Angela Bender, Certified Financial Planner and AMJ's Managing Partner, contributed to this article by Jessica Mathews, on Financial-Planning.com. CLICK HERE to read the article.

You don’t have to look very far to see how quickly innovation changes our world. The greatest generation saw the advent of credit cards, power steering, and transistor radios. Baby Boomers remember the arrival of electronic fuel injection, audio cassettes, and an oral vaccine for polio. Gen Xers witnessed the emergence of the worldwide web (www), which has become a defining feature of modern life. Millennials and Gen Z saw the arrival of smartphones, social media, and video gaming competitions.

Sometimes change is gradual. Other times – like today – it occurs at an accelerated pace.

Whether you are changing employers or reaching retirement, deciding what to do with your company retirement plan is an important decision with more options than you may expect—six to be exact.

If your stress and anxiety levels are reaching a breaking point, you’re not alone. A recent Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) poll found 45 percent of adults in the United States are feeling worry and stress related to the coronavirus. Steps taken to reduce loss of life – social distancing, non-essential business closures, remote work, lack of daycare, shelter-in-place orders, online school – have caused many people to feel overwhelmed or isolated or both. Anxiety has been triggered by uncertainty about the future and concern loved ones may become ill.

Fortunately, there are actions we can take to stay calm and carry on.

Major changes to retirement tax rules took effect on January 1 this year that are impacting every retiree with a retirement account. In December, a $1.4 trillion spending bill was signed into law to keep the government running. Within this legislation was the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement (SECURE) Act—which brought some of the most significant changes we have seen to retirement tax laws in more than a decade.

Life as we know it has changed dramatically during 2020. As the coronavirus spread across the United States, cities and states issued shelter-in-place orders to slow the spread of the coronavirus and prevent healthcare facilities from being overwhelmed by critically ill patients. In May, when states started to reopen, Americans began to return to work […]

Q & A with Angela Bender, CFP®, and AMJ's managing partner ____________________ Question: What is an annuity and is it true you can live off that interest alone in retirement? Answer:   An annuity is an insurance contract for retirement that allows for tax deferral of the earnings in the annuity account. There four flavors, so to […]

Financial advisor Angela Bender talks about pennies in her second meeting with prospective clients — specifically, how her firm saves them.
If her RIA, AMJ Financial, can clip about four cents off each trade, a client can retire a year early (that’s given a $1 million portfolio seeking a moderate 6% return rate).
How can a relatively small firm make such a powerful statement? AMJ Financial manages $184 million in client assets, but it makes frequent use of its custodian’s block desk. By doing so, Bender has access to TD Ameritrade Institutional’s bench of 16 traders, who are bringing their institutional trading and market-making backgrounds to her clients.

If you have ever been flattened by a rogue wave while fishing or sunbathing on the shore, you probably recognize the emotional responses that have accompanied the pandemic wave crashing across the United States – shock, anxiety, and concern for ourselves and others.

We’ve been knocked flat by the unexpected – COVID-19.

In just a few weeks, the virus has changed our world in significant ways.