Cass Chappell

It really is better to give than receive. But how cool is it to do BOTH!?!?! Before January 1st gets here, you still have time to give to others AND receive a tax deduction...

When I meet with a prospective client for the first time one of my first questions of them is about retirement. I am curious to know how they anticipate living off their nest egg. It's important not to "coach" them at this point. I want them to tell me what they are thinking, not what they think I want to hear. The five responses below are some common misconceptions about retirement...

Late this July, President Obama signed the Financial Regulation (FinReg) bill into law, the largest reform of Wall Street since the New Deal. The nearly 900 page piece of legislation is popularly thought to be lawmakers' knee-jerk reaction to the current financial & economic muck that we find ourselves in, blamed by many on the big banks & financial institutions. Whether or not you agree with the catalyst for FinReg's creation and passage, one thing is for sure – no one knows what this all means

Like many great ‘client friendly' tools, the Chappell Mayfield Investment Dashboard™ was born out of necessity. During our quarterly & annual investment reviews, it became apparent that we were inundating our clients with information from too many sources. The investing world is full of statistical measures that are very difficult for most investors to understand. Using an intuitive layout and color coded tabs, we were able to create a tool that virtually any client can understand regardless ...

There has always been both an income limit for contributions and a maximum amount that could be contributed to Roth IRAs. But now, in 2010 anyone, regardless of income, can convert funds in a Traditional IRA to a Roth IRA. This has introduced an interesting "work around" to the AGI limit for contributions to a Roth IRA....

The decision to convert Traditional IRA funds (or a 401k) to a Roth IRA can be a difficult decision. This involves the use of several assumptions. Changing those assumptions can change the decision you may make. Once you understand the most important variables (and their impact to the analysis), this decision should be less intimidating. Conclusion: If an investor can't pay the taxes due on conversion from a source other than the Traditional IRA, it may not be a benefit to convert....unless

I have spent the last two weeks searching for a top notch computer program or application. All I want to do is be able to easily analyze whether a Roth conversion makes sense for any client, in any scenario, with any set of assumptions. In this day and age, you would expect to be able to find such a tool in seconds...

Investors have a huge aversion to accepting losses in the stock market. A 1979 study showed that investors will risk a much larger loss than accept a smaller certain loss. This may be one reason investors hold on to losing positions instead of selling them and replacing them with a more promising security.

This article, written by Cass Chappell and titled "Max Out" your 401(k)...just don't do it too quickly, is meant to inform investors that they should not be hasty in how fast they maximize their retirement plan contributions. It points out that by spreading your contributions throughout the year that you collect all the matching contributions that you are entitled to.

Arriving on the scene several years ago, 529 savings plans shoulda, coulda, woulda been the greatest thing since sliced bread. There is one characteristic, unique to 529 plans, that JUST DOESN’T FEEL RIGHT. Each individual state sponsors their own 529 plan. This makes the 529 landscape muddied at best, and outright confusing at worst. To “shop the country” would require someone to look at almost 50 different plans! It’s time to fix this. A 529 plan should be just like an IRA, where you...