White House Financial & Settlement Solutions, LLC

  We have been advising many of our clients who are teachers in the Michigan Educational system on the proposed changes to their Retiree Healthcare and Pension options. The state wants to put more of the cost of retiree healthcare and pensions on the teachers themselves due to their fiscal issues. The most important advice we have for our clients is that they have to crunch the numbers or have someone crunch the numbers for them to see what the impact of their decision is on their total financial plan. Teachers should also consider how long they have worked as a teacher and how long they plan to continue working in the school system. Finally, consideration should be given to whether the teacher is comfortable with 100% of their healthcare and retirement future completely in the hands of the state of Michigan. The first change is in the retiree healthcare options where they have the option of selecting a Premium Subsidy or Personal Healthcare Fund. With the Premium Subsidy the ...

 October 22, 2012 Topic:  The ALMOST perfect client review meeting As a financial advisor and business owner my team and I are continuously trying to perfect our craft.  There are so many things we do for our clients, however, if I had to boil down everything we do to the two most important I would say they are: continuously and consistently communicating with our clients and meeting with our clients face- to- face to review their needs and goals and the strategy we are implementing to help them achieve them.  We are continuously honing our systems to deliver that perfect client review meeting, which today, I believe, we almost had! We met with long- time husband and wife clients today whom we will call, for the sake of confidentiality, Joe and Jane Doe.  I will get around to talking about the meeting itself, however, I should provide some background on this client relationship first, to set the stage.  We have worked with the Doe’s for arou...

I have decided to mainly use our blog as a journal to record my lessons learned and daily struggles, activities and successes as an entrepreneur trying to manage raising a happy family and building a world class business!   This weekend I spent a lot of time working on creating our Target Market strategy ( I also found time to get a buck deer hunting, go to our high school football game and watch the Tigers rock the Yankees with my wife).   I wholeheartedly believe that to be successful in business you need to be focused on some target market or niche and be the best or almost the best at serving that niche.   For nine years we excelled in working the niche of “Helping people going through a life changing event such as a physical injury, death of a loved one, divorce, etc.”    Due to various market circumstances and fatigue we have found it necessary to refocus and find another target market.   Therefore, I have spend a lot of time dissecting, sorting ...

On the back of a relatively good earnings season, August saw moderate gains, with the S&P 500 Index nearly surpassing its year-to-date high during the month. Domestic large-cap stocks, as measured by the S&P 500, gained 2.25% for the month, while small- and mid-cap stocks fared even better. Foreign stocks were mixed; developed markets, as measured by the MSCI World ex-U.S. Index, rose 2.85% while the MSCI Emerging Markets Index fell 0.33%. The bond market was relatively flat in August: Treasuries and the Barclays Municipal 1-10 Year Index fell slightly, while the Barclays Capital U.S. Aggregate Bond Index inched up 0.07% for the month. High-yield bonds, however, continued to fare well, with the Barclays U.S. Corporate High-Yield Index gaining 1.17%. (Source: Morningstar.   Please note that it is not possible to invest directly in to an index.) Overall, the economy remains sluggish. This is reflected in mild second-quarter GDP growth numbers, recently revised upwards ...

We help many clients who are going through or have been divorced.   A very common question in these cases, or at least one which should be asked but often isn't, is "What are the rules regarding Social Security in a divorce?"   I hope that my explanation below clarifies this question somewhat. The basic rules to collect on an ex spouse are that a person must have been married at least 10 years and divorced at least two years, and not be remarried.   The exes don't have to coordinate their claiming strategies or even communicate with each other.   They can collect benefits independently as long as the ex-spouse is eligible for benefits, even if he or she hasn't yet filed for benefits. A divorced spouse can collect his or her own reduced benefits as early as 62 but is subject to the earnings cap if working while collecting benefits.   This year, $1 in Social Security benefits is lost for every $2 earned over this year's limit of $14,640 (Source: www.s...

I recently flew to Boston to meet with a couple who were referred to us by the husband's brother for whom we had completed a comprehensive financial review.   I will call them John and Judy, although these are not their real names to protect their privacy.   John was a non-profit and foundation consultant whose business was significantly down due to some health issues he has had and Judy works for a software technology company.   They had two grown sons.   John is 60 and Judy 59.   Judy was also having some health issues due to her stress from work and working long hours.   They, like many of the people we initially meet, were not confident that they could reduce their current savings so that Judy could perhaps work less, or work a day or two from home, and still be able to have enough to retire in a few years.   They were very diligent savers and had saved quite a bit in assets which were spread across many disparate accounts with no real portfolio ...

With the demise of guaranteed pensions, and in light of the risks you face in managing your own retirement assets, maximizing Social Security becomes a critical part of retirement planning. On e o f th e mo s t importan t decision s a r eti r e e face s i s whe n t o appl y fo r Socia l Securit y bene f it s . Thi s i s n o t a decisio n t o b e mad e lightl y ; th e gua r anteed , li f e t i m e , in f lation-adju s te d incom e p r omise d b y S oc i a l Securit y ma k e s i t on e o f a r eti r ee ’ s mo s t significant asset s . I f y o u w e r e t o calculat e th e p r esen t v alu e o f a p e r so n ’ s Socia l Securit y incom e s t r eam , i t w oul d r i v a l th e lum p su m ma n y peopl e h a v e i n thei r 4 0 1 ( k ) p l a n s a t r eti r ement . Whil e th e Socia l Securit y “ asse t ” m a y no t b e manage d i n th e t r aditiona l w a y , p r e - r e t i r ee s c a n enhanc e it s v alu e...