Retirement Planning – IRA and Roth IRA

You probably have some money stashed away in a traditional IRA account. It is easily the most popular form of retirement savings around. But many people don’t understand the ins and outs of the IRA as a retirement savings instrument. While we like to help our clients leverage their “now” money to build on their…

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Retirement Planning – 403B/457 Plan

There are so many ways to plan for time freedom. If you are an educator or involved in non-profit work or local and state government work, there are a few attractive options beyond putting money in a standard IRA. A 403(b) plan is similar to a 401(k) but accessible especially to educators and workers in…

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Retirement Planning – SOLO 401K

In our wealth management practice, we emphasize using your “now” money to make smart financial decisions for today and for well into the future. We have even been known to make negative comments about financial instruments that make it hard to access your money before, say, age 59.5. It’s not that these instruments are bad…

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Retirement Planning –  SEP IRA

Our Uncommon approach to personal finance does not mean you should ignore the more traditional methods of saving for retirement. There is a place for that in your portfolio. One of the most common places to invest retirement dollars is the Individual Retirement Account – the IRA. The thing to know is that IRAs are…

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Meet March’s uncommon client – Drew McLellan

Tell us a little but about yourself, your background, family and work My name is Drew McLellan. I’m a Minnesota native who has lived in Des Moines since the 90s.  I’m the dad of a 27 year old daughter (Kelsey) who is a nurse and I own two businesses and some real estate.  My first…

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Retirement Planning – SIMPLE IRA 

Our Uncommon approach to personal finance does not mean you should ignore the more traditional methods of saving for retirement. There is a place for that in your portfolio. And if you are a business owner, you’ll want to provide your employees with incentives like retirement savings as part of the standard compensation package. One…

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Retirement Planning – Safe Harbor 401K 

Among the many plans, we help clients with, the safe harbor 401(k) is the most popular plan for small businesses. There are several reasons for this, including generous contribution limits and profit-sharing options. Let’s take a closer look at how the safe harbor 401(k) works. To achieve safe harbor status, a 401(k) plan needs to…

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What is a Retirement Plan?

For most of history, retirement was not really a thing. Life expectancy was shorter, and family units were living together, so elders were cared for as just part of what was done in a hunter/gatherer and then agrarian economy. But over the past 100-plus years, the economy and life expectancy have changed dramatically. The desire…

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Meet February’s uncommon clients – Ricky and Holly De Hamer

Ricky and Holly are both Iowa natives. They got married eleven years ago, spent a little time as Minnesotans, and decided to head back to Iowa to be closer to family and build their dream life together. They have three kids under the age of eight, so their house is a bustling, energetic place! Both…

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January’s uncommon clients — Tammy and Dave Matthey

Tammy and Dave Matthey have four adult children and eight grandchildren. One of their biggest blessings is that all of their children and grandchildren live within a mile of them. Tammy & Dave worked hard their entire lives. They’ve been incredibly valuable employees and were rewarded for their contributions. They were always good about saving…

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December’s Uncommon clients – meet Matthew and Malori Khalil

Matthew and Malori Khalil have a very busy family. Their four children keep them running and laughing. Matt works in IT and Malori works in healthcare. They wanted to have more control over their financial future and their schedules.  Which meant they needed to get their financial life in order. Like many couples, they’d invested…

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Meet our uncommon clients for November – Jared and Carisah Lee

Jared and Carisah Lee have two daughters Jovie (6) and Madden (3), and moved to Iowa two years ago because Jared accepted a position as a Worship Leader at Keystone Church. Carisah had been working in Digital Marketing and Social Media Management from home for the past six years for several clients and also started…

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