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Being a trustee is something that requires knowledge, effort and liability, so when you’re creating your estate plan, it’s important to consider your options and who will make the best choices for you. Cindy Bozik, national managing director of trust services, joins this episode of Your Life Simplified to share her advice for picking the right trustee for you.

What is a money market? What is the difference between a money market and a money market fund? They are at their highest demand since 2008, but there’s still confusion. On this episode of Your Life Simplified, Valerie Escobar, senior wealth advisor, and Michael MacKelvie, wealth advisor, compare the different types and what investors should know, including the risks.

When looking at insurance, you’re likely faced with two options—term or permanent insurance. Which one makes more sense for you and your situation? This week, Jerry Clark, senior consultant, insurance solutions, joins Michael MacKelvie, wealth advisor, to help break down term versus permanent insurance and how to figure out which may be right for you.

50% of adults will need long-term care at some point in their life, and this can have major impacts on your emotions and financial plan. Dr. Christina Lynn, practice management consultant, joins this episode of Your Life Simplified to share how to discuss aging and long-term care with your parents, what emotions this may bring, how much to plan for financially, the different types of care and each of their costs.

Before saying, “I do,” it can be helpful to discuss finances with your fiancé and have a prenuptial agreement in place. On this episode, Valerie Escobar, senior wealth advisor, hosts, Julia Rodgers, CEO and Co-Founder of HelloPrenup, who shares ways you can approach this topic with your partner, how to have that conversation and ways that you can help protect both people with a prenup.

Oftentimes, getting a prenuptial agreement may feel unromantic, timely and expensive. But not having a prenup can end up causing more strife and costing more in the long run. On this episode of Your Life Simplified, Valerie Escobar, senior wealth advisor, and hosts guest, Julia Rodgers, CEO and Co-Founder of HelloPrenup. They discuss what is a prenup, what should go in it, the process, making sure it is equitable for both parties and postnuptial agreements.

With the passage of the SECURE Act & SECURE 2.0 Act, Stretch IRAs are no longer an option. So, how should investors with an IRA manage this and what should beneficiaries do with their inherited IRA? Valerie Escobar, senior wealth advisor, and Michael MacKelvie, wealth advisor, share strategies investors may consider with their IRAs.

In celebration of Your Life Simplified’s 100th episode, Valerie Escobar, senior wealth advisor, and Michael MacKelvie, wealth advisor, look back at the last 100 years in finance and the markets. While history doesn’t provide a perfect roadmap for the future, it can teach us useful lessons about bear markets, industry trends, risk and the economy.

A Roth IRA is an important component of your retirement portfolio. In this episode of Your Life Simplified, Valerie Escobar, senior wealth advisor, and Michael MacKelvie, wealth advisor, discuss mistakes that can be made when investing in a Roth IRA and how to avoid them. Topics discussed include spousal contributions, Roth 401k options, the 5-year rule and contribution eligibility.

On this episode of Your Life Simplified, Valerie Escobar, senior wealth advisor, is joined by special guest, Brett Kunshek, head of options. They break down what an option is and dive into risk mitigation, generating income and return enhancement. They’ll also cover areas of frustration for investors and examples.

To kick off the new year, Valerie Escobar, senior wealth advisor, and Michael MacKelvie, wealth advisor, share financial goals and new year’s resolutions you may want to set in 2023. From retirement planning to estate planning and gifting, we cover ways to help you achieve your goals.

With only a few weeks left in the year, make sure you check everything off your financial list. On this episode, Valerie Escobar, senior wealth advisor, and Michael MacKelvie, wealth advisor provide an end of year wealth planning checklist, which includes areas like retirement planning, Required Minimum Distributions and gifting.

In this week’s episode of Your Life Simplified, Valerie Escobar, senior wealth advisor, and Christina Lynn, practice management consultant, continue their conversation about financial conflicts between spouses. Topics discussed include tips for managing spousal differences as an advisor, suggestions for spouses when talking about financial conflict and examples of financial conflict.

In this week’s episode of Your Life Simplified, Mike MacKelvie wealth advisor, and special guest Kevin Ahern, Human Resources Manager, discuss Health Savings Accounts and the 5 benefits of having one.

In this week’s episode of Your Life Simplified, Mike MacKelvie wealth advisor, and special guest Kevin Ahern, Human Resources Manager, discuss how to get the most out of your open enrollment.

Inflation is unavoidable right now. You see it every where you look and on the news, but what can we do to combat this inflation? Is there anything you can be doing differently in your portfolio?  In this week’s podcast episode, Valerie Escobar, senior wealth advisor, and Mike MacKelvie, wealth advisor, talk through several different variables affecting inflation.

An estate plan can play an important part in your overall wealth plan and can make a large impact on your spouse and children. Taking a few steps can help ensure that your estate doesn’t end up in probate and your family isn’t left with a headache. On today’s episode, Mike MacKelvie is joined by special guest Drew McDowell, attorney and senior wealth advisor at Mariner Wealth Advisors, as they talk through 5 costly estate planning errors that celebrities like Prince, Whitney Houston and James Gandolfini made in their own estate plan and learn what you can do to help make sure you’re not making these same mistakes.

When keeping up with the, sometimes sensational, media coverage of the markets, things can seem bleak without proper context. In this week’s episode, Valerie Escobar and Mike MacKelvie talk us through how to assess the information we glean from these news story headlines, and how it might impact our investing plans.

Christian talks to Petra and Eliška, two primary school teachers of English in the Czech Republic.  Their classroom-based inquiry projects centre around the topics of differentiation and motivation in the classroom, and their findings reveal how relatively small changes can have a very profound impact.