What Financial Independence is to me now is watching my wife find joy in volunteering at our local elementary school, doing homework with my kids, coaching my son’s basketball team, learning Spanish alongside my daughter and...... Last month, a client asked me what financial independence (FI) meant to me.  I tried to answer succinctly but as I rambled on, I realized my thoughts were anything but organized.  Since then, I've continued to ponder the question and this is my attempt to articulate what FI has meant and continues to mean to me. Financial independence is a state of financial [...]

529 plans haven't received much love from me in the past, mainly because they don't compete with their Roth IRA counterparts. However, thanks to the SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022, you can now use 529's to fund both your favorite person's education and their Roth IRA. If you aren’t familiar with Roth IRA’s be sure to check out my posts Fund Your Roth and Roth vs. Traditional. And if you need more information don’t hesitate to reach out to Kristin or me. If you're a US citizen subject to taxes, you can benefit from a Roth. Benefits of Investing in [...]

Have you ever dreamed of what you would do if you had too much money?  I am not talking about dreaming of yachts, ponds full of hippos, and hanging with your entourage. I'm talking about your dreams of philanthropy, giving your neighbor a scholarship, stocking a food pantry, or funding a local psychiatric hospital. If you aren’t there yet, stay on our plan of living below your means, saving and investing and you’ll be there sooner than you’d expect.   Some of our HIT Family is living out their philanthropic dreams and are supercharging them through tax protected charitable vehicles.  [...]

My Alternative to Expensive Insurance When reviewing health share plans we were drawn to Samaritan, which has been around since 1994. Samaritan describes themselves as “A community of Christians paying one another’s medical bills.”  This is exactly what it is,  those of us who signed up to be a part of this plan do not have insurance, and are committed to sending their monthly share to another Christian in need.  Samaritan is based in Peoria, IL. That means it’s just over the river from us, and there are many people around our area that are familiar with this medical [...]

“Who is your health insurance through?”   “What do you mean you don’t have health insurance?”   “Your husband is an attorney, he should have health insurance through work”.     More often than not this is the start of my conversation with friends interested in learning about our health insurance.  About a year ago, my husband was promoted to partner at his law firm.  While we were celebrating, we learned partners are no longer employees and we would no longer have our employee sponsored health insurance. We had an option to continue to pay for the insurance but after seeing it was  [...]