White House Financial & Settlement Solutions, LLC

Whether you're squared away and structured, live in functionally chaotic surroundings, or fall somewhere in between, there are many benefits to creating a financially organized life. Here's how to get a jump-start on creating a system to organize your bills, policies and other financial paperwork. . ***Continue Reading*** Considering everything going on in your life right now, finding time to complete a detailed inventory of important documents may seem like an impossible luxury. Have you got 30 minutes? That’s all it should take to fill out this executive summary—a quick collection of critical details. ***View Inventory*** 

I recently attended a workshop in Chicago that focused on closely held business transition planning.   I was interested in attending this workshop due to my goal of ensuring an ironclad succession and disaster plan for our firm and to be better able to advise many of our clients who are entrepreneurs and business owners.    As the owner of a closely held business for over eleven years I have tried hard to focus on the following mantra and which is the crux of what this seminar dealt with: Working on your business, rather than just in it! Sometimes a business can be humming along, increasing its net worth and profit margins, while the business owner overlooks potential major issues that can threaten its very existence.   This is rarely done intentionally or out of neglect, it is just that he or she is simply distracted by all of the progress being achieved. Many businesses are devastated when those events we do not like to consider take pla...

On, Monday, May 6 th , during an interview on CNBC, Warren Buffett, the venerated Chairman of Berkshire Hathaway and famous investor, called the fixed income or bond asset class a "…terrible investment right now".  Obviously, it is important to listen closely to what Mr. Buffett has to say given his investment track record.  However, it is also important to take several other factors into consideration as well, such as: 1.) Mr. Buffett is in a different financial position than probably 99% of us and, therefore, can afford to take a different amount of risk.  This is also likely true for most of the people who earn a living by making financial predictions. 2.) As  The Wall Street Journal wrote on Sunday , bond bears were making the same calls in the beginning of 2010, 2011, and 2012; those predictions led to lower yields (e.g., higher bond prices and thus higher bond returns) as the year went on.  If the keep predicting this every year I guess eventually th...

I saw this quote at a CrossFit box I worked out at in Stuart, Florida called Be CrossFit. "Pain of discipline now or pain of regret later.  Your choice!" This is a somewhat shortened version of the following original quote by Jim Rohn. “There are two types of pain you will go through in life, the pain of discipline and the pain of regret. Discipline weighs ounces while regret weighs tonnes.” ―  Jim Rohn I think this quote applies to so many aspects of life from family, physical fitness and definitely to personal finances!!!

The media has been reporting that market indexes are hitting a new high, which can make many people feel that their portfolio is not doing as well as "everyone else's”.   We must be very careful when we let the media dictate our investment strategy.   Based on our experience, when this happens, it is important to keep the following things in mind: 1.) The media's first priority is to make a profit by selling advertising, not to make you a profit by making good investment decisions. 2.) Most people only tell you about how much money they have made in their portfolios, not how much they have lost. 3.) Our fist job as a financial advisor is to understand the level of risk that you can take and to do everything we can to preserve your capital.   Our second job is to help you maximize the growth of your portfolio, given the amount of risk you can afford to take. 4.) The Dow Jones Industrial Index or S&P500 index being at a seven year high means that it has ha...

Feb. 6, 2013 One of the most common misunderstood financial planning concepts that we come across when meeting with new clients is the Individual Retirement Account also more commonly known as an IRA.  The most common misconceptions we find with respect to IRAs typically are: 1.) That an IRA is a type of investment which earns a certain rate of return and 2.) That one can contribute any lump sum they receive into an IRA. An IRA is a type of investment account. It is a form of retirement plan provided by many financial institutions that offers tax advantages for retirement savings in the United States as described in IRS Publication 590,  Individual Retirement Arrangement (IRAs) .  Within this type of account one may invest in many different types of investments or simply hold the contributions in cash.  Second, depending on the type of IRA, as described below, one is limited to a certain amount which they can contribute to an IRA in a year and whi...

January 18, 2013   We recently had a client contact us who wanted to know what she was earning in our money market fund because she had heard that another advisor was claiming significantly higher earnings on what they had to offer. During my over 15 years in the financial advising and investment business I have encountered this kind of reaction from clients several times. My experience and gut told me that if we were truly comparing apples to apples in terms of financial vehicles, earning a return that the competing advisor was claiming was highly unlikely. However, we always give people the benefit of the doubt and I never claim to know everything! I contacted several trusted resources including our broker dealer who had several employees who had recently worked for the competitor who was supposedly offering this higher interest rate. All of the sources confirmed that the competitor did not have such a money market fund that earns what they were claiming and that the produ...