k), after-tax contributions, RSUs (or GSUs), and health benefits.

Want to dive deeper into your Google package? Schedule a non-committal intro-meeting to determine if working with Commas is right for you.

“The Google compensation package is made up of your salary, cash bonus, as well as RSUs, dubbed GSUs by employees. But you also have significant matches in your 401(k) and HSA accounts. The most note worthy thing to mention about your 401(k) is that Google offers 50% match on all your contributions. So in 2024, the contribution limit is $23,000. If you’re maxing out the account, that’s $11,500 contributed into your 401(k) by Google. Another great benefit of the Google 401k plan is that they allow After-tax contributions. Not only can you get in the $23,000 contribution either pre-tax or Roth, you also get the employer match of $11,500 and then you can get up to $34,500 into the After-tax bucket, which can be used for Mega back door roth contributions.

Another part of your compensation package is RSUs or GSUs. These are awards of company stock which, after the vesting period which is a four-year vesting period, you can then either hold those shares or diversify out of them and deploy them into your plan. Other great benefits at Google include a high deductible health plan which allows you to contribute into an HSA. Google also makes a match into this, as well as long-term disability and life insurance coverage. If you have any questions about any of the benefits offered through Google don’t hesitate to reach out.”

What is a Mutual Fund?

Posted on by Kelsie Joos

Think of mutual funds as your basket of opportunities, spreading your investments across hundreds or thousands of companies. With just one product, you can own a piece of the tech giants, small startups, and more, reducing risk and maximizing potential returns.

“I think of a mutual fund as like a basket of stocks. So you can go out and you can buy Apple or Microsoft or any public company out there, but a mutual fund will go and grab hundreds or thousands of those companies and build them basically into one product that you can buy and that way you’re not just solely invested in one company you can be diversified and own a bunch of these companies. Whether they’re tech companies or small companies and it just gives you a little bit better edge rather than putting all of your eggs in one basket.”

Why People Value Their Financial Advisor

Posted on by Kelsie Joos

Whether you’re detail-oriented or just want to delegate, trust is key. Find an advisor you can rely on to provide advice that is valuable to you.

“Different people value different things about their financial advisor. Some people really value their financial advisor because they’re paranoid. They’re paranoid that they’re not getting everything right. They’re missing some investment angle or some tax efficiency strategy or financial planning strategy and they want to get everything right because they don’t want to leave money on the table. And we can help with that being experts in the field, we help with that.

Other people value their financial advisor because they don’t want to deal with it. They either don’t have the time or the expertise or really the interest in managing their own finances and they just want it outsourced to somebody that they can trust. And so whether you are the paranoid type who wants to make sure you’re doing everything you can do now to set yourself up for later, or the person who just doesn’t want to deal with it, I would say the major overlap between those two people is the level of trust. You want to find somebody that you can trust is going to give you the right advice.”

Commas Advisor Nate’s Budgeting Approach

Posted on by Kelsie Joos

Creating a budget can depend on what works best for you based on your financial goals, spending habits, and personal preferences. Commas advisor Nate approaches budgeting by prioritizing saving first and paying essentials like rent, groceries, and loans. He then gets to spend whatever is left guilt-free!

“The way I think about budgeting is: I take a very reverse budgeting approach. So I look at: what do I need to save first? What money is already going out the door in terms of maybe rent or mortgage payments, groceries. Do I need to save in my Roth IRA? Do I need to save to pay down student loans or anything like that? And then, anything that’s leftover after that I can freely spend money on. I think that makes budgeting a lot more fun and simple rather than saying: this is how much comes in each month and then here’s how much I cans pend on clothing or fun money. Whatever’s leftover I can spend wherever I want guilt-free and it doesn’t matter.”

What Does a Relationship with Commas Look Like?

Posted on by Kelsie Joos

At Commas, we take the time to understand you as a person so that we can have a long lasting relationship. Your financial plan evolves as you navigate through life, and we’re here to support you through every change.

“We’re here to have a long lasting relationship. This isn’t transactional. We don’t see you as a number, we see you as a client. We’re building relationships. We want to get to know you. We want to know all your hopes and dreams and values and a lot of the time when we get to know you on a deeper level, we’re able to have conversations that meet you where you are and that are more understanding to the client.

A lot of us are in the same boat, everybody has their expertise. This happens to be ours and so we just want to be the sounding board that you can always come back to.”

Reducing Your Lifetime Tax Bill

Posted on by Kelsie Joos

Tax planning isn’t just about reducing taxes today. The goal is to minimize your lifetime tax bill. Thinking beyond the short-term can sometimes lead to smarter tax decisions!

“When it comes to taxes, a lot of people come wanting to reduce their taxes in the given year. But what we really want to do is make sure that you’re paying the lowest amount of tax possible over your entire lifetime. Sometimes, that might even mean paying more tax today, intentionally, so that your future tax rates are decreased. And so when you’re working to develop a solid tax plan you want to consider the future and the present in order to make the right decisions.”