Good financial advice should be available to everyone. Yet traditional fee structures of financial firms can be complex and exclusive. Many times, it results in shunning people with small investable accounts who would greatly benefit from professional advice. I like to compare financial advice to ordering a steak at a restaurant. Your steak costs the same whether you make $20,000 or $20 million. However, just as you wouldn’t pay filet mignon prices for a hanger steak, the same goes for good advice—you get what you pay for.

Soo Yeon Kim has been promoted from associate wealth advisor to wealth advisor and receives distinguished CFP® certification. The CFP® marks identify those individuals who have met the rigorous experience and ethical requirements of the CFP Board, have successfully completed financial planning coursework and have passed the CFP® Certification Examination covering the following areas: the financial planning process, risk management, investments, tax planning and management, retirement and employee benefits, and estate planning.

Have you ever jumped off the sofa declaring “I need a vacation” and then sped off in your car toward the airport? Of course not! You planned. After everyone agreed on where to go, you checked calendars, chose dates, and reserved flights, hotels, and various activities. Then you waited weeks or months for the special date. In the meantime, you squared everything away at work so nothing would interrupt your big trip.

Small businesses are a challenge for anyone – especially service providers who are very skilled in their line of business but have no formal training managing a business. Physician practices are a great example – doctors spend years in medical school to learn all there is to know about the human body and how to care for it. But running a practice, with all there is to manage from insurance, payroll, and finances can be extremely daunting.

Despite what some politicians and pundits would have you believe, the 2017 tax bill is not all wonderful or all bad for small businesses. There are definitely some benefits, but small business owners will find themselves having to navigate through with the help of tax experts who can demystify the changes to an already complicated code.

Plan sponsors act as the parental overseer for corporate retirement plans. They set up the plan. Then determine the grid of investment options. They help the employees direct their earnings into the plan. The employees may have a say in what investments they choose, but only within the confines of the menu already approved by the plan sponsor. In this way, plan sponsors are like parents watching over their employees’ retirement savings.

Are you looking to learn how to achieve financial independence? David L. Blain, CFA has written a book that outlines the steps to invest in living, not just investing to live.

Investors who sold profitable stocks in 2018 are facing a potential tax bill unless other investments which lost value were also divested. The tax on an individual's investment income can be challenging to determine. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, known as TCJA, could add another burden as it impacted the tax liabilities for many individuals with their 2018 tax year returns