In the simplest situations, after your death, you leave your money outright to your spouse if he or she is living. Then, when your spouse passes, they leave the remaining money to your children. This assumes a straightforward family scenario, perhaps with only one marriage involved. Ideally, everyone is experienced with money management, has happy and stable relationships themselves, and there are no major personal issues to worry about. The ideal and uncomplicated situation is rarely the real family dynamic.
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Insights
Who Manages Your Money After Death?
Should You Invest When the Market Is High?
Concerns about market downturns certainly come as no surprise. After all, steep corrections and crashes can be disconcerting for even the most steely and disciplined investors. What has been surprising to me, however, is the number of inquiries I have received over the years raising concerns about the stock market being “too high” or “overvalued.” These concerns generally manifest themselves in some variation of questions like the following: “Now that the market is so high, should I reduce (or eliminate)
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The Next Normal
A year ago, at the end of March 2020, the S&P 500 was down nearly 20%(1) and the world was scrambling into lockdown. Many experts wrote articles telling us where we would be in a year. I don’t remember reading any that said the S&P 500 Index would be up 56% over the next 12 months. But that’s what happened. I didn’t predict any of that. I never do. Last June, I spoke about the Old Normal and how we
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