White House Financial & Settlement Solutions, LLC

On Thursday, June 28, 2012 6:00pm at the Mediterrano Restaurant in Ann  Arbor we will be having a free dinner workshop on "The Keys to Unlocking Social Security and Making Your Benefits Work for You!". During the workshop we will cover topics that educate the participants on making the most of their Social Security Benefits. Please see the full details on the flyer link on our web site home page.  Seating is limited so please RSVP ASAP to Leslie White at lwhite@whitehousellc.com or (734) 433-1670. White House Financial & Settlement Consulting helps families live easier and less stressful lives through the proper management of their financial resources.  We do this by acting as our clients’ trusted advisor providing a personal touch customized to the client’s needs!  Please visit our web site at www.whitehousellc.com for more information!

While meeting with a new client yesterday and explaining our investment process, I thought about the basic keys which I have learned in over fifteen years of helping clients invest their assets which are as follows: 1.) Having a disciplined written investment plan and process, that is regularly monitored and properly managed, is much more important than the individual investments you select to implement your plan.  In general, it is my experience that people spend far to much time worrying about which stock or mutual fund to buy or sell and they do not even have a written and monitored plan to evaluate whether these investments are doing what they are supposed to. 2.) All investments can have good times and bad which is why it is not worth spending so much time selecting the individual investments which make up your portfolio.  Sure, you want to make sure that the individual investments have low expenses, have historically done what they say they are going to and are...

We work with many clients, both individuals and couples, who are going through the difficult process of divorce.  We help them understand their current financial situation, what they have, and how various decisions, pursuant to the divorce, may affect their financial future.  I just met with a gentleman yesterday who is going through the divorce from his wife of 24 years.  This meeting made me think of the common advice which we give to clients going through a divorce, over and over again, which is as follows: 1.) Understand your current financial situation and get it in order.  What assets and liabilities do you have?  What are the account numbers and values?  How do you contact the financial institution?  What assets or liabilities were brought into the marriage and kept in separate name?  Make a list of all your assets and liabilities (debts) and how they are titled. 2.) Review your credit report.  Many clients are shocked wh...

We wanted to communicate our Firm's views on financial market activity making headlines recently, namely the situation in Europe and the J.P. Morgan trading loss. Please keep in mind that there will always be significant issues that affect the financial markets. Some will be more significant than others, however, if we have a long term view and a diversified portfolio these events present no more than opportunities to us. If we do not have a long term view (i.e., greater than five years) then our portfolio should not be invested in anything that will be significantly affected by such short term events. Remember, just because European governments are having issues right now does not mean that all European companies are poor investments, and the smart money managers we use are using this as a buying opportunity. Regarding the J.P. Morgan trading loss. This is a prime example why we do not advocate putting more than a very very small fraction of any portfolio in individual sec...

A client recently asked us if individual investors can do what is called short selling.  Our answer to him was that yes, individual investors can definitely execute short sale trades.  The basic definition of a short sale is when an investor sells a security that they do not own (typically stocks) borrowing the security from someone else (typically through or from their financial institution).  Investors who execute short sales are betting that the value or price of the security they are selling is going to decrease.  If the price does decrease they can exit the trade by buying back the security in the market and giving it back to the original owner to pay off their "loan" at a lower price and keeping the difference as their profit. If, however, the price of the security goes up instead of down, and the investor does not own the security they are shorting their downside and hence risk is unlimited because the price can theoretically go to infinity!  The invest...

There are so many complex issues and constant change in our business of financial planning and investment management, that we often forget some of the basic questions that many people have, such as what a Stock, Bond or Mutual Fund is? I will attempt to answer these questions at a very basic level below. A share of stock is, at its most basic level, the representation of ownership of a corporation that is a claim on the corporation's earnings and assets. There are several different types of stock shares. Common Stock usually entitles the shareholder to vote in the election of directors and other matters taken up at shareholder meetings or by proxy. Preferred stock generally does not confer voting rights but it has a prior claim on assets and earnings -- dividends, which are the distribution of company earnings to shareholders, must be paid on preferred stock before any can be paid on common stock. In addition, a corporation can authorize additional classes of stock, each with...

Individual Retirement Accounts (IRA) come in two types, Roth and Traditional, and there are several basic differences between them.  The biggest difference between these two types of IRAs deals with how the distributions are taxed.  Traditional IRAs allow the IRA holder to take a current tax year deduction for the amount which they contributed to the IRA up to an annual limit.  When the IRA holder takes a distribution out of the IRA during retirement, however, each dollar of the distribution is taxed as income in the year it is withdrawn.  Thus any investment earnings in the traditional IRA are taxed deferred until withdrawn. Earnings in a Roth IRA, however, are tax free when withdrawn, but do not provide a current tax year deduction.  For those covered by an employer sponsored retirement plan traditional IRAs have income limits pertaining to the amount that the account holder may deduct on their taxes; however, anyone can make a nondeductible contribu...