Category Archives: Financial Independence

"Both the investing and the creator ecosystems are severely broken and have remained beneficial to a very small and select group of people for far too long," said Tobias Heaslip, CEO and Founder of Trading.TV. "By combining content and trading capabilities on the same platform, we have created a completely new and materially enhanced user experience that will serve as the on-ramp for millions of people to get started on their investment journeys. Financial content creators can finally monetize their content while also helping to serve the public need."

Black and other minority investors come from a materially different starting point than other more affluent demographics the medium Black household holds just 10% of the wealth of the medium white household and while blacks constitute 13% of America's population, they hold less than 3% of its wealth. Combine that with younger generations -- across social-economic or racial backgrounds -- that are coming out of the pandemic wanting to take a more active role in their financial future. Trading.TV focuses on amplifying these diverse voices and empowering a new, younger generation of investors all in one place.

"Trading.TV is breaking down the barriers between high quality live content and trading decisions. We shouldn't have to learn about great companies on one platform and switch to another platform to make that trade," said Mercedes Bent, Partner at Lightspeed Venture Partners. "We've seen livestream shopping become extremely popular in other categories and with the quality of creators TTV is bringing onto their platform, we're excited to see the magic moments emerge. Tobias is also a phenomenal founder and we couldn't wait to be in business with him."

Trading.TV, which was on desktop only during beta, is now available on iOS and Android as well, with feature parity across all platforms. Here are some of the features you can expect today:

The company is also working closely with key next-gen financial rockstar creators to provide a new set of investors with the content and community they need to buy and sell a wide variety of assets beyond traditional stocks. In July 2021, Trading.TV announced a $1M Creator Fund to support the first group of creators joining the platform. Trading.TV has been using this Creator Fund to sign some of the best and most entertaining creators in the space. Some of the creators that have already joined the platform include: Group Chat, Asset Entities, OBR Investing, Nick Black, Bruno Crypto, Kamal Hubbard and Christon "The Truth" Jones. Brands and media companies have also joined the platform including; DeFiance Media, Benzinga, Grizzle, and the Meta Business Podcast. Trading.TV plans to grow the existing $1M Creator Fund significantly this year by funding it with up to 10% of its total platform revenue with the goal of making creators on TTV the highest-paid creators on the internet.

For more information, visit https://www.trading.tv/.

About Trading.TVTrading.TV is the world's first social livestream platform purpose-built for the next generation of traders and financial content creators. In an era where everything is an asset and everyone is a trader, Trading.TV offers the content, community and collaboration necessary to become an expert. We're dedicated to a future where anyone can Stream, Chat and Trade their way to financial independence. For more information, visit https://www.trading.tv/.

Media ContactKat Eller MurrayROAM Communications for Trading.TV [emailprotected][emailprotected]

SOURCE Trading.TV

Originally posted here:

To Amplify Diverse Voices and Empower a New Generation of Traders and Financial Content Creators, Trading.TV Raises $8 Million - PRNewswire

Women have always been known to be adept at managing money. However, they are not often considered experts or true partners in how money needs to be invested. Across the world, habitually, many financial matters are viewed through a gender lens. Everyone needs a plan, a guide to financial wellbeing.

Saving and investing money go hand in hand. It must begin early in life and ideally reflect your unique risk-return appetite. Your financial plan or your investment portfolio is much like an offspring you need to nurture it, give it time, be patient with it, and allow it to evolve with time and circumstance. A well thought-out financial plan will help you navigate the personal and financial tumult that life will throw your way.

Heres a step-by-step guide on how you can chart your route to a financially secure future:

The very first step to independence, financial or otherwise, is the ability to make informed decisions. To win the lottery, you must first buy the lottery ticket, goes the anecdote. A robust financial plan requires that you understand the basics of investing.

To plan your journey, you must know where you are starting from.

Now that you know how much you want and can invest, it is important to determine why you are investing and subsequently, where you should invest. Your why will drive your financial plan.

The power of compounding, dubbed as the eighth wonder of the world, helps grow your investments exponentially. It ensures that you earn interest on not just the principal you invested but also on the interest that is generated periodically.

Among the many things that the Covid-19 pandemic has taught us, one is that you can never be too prepared for the vagaries of life.

As is often said, nothing in life is certain but death and taxes.

In financial planning, a do-it-yourself (DIY) approach can often prove to be sub-optimal.

It is best to keep emotional and behavioral biases at bay.

Financial wellbeing is about being in control each day, financially, and feeling confident about the future. It really is as simple as thattake the initiative, create a plan, and stay disciplined. You are on your way to achieving both financial independence and true empowerment.

Original post:

Step-By-Step Guide For Women To Save And Invest - Forbes

Dr. Disha Spath is hosting with us again this week! Together, we answer questions about marriage, family, and finances. We talk about merging finances when you get married, 529 and UTMA accounts, how to manage complicated trusts, and how to add beneficiaries to trusts. We also discuss the importance of women getting their term life and disability insurance in place well before they become pregnant. There is a little something for everyone in this episode.

I think issue No. 1 when you're married is a lot of people are trying to keep separate finances for whatever reason. I don't know if it's a trust thing or they just don't want to make changes or if it's some power or control thing. I think that's really hard to do well. Now, I'm sure there are a few people out there that do it well, but almost all the financially successful couples I know have been through this process and they've merged their finances in some way. I think you're going down the path the right way, but there's no doubt that there are some changes. Especially the later you get married, the more complicated your financial lives are separately, the harder this merging process is going to be. Disha, where would you start?

There are opportunities here, too. For instance, if one of you has terrible credit, by adding your name to an account that's been around for 20 years, all of a sudden you have spectacular credit. You can do that with your kids too, by the way. I'm not sure if you can put them on an account that's older than them, but I bet you can. Then all of a sudden, your kids are in college and have an 810 credit score because they've got this 20-year credit history. There are some advantages there that you might not have thought about when you merge accounts. We have had merged finances since before we really had any money. It was really easy for us, and as our financial lives got more and more complicated, we just added things on as joint accounts. We have both our names on savings accounts, bank accounts, any checking accounts, brokerage accounts, and credit cards. Anything that can have two people's names on it, we have two people's names on it just to keep it easy. You can simply add the partner's name to the cards you want to keep.

There are definitely more opportunities there. You have to keep track of that stuff, though. I mean, that's like a spreadsheet if you have that many cards.

You can't combine retirement accounts. Retirement accounts are always individual401(k) is always just in your name. Your IRA is always just in your name, but if you're going to look at all your finances together, you've now got twice as many accounts to manage in your asset allocation. That will be a little bit of a complicated process. The two of you have to actually agree on an asset allocation and then adjust the accounts accordingly. That part might be a little bit tricky to combine.

You do need somewhere to combine everything so you can keep track of it. Whether you're doing it on a spreadsheet or whether you're using Personal Capital software or some other software. Mint also has similar functions.

The biggest obstacle, though, the reason people don't want to combine finances is because they don't want someone else telling them how to spend. We've gotten around that. We don't really do this anymore, but for a long time, we had allowances. It was money that we didn't have to account to our spouse for. When we were really poor in medical school, it wasn't very much money. I think there was at least one month where it was $20. But we had money that we could spend and we didn't have to account to the other person for. That amount can be whatever your budget allows that helps you feel like you still have some freedom, some independence, and yet you can still be efficient when it comes to managing your money.

I think the hardest part is getting your goals aligned once you've gotten together and then working out that budgeting process. I would expect with most couples, it probably takes six months at least. Keep at it, know that this too shall pass, and you can get your finances aligned and be working together toward goals. Because when both of you are working together, it's really powerful. You're going to get a whole lot closer to what you're trying to accomplish.

Yeah, for sure. You go from his income and her income to our income. His and her debts to our debts. His and her assets to our assets. One of you brought more income into the marriage. One of you brought more assets into the marriage. One of you brought more debt into the marriage. What are you going to do? Do you want to be married or not? It now becomes all ours, and you start working on it together. I wouldn't start working on it before you're married. Remember there are some legal protections that come with marriage, and I wouldn't combine your finances before that point. But once you're married, I do recommend you combine your finances.

Absolutely. You can't save receipts. You can save them until the end of the year, but by the end of the year, you have to take the money out or you're not taking it out based on that receipt. So not an option for you, but here's the deal. How much money are you putting in there? Most people don't get enough into their 529s to cover the educational costs for their kids. Plus, if you have a little too much in there, you know what most people do? Grandkids. You just change the beneficiary. It's not that big a deal if you have too much money in there.

If you're having significant K-12 educational expenses, then you might as well take advantage of the 529. If you have your kids in private school, you might as well run the money through the 529. Maybe you get a state tax break on it. Maybe you can let it grow for a year or two before you pull it out and get some tax-free earnings. But if your state is not giving you a state tax break, you're taking the money out immediately after you put it in the 529, maybe you don't want to bother. This is something for high earners. This is a tax break for the rich, if you will. Poor people don't use 529s because they don't have the money to put into 529s. So, take advantage of these things. These accounts are for you. As a high earner, you talk about all these downsides of being a high earner, right? You pay these high marginal tax rates and you have all these special taxes just for you. You're phased out of all kinds of deductions, but the 529, that one's for you. So be grateful and use it as best you can.

Your question sounds like an ad for UTMAs. UTMAs are a kid's brokerage. It's a custodial account. Your kids don't control it until 21 in most states. The age varies a bit by state. Until then, it's their money. So, if you spend it, you have to spend it on their behalf. Then when they hit that age, it's their money. The downside of this account is they can spend it on whatever they want. The upside is that it gets a significant tax break. It's around $1,200 a year that doesn't get taxed at all, assuming they don't have any other unearned income. Then, another $1,200 that gets taxed essentially at their earnings rate. That is up to about $2,400 a year in income that you are not paying at your tax rate. Now, if it earns more than that, you start paying what's called kiddie tax, which is at your tax rate. It gets paid on your tax return rather than their tax return, essentially, which is great. If you're investing tax-efficiently, you can put a lot of money in there before you get to $2,400 a year in income. I mean, the yield on a total stock market fund right now is well under 2%. You could have over $100,000 in there before you start paying it at your income tax rate.

We also use UTMAs. We have 529s for college. We have Roth IRAs for any earned money my kids have. Which is a lot for the teenager. She maxes out her Roth IRA now, but for the other ones, it's whatever we pay them for modeling, mostly, and maybe a few odd jobs and a lemonade stand and that's about it. We view the UTMA as a pretty significant fund. We call it the 20s fund and it's kind of a trial inheritance for them. Because if you think back to when you could really have used money, when you could have really used an inheritance from your parents, when was it?

You have all these expenses and you have no money and you have no ability to make money at any sort of a decent rate. That's when you need it. Whatever it might be. It might be a wedding, a honeymoon, a car, a down payment, missionary work, grad school. There are all kinds of expenses that you have in your 20s. The thing we like about that idea is we're giving them an inheritance, and then we see what they do with it. Before they get the real inheritance, we get to see how they manage a small inheritance. Now we know whether we put it in trust or something, because it turns out they need to spend through a trust. But hopefully, by the time they're out of their 20s, we know that because we've watched what they did with the first one.

You're definitely looking for UTMA. If you're just talking about putting tiny amounts of money in it, something like Acorns is probably really good. If you're going to be serious about it, though, I'd go wherever you put your accountswhether that's Fidelity or Vanguard or Schwab or whatever. But they've got minimums. Vanguard, I think, it's $1,000 minimum. If you're not going to put a thousand bucks in there, you probably don't want to start at Vanguard.

This next one isn't really a question but came from an email. It's something that somebody wrote to point out, and while I feel like I've said this before, I may not have been as adamant about this as I should have. This fact bears not only mentioning, but repeating.

As we all know, pregnancy isn't always planned. In fact, in the emergency department, the rate of immaculate conception is about 15%. People say there's no possible way I can be pregnant, and about 15% of them are. It's not actually having the dependent, it's plans to have a dependent in the near future. I'm not saying you have to do it when you're 25 and not planning to have kids until you're 35, but you need to have term life and disability insurance in place before you get pregnant.

I tell people to buy this stuff when you come out of residency. As far as disability, buy it when you come out of medical school; buy it as an intern. Now, that doesn't always mean before you have kids. But often it means for a doc before you have kids. But as far as term life goes, when someone depends on you, you need to have insurance. In this case, you could run into problems. It's not like you just get these medical problems during pregnancy; people die during pregnancy still. It's a lot safer than it used to be. But there was a sad story a couple of years ago. It might have even been an OB resident who died during childbirth and no insurance. It's a terrible, sad story. GoFundMe is not an insurance company. It breaks my heart when I see some newspaper article about some 25-year-old father of three, and there's GoFundMe at the bottom.

The main point is get your life insurance and get your disability insurance before you get pregnant. You don't need to buy it 10 years before you get pregnant. But as you're starting to think about starting a family, that's the time to get that insurance in place.

Congratulations on your success. You're doing awesome. You guys are really killing it. The fact is you say you're going to work five more years making this kind of money. I mean, your assets are going to be double what they are now five years from now. I suspect your spending habits probably aren't going to change all that much. What you really ought to be thinking about is what you're going to do about estate taxes, because you almost surely are going to have an estate tax problem. Start thinking at least a little bit about your estate planning.

This concept of stop playing when you've won the game,' comes from William Bernstein. The idea was to have a liability matching portfolio. Where your portfolio matches your future expected liabilities, and the idea is with the things that are going to match those liabilities, you don't take a lot of risk. Whether you're putting those into TIPS or I bonds or those sorts of things, relatively low-risk assets for the money you absolutely must have. Then everything else, you can take whatever risk you want, because as you mentioned, even if you lose half your assets in the market, you're still OK.

Next, is there something you can spend money on that is going to make your life happier? If there is, go spend the money. Whether that's upgrading a car, whether that's doing a renovation on your house, whether that's going on a trip, or, more likely, whether it involves changing something about how you're earning money. Maybe you take less call. Maybe you do fewer night shifts. Maybe you take every Friday off, whatever it might be. You need to, at this point, be looking at those sorts of things. Because otherwise, you're just going to be leaving a whole lot of money behind when you go, at the rate you guys are going. You can buy some of your life back by spending money on those items.

What other tips do you have for somebody making $900,000 a year who is planning to work five more years and already has $9 million? What do you tell that person?

But as far as the asset allocation, if you want to do what Bernstein says, basically go out and buy enough TIPS to cover all your future expenses, all your future mandatory expenses. Then you can take additional risk with the rest of the portfolio, but that's where the quote comes from that you've heard before to stop playing when you've won the game. TIPS are basically inflation indexed bonds. They're not a screaming deal right now; they actually have negative real yields right now. You go buy a five-year and it's around minus-1% real is what they're selling them at. But the idea was when you can get them with at least a 0% real or 1% or 2% real rate on them, then you could at least keep up with inflation with it without really taking on significant risk.

I think there's a little bit of confusionif not in your mind, then in the minds of some of our listeners. We're talking about two types of beneficiaries. When you make a trust, there's a trust document written up that talks about the beneficiaries of the trust. It's important not to confuse those beneficiaries with the beneficiaries of your retirement accounts, for instance, or your life insurance policies or your annuities or whatever. Those are set up by the trust document. The beneficiaries of your trust are from the trust document. What the trust document says, that's who's going to benefit from whatever is in the trust. However, what a lot of people want to do is they want all of their money when they die to go through the trust. If you want that to happen, the trust has to be named as the beneficiary. Usually, its not a secondary beneficiary; usually, its a primary beneficiaryunless the first beneficiary is your spouse and then the second to die, and it goes into the trust.

But how do you do that? Well, it depends on the institution. If you want to change the beneficiary of Vanguard, you log into vanguard.com. You get the text from your phone, you put that in there, and then you're in and you go to beneficiaries and you change it. That's all there is to it. You just do it online. You hit enter and you have new beneficiaries. You can change what percentage goes to everybody. It's super easy. Now, every institution might be a little bit different. If you want to change it under your life insurance policy, maybe you have to fill out their form and send it to them.

But this is an important part of setting up a trust. Because if you don't ever actually put anything in the trust, if you don't rename it so the trust owns it, or you don't make the trust the beneficiary of it, you just wasted a lot of money and time and effort on setting up a trust. If there's nothing in it, you're not helping anyone. That's an important part.

It sounds like you set up a trust a couple of years ago and you still haven't really funded it or gotten it all set up. Remember the first part doesn't do any good unless you do the second part. That might be, if this is a revocable trust and you're just trying to avoid probate with stuff, that might mean retitling your house, it might mean retitling your vehicles, your boat, whatever, setting up your will so that anything left over goes into the trust.You have to make sure you take care of all those steps.

If there's no beneficiary at all, it gets paid to your estate and that's not what you want. You want it to go to a person most of the time, or at least you want your trust set up so that it doesn't have to withdraw all at once. A bigger problem, I think, is people don't change their beneficiary when they need to. If you get divorced, change your beneficiaries. Otherwise, all your money's going to your ex. Evaluate those beneficiaries every now and then.

We had to google what QPSA is.

If you don't want your spouse to get an annuity, don't choose it. But here's the deal. Remember retirement accounts, the general goal and the general guideline the government has for retirement accounts is you can't screw over your spouse. You can't somehow keep your spouse from being protected also by your retirement account. When you move money out of a retirement account, a lot of times you need your spouse's signature to do it. You have to keep in mind that everything to do with the retirement account and how you get money out of it, they're thinking about your spouse. This sort of thing is put in place thinking, Well, what if my spouse doesn't know how to manage money? Let's put an option in there so they can just annuitize it. And my spouse will have an income for the rest of their life and doesn't have to think about it.'

They're coming from a good place with this sort of a suggestion, but if you don't want it to happen, you don't have to have it happen. Your spouse can just roll your retirement account into theirs when you die. It's just a simple rollover. Then they have a bigger IRA or a bigger 401(k) or whatever it gets rolled into. I hope that answers the question. QPSA is a new term to me. But it's just annuitizing the annuity or annuitizing the retirement account when you die.

I'm a do it yourself-er at heart. I'm not the most hardcore do-it-yourself-er on the street. But I'm pretty hardcore to do it yourself. But at this point in my life, I have three attorneys. We have an intellectual property attorney. We have a general business counsel attorney. We have an estate planning attorney. I'm working with a different attorney with my parents, for their estate planning. You know what? You're not going to be an expert in every trust, every legal question out there. You're going to need to use attorneys at some point in your life. And that's OK. Don't feel bad getting an attorney when you need an attorney and pay them what they're worth and get good advice. Don't be penny-wise and pound-foolish when it comes to that sort of a thing.

I think you're going to need to work with, if not those attorneys, if you really hate them for some reason, or you think they're giving you bad advice or you don't trust them, then sure, get new attorneys. But you're going to need attorneys, at least one, to help you sort this stuff out. This is the one that presumably your parents or grandparents trusted. Why not start there? Same with accountants. If you want to try to do your own trust tax returns, be my guest. If you want to do your own S corp returns, yes, they can be done by yourself. But at a certain point, you've got to go, I've been successful enough. Is this really how I want to use my time? Am I really qualified to do this?'

We now have an accountant doing WCI tax returns every year. They went back and they changed a couple of things. There were trivial things, but a couple of things that I was doing wrong on the S corp tax returns. If I'm getting things wrong on them, I know most white coat investors, if they try to do really complicated stuff on their own, are probably going to get some of it wrong.

Don't feel bad using an accountant. You certainly have the money for it, it sounds like. So do it yourself-ing is fine, but don't be a rabid do-it-yourself-er. Get advice when you need advice. And if that means talking to a financial advisor, a classic financial planner, asset manager type, to get a second opinion, I think that's a great step. It's fine to pay for some hourly advice for a second opinion. Lots of people do that every year, even though they manage their own assets. Honestly, when it comes to preparing your taxes, setting up wills and trusts and that sort of thing or managing your money, you might want some help. Asset management is not complicated. A handful of index funds is really all it takes, and you can do that. But don't assume that because you can do that, you can also handle all that other crap, too. There's room here to find a middle road and even room to get an advisor just to keep an eye on the other folks and make sure you're not getting hosed. It doesn't mean you have to pay them 1% of your assets the rest of your life. You can pay somebody a flat fee or an hourly rate to get that sort of a second opinion.

Pearson Ravitz are disability and life insurance advisors founded by and for physicians. This White Coat Investor-recommended agency grew out of one MD's experience with a career-changing on-the-job injury. Today, Pearson Ravitz serves the medical community in all 50 states. At Pearson Ravitz, they help you as a doctor safeguard your most valuable asset, your income, so you can protect the most important people in your life, your family. Pearson Ravitz makes human connections before they make quotes. Go to pearsonravitz.com today to schedule your consultation with a Pearson Ravitz advisor.

This one comes from Warren Buffett. He said,

People are going to try and sell you whatever they sell.

White Coat Investor and studentloanadvice.com are hosting a webinar for medical and dental students. The webinar is on February 23 at 6pm Mountain Time. It will stream on YouTube, the WCI Facebook group, the WCI Facebook page, Twitter, and on LinkedIn. We will be talking about:

If you did not get to attend WCICON22 but you want all of the awesome content, it will be available as an online course. Each year, we call this course Continuing Financial Education. This year's course is CFE 2022. It won't be available until around February 23, so be watching for that. Once the course goes live, you can access it at whitecoatinvestor.com/cfe2022.

There is value in persistence. Even if you do not have the highest income, if you persistently save a significant percentage of it and invest it in a reasonable way, eventually it grows to be quite a sum of money, and you will be free from the need to work for your money. A typical rule for financial independence is when you can live on 4% of your nest egg.

Dr. Disha Spath:Hi, and welcome to the White Coat Investor podcast number 250 Marriage, kids, and finances. I'm your host Disha Spath and I'm here with Dr. Jim Dahle.

Dr. Jim Dahle:Hey everybody.

Dr. Disha Spath:First, this podcast is sponsored by Pearson Ravitz. Pearson Ravitz are disability and life insurance advisors founded by and for physicians. This White Coat Investor recommended agency grew out of one MD's experience with a career-changing on-the-job injury.

Dr. Disha Spath:Today, Pearson Ravitz serves the medical community in all 50 states. At Pearson Ravitz, they help you as a doctor safeguard your most valuable asset, your income, so you can protect the most important people in your life, your family.

Dr. Disha Spath:Pearson Ravitz makes human connections before they make quotes. Go to pearsonravitz.com today to schedule your consultation with a Pearson Ravitz advisor.

Dr. Jim Dahle:All right, it's great. We are spending the whole weekend here together in Utah. We recorded last week's episode yesterday. We're recording this week's episode today. But the difference is we're recording this on January 29th before our big conference and you're listening to this after our big conference. So, we hope the conference went really well, but we can't actually say it did yet. We think it probably did because the people who are planning it and put in a ton of work, it's going to be awesome. But at this point, it's too late for you to go because the conference is over.

Dr. Disha Spath:Oh, too bad.

Dr. Jim Dahle:But if you want within the next week or so, we are going to have that content available to you as an online course. We call this course each year, Continuing Financial Education. And this year's course is CFE 2022, Continuing Financial Education 2022.

Dr. Jim Dahle:If you feel like you missed out, and if you didn't go, you did miss out, you can get that course at whitecoatinvestor.com/cfe2022. Now it may not be there by the day you hear this podcast, but within the next week or so, we're going to have that course available. So be watching for that.

Dr. Jim Dahle:But it's been a good weekend. We've had a lot of fun. We recorded podcasts yesterday all morning, and then we went snowshoeing. We got to fire the t-shirt cannon, which is going to be the highlight of the conference, we hope, if we don't take out any chandeliers in the ballroom.

Dr. Disha Spath:Exactly. Yeah. You're trusting me with a cannon.

Dr. Jim Dahle:Yeah, but we both practiced a lot. So, we think we can actually not take out anybody's eye. Then you went snowboarding today, right?

Dr. Disha Spath:We went skiing today.

Dr. Jim Dahle:Skiing.

Dr. Disha Spath:I learned how to ski. It was amazing.

Dr. Jim Dahle:And how'd that go?

Dr. Disha Spath:I actually got down the hill without wiping out too badly, so.

Dr. Jim Dahle:I see you and your husband here, neither of you with a broken leg.

Dr. Disha Spath:Okay. So that's a win.

Dr. Jim Dahle:The kids are still alive.

Dr. Disha Spath:So it was so fun. So beautiful.

Dr. Jim Dahle:Congratulations, Brighton, right?

Dr. Disha Spath:Yeah. Brighton.

Dr. Jim Dahle:I bet it was beautiful up there today. It was a sunny day.

Dr. Disha Spath:Oh, it's so pretty.

Dr. Jim Dahle:Yeah. Awesome. Okay. Well, today we got lots of fun stuff to talk about. Let's start with finances and marriage. Let's talk about marriage. This is really going to be an interesting one to answer because both of our spouses are in the room here with us. So, we'll see what this question is, but I'm afraid of where it's going to go. All right. Let's take a listen.

Dr. Disha Spath:Let's do it.

Speaker:Dr. Dahle, I love your show and appreciate all the work you put into it. One topic that I was hoping to learn some more about is finances and marriage. I'm getting married in the spring and I'm fortunate enough to have found a truly wonderful woman with whom I share values.

Speaker:And while we aren't having difficulties or disagreements about dollars, we realize that there are a lot of decisions and things to do to become an organized merged household. And one, I didn't know if you had any idea of kind of a checklist about how to kind of get your home in order, financially, or if you had any tips or tricks about things such as merging credit cards or car insurance, how to compare and contrast and optimize retirement accounts. How to look at banking, how different couples manage having pretty different incomes, and many other tips or tricks, I'd appreciate.

Dr. Jim Dahle:All right. Well, I think issue number one when you're married is a lot of people are trying to keep separate finances when they're married for whatever reason. I don't know why. I don't know if it's a trust thing or they just don't want to make changes, or if it's like some power or control thing. I think that's really hard to do well. Now, I'm sure there's a few people out there that do it well, but almost all the financially successful couples I know have been through this process and they've merged their finances in some way.

Dr. Jim Dahle:So, I think you're going down the pathway the right way, but there's no doubt that there's some changes. And especially the later you get married, the more complicated your financial lives are separately, the harder this merging process is going to be. Disha, where would you start?

Dr. Disha Spath:What we did, when Josh and I got married was we picked one bank where we would have our checking account, that we would pull everything else into. And Josh has access to USA. So that was amazing. It's a great service that they do.

Dr. Disha Spath:All we do is we link our credit cards, all of our credit cards, whether they're his or mine, all of our checking accounts, into one platform and USA enables that. I think most banks do that now. You can pull the data in from all the different places you might be spending money, all the different cards you might be spending money on so that it all shows up in one place. And that's really key because when you're trying to go over all of your spending, you want to know where all your accounts are. And it's really nice to see them in one place.

Dr. Jim Dahle:Yeah. There are opportunities here too. For instance, if one of you has terrible credit, by adding your name to an account that's been around for 20 years, all of a sudden you have spectacular credit. You can do that with your kids too, by the way. I'm not sure if you can put them on an account that's older than them, but I bet you can. And all of a sudden, your kids are in college and have an 810-credit score because they've got this 20-year credit history. So, there's some advantages there that you might not have thought about when you merge accounts.

Dr. Jim Dahle:But we've got everything completely merged. We've had merged finance since before we really had any money. And so, it was really easy for us as our financial lives got more and more complicated, we just added things on as joint accounts.

Dr. Jim Dahle:All our credit cards, we have both our names on savings accounts, bank accounts, any checking accounts, brokerage accounts. Anything that can have two people's names on it, we've got two people's names on it just to keep it easy and joint.

Dr. Jim Dahle:But how do you do that? What I would do is just pick the credit card you like. If somebody's got a really good credit card, add your name to it. They got some awesome gas cards that you can't get anymore. Like, we've got this PenFed one you can't even get anymore, but it gives you 5% back on gas. It's what we put all our gas on. So, if one person had a card like that, put the other person's name on it. Great.

Dr. Disha Spath:Yeah. And you can actually use that if you're trying a credit card hack. Chase has five cards. You can only get five cards in five years, I think. So, each spouse can then open up five cards in five years. And so, you double your point-earning opportunities.

Dr. Jim Dahle:Yeah. There are definitely more opportunities there. You got to keep track of that stuff though. I mean, that's like a spreadsheet if you got that many cards.

Dr. Disha Spath:Well, I put it all in Personal Capital. We're good to go.

Dr. Jim Dahle:Yeah. If you keep track of it, keep track of it. Retirement accounts, you can't combine. Retirement accounts, always individual. 401(k) is always just in your name. Your IRA is always just in your name, but if you're going to look at all your finances together, you've now got twice as many accounts to manage in your asset allocation. So that's going to be a little bit of a complicated process. The two of you have to actually agree on an asset allocation and then adjust the accounts accordingly. So that part might be a little bit tricky to combine.

Dr. Disha Spath:Personal Capital.

Dr. Jim Dahle:Personal Capital does it well, it sounds like.

Dr. Disha Spath:Not sponsored. Not sponsoring today, but they should be.

Dr. Jim Dahle:Somebody go get an affiliate deal with Personal Capital. Actually, I think just about every blogger, but us has a Personal Capital deal. I don't think we have them as a sponsor, but yeah, we could probably go get one. But it does work.

Dr. Jim Dahle:But you need something to combine everything so you can keep track of it. Whether you're doing it on a spreadsheet, whether you're using Personal Capital software or some other software. Mint, I think, has similar functions.

Dr. Disha Spath:Yeah. And it actually breaks down your asset allocation for you. Look up all the accounts and it just pulls in exactly what you're invested in so you can see.

Dr. Jim Dahle:Okay. So, the biggest obstacle though, the reason people don't want to combine finances is because they don't want someone else telling them how to spend.

Dr. Disha Spath:That's true. That's true.

Dr. Jim Dahle:We've gotten around that. We don't really do this anymore, but we do this for a long time. We have allowances. It was money that we didn't have to account to our spouse for. And when we were really poor in medical school, it wasn't very much money. I think there was at least one month where it was $20.

Dr. Jim Dahle:But we had money that we could spend and we didn't have to account to the other person for. And, so if you feel like I don't want someone telling me how to spend, just set it up so you have allowances. And doesn't have to be $20, it can be $20,000, whatever your budget allows. But enough that you feel like you still have some freedom, some independence, and yet you can still be efficient when it comes to managing your money.

Dr. Disha Spath:Absolutely. We have fun funds too. And you brought up your really fun topic, budgeting. My favorite. Okay. I understand I am the only person that is excited about that. You know what? Josh and I sit down and budget at the end of every month and we run through our

Dr. Jim Dahle:It'd be nice if you could do it once a year, huh?

Dr. Disha Spath:Yeah, that would be nice. But that wouldn't be very accurate.

Dr. Jim Dahle:Tell us, what does your budgeting meeting look like?

Dr. Disha Spath:We have a spreadsheet, a Google Doc that we update together. We have computers facing each other, so it's very official looking. We sit down and we look at all of our spending and we put it all in a spreadsheet. And if something looks a little off or someone's spending too much, we point it out nicely, but we try not to judge too much.

Dr. Disha Spath:It helps us keep everything together. We both know where the money is going and we both know how we need to adjust for the next month, and then neither one has to tell the other person exactly what to do, the spreadsheet shows you. So that's nice.

Dr. Jim Dahle:That's probably the hardest part, I think, is getting your goals aligned once you've gotten together, and then working out that budgeting process. I would expect most couples, it probably takes six months. Probably takes doing this six times before you are kind of getting it right. And most of the disagreements you're going to have are going to come out in those first six months.

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Merging Finances , 529 plans, and Trust Beneficiaries - The White Coat Investor

Zero-commission trading platforms have become more popular in recent years as more and more people look to get into investing. Retail investors, as nonprofessional investors are known, are seeking greater control over their finances and, ultimately, financial independence outside the limits of a 9-to-5 career.

In 2017, the trading platform Webull was founded. The company has seen strong growth ever since. CEO Anthony Denier said its key differentiator was the substantial market data it provided to help educate retail investors.

"We're the only mobile platform that provides data and analytics to all who download our app, void of any paywalls or brokerage-application requirements," Denier said, adding that Webull is "currently offering more than 50 analytical tools to make sense of our vast amounts of market data."

Trading platforms captured the public imagination in January, when members of a Reddit forum collectively agreed to buy shares in GameStop, a struggling video game retailer. This hurt hedge fund investors that had bet on its share price to tank.

As GameStop's share price rocketed, those hedge fund short-sellers lost billions. This was a tipping point for trading, shining a light on platforms that allow anyone to take part in the market, Denier said. Fifteen million people were using Webull as of January.

What's more, the coronavirus pandemic has also increased day trading's popularity, having prompted both government stimulus and fewer entertainment options during shelter-in-place restrictions. The market hit all-time highs, making it attractive to retail investors.

"We saw a culmination of social media and stock market awareness that has never been achieved before," Denier said. "It truly opened the idea of 'investing for all' to everyone across the globe." Webull offers fractional trading, which means investors can buy a small part of a stock, starting at just $5. The platform is also seamlessly available across desktop, mobile, smartwatches, and tablets, and with Webull's latest upgrade users can easily customize their dashboards.

Security is a key topic, no matter which level a trader is at. Denier's advice is to take investing at a pace that works for you. "Make sure you are dealing with a reputable broker or other financial institution," he said. "Secondly, do not trade or invest with money that you are not prepared to lose. Do not trade with your rent money! Start slow and refrain from putting all your cash to work on one single idea or opportunity. Spread the risk." Denier should know he started his career at Credit Suisse and spent many years as an institutional trader before running companies.

One way to try out trading but without the risk is to try "paper trading" on Webull, Denier said. "This free product allows people to test out investing with virtual money before they start using their real own dollars," he explained. "We believe that experiential knowledge can be the most beneficial for traders to build confidence and understanding."

Webull hopes to help people level up from intermediate to experienced trading: It provides users with real-time stock quotes from exchanges such as the Nasdaq and the New York Stock Exchange, meaning traders can get detailed information on who is buying and selling stocks, as well as their prices.

The platform has big ambitions: Its new sponsorship of the basketball teams the Brooklyn Nets and the New York Liberty marks its first foray into global sports partnerships. "As the CEO of a New York company, I could not be more thrilled to be partnering with these dynamic organizations while giving back to our communities," Denier said. Webull plans to work with both teams to implement STEM programs meant to benefit underserved populations in Brooklyn and beyond.

The partnership also underscores Webull's undertaking to help people upskill financially. "We make it our mission to help all people grow their knowledge of trading and investing," he said. Webull wants everyone to be able to use what Denier called "the most powerful wealth-creation tool for the past century: the stock market."

He added: "It definitely drives this amazing revolution we are so proud to take part in."

Learn more about how Webull can help investors level up their trading performance.

This article was created by Insider Studios with Webull.

Neither Insider Studios nor Webull are offering financial advice in this article.

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Improve Your Trading With Tips From the CEO of an Investing Platform - Business Insider

HomeGoods will open Thursday in Longview Mall, at 3500 McCann Road.

The 25,075-square-foot store is opening in the space previously occupied by Sears, following renovations that included enlarging the space.

HomeGoods, which describes itself as an "off-price home dcor store," says its prices are "generally 20% to 60% below full-price retailers (including department, specialty, and major online retailers) regular prices on comparable merchandise...."HomeGoods sells furniture, rugs, lighting, decorative accessories, kitchen and dining items, bedding, bath, kids dcor and toys, pet accessories and more.

Our amazing values, brand names, and vast assortment make HomeGoods an exciting destination for shoppers, said John Ricciuti, president of HomeGoods, in a prepared statement. With a large variety of merchandise from around the world, customers will always find thrilling values in our treasure hunt shopping experience. We are happy to provide Longview with a new HomeGoods.

Store hours are 9:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Sunday, with Senior Shopping Hours from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays. Store hours might shift. Visit HomeGoods.com/locator for information.

In celebration of the new store location, HomeGoods said it is contributing $10,000 to Family Promise of Longview, a nonprofit organization that provides shelter, meals, training and other services to help struggling families find employment, permanent housing and financial independence.

HomeGoods, a part of TJX Cos., operates more than 820 stores across the country, 4,600 stores in nine countries, and four e-commerce sites.

The rest is here:

HomeGoods to open Thursday in Longview | Local | news-journal.com - Longview News-Journal

Editorial IndependenceWe want to help you make more informed decisions. Some links on this page clearly marked may take you to a partner website and may result in us earning a referral commission. For more information, see How We Make Money.

Five million people are expected to get married in the U.S. this year and every one of them should have a prenup, financial experts say.

The 2.5 million weddings scheduled in 2022 are the most since 1984, according to The Wedding Report, an online database of wedding statistics.

And 10% of couples get engaged on Valentines Day. Thats a lot of matrimony.

Just like anybody would get insurance on very expensive assets, a prenup is like insurance for your marriage. A prenup protects your money in ways that can save you a lot of headache in the future, and experts agree its an important investment in a romantic relationship.

Prenups are frankly too important not to be discussed. If you have the type of partner whos not willing to entertain the idea [of a prenup], thats a red flag, says Jannese Torres-Rodriguez, host of the Yo Quiero Dinero podcast. If you cant talk openly about money in your relationships, you probably wont be able to talk openly about a lot of other important topics.

So who needs a prenup? These experts say everybody. Lets talk about nuptial agreements, their function in your marriage, and why these three experts agree that you need one.

A prenup, short for prenuptial agreement, is a written legal contract between two people that covers a variety of financial issues and concerns, such as property, cash accounts, and financial obligations.

If you dont create your own prenup, every state has laws and regulations about what is going to happen in the case of a divorce, says Rita-Soledad Fernndez Paulino, financial coach at Wealth Para Todos. Depending on what you and your spouse bring to the marriage, those laws can work in your favor or to your detriment.

Everybody has a prenup, says Erin Lowry, author of Broke Millennial Talks Money. To ostensibly be asked to sign a legally binding document without at least reading the fine print is bad form.

Consider discussing prenups when your relationship starts to get serious or when you get engaged, says Lowry. A clean, simple way to start the conversation is to ask your partner how they want to handle any assets or debts that both of you are bringing into the marriage.

A prenup protects or determines anything related to finances, including:

For a prenup to be legally enforceable, it must be fair and equitable and cannot appear one-sided, deceptive, or exploitative. And both parties must have their own separate legal representation.

Lowry cautions to never sign a prenup if you feel strong-armed or coerced in any way, such as if youre suddenly presented with a prenup right before marriage, if your partner says they wont marry you without one, or if someone in their family is requiring a prenup.

Prenups are about protecting both spouses, says Torres-Rodriguez. Its easier to make decisions when youre in a healthy place and trust one another instead of when emotions are running high during divorce proceedings. A prenup can and should come from a place of love and compassion for one another.

Just like a prenup protects financial matters, it does not cover anything unrelated to finances, such as requiring your partner to appear a certain way, relationships outside the marriage (including infidelity), unreasonable living conditions, or anything thats explicitly illegal.

Its also extremely important to note that a prenup doesnt cover anything related to child custody, visitation, or support, because courts and legislators do not allow couples to bargain away a childs rights as part of a marriage. Those rights will have to wait to be decided during divorce proceedings, and are based on each spouses emotional and financial fitness at the time of the divorce.

A postnup is a financial agreement that a married couple can create. Its much the same as a prenup, but comes after the marriage has been established.

Couples often initiate a postnup when theres a big lifestyle change, such as a spouse starting their own business, when children have entered the picture, or when one spouse decides to leave the workforce.

Also note that you can have both a prenup and a postnup. You might create a postnup that amends a prenup, like when you previously waived alimony but then had children, found out about an inheritance, or independently acquired property during the marriage.

Its unfortunate that prenups are perceived as divorce contracts, says Lowry, who encourages reframing them more like marriage insurance. Having regular money conversations with your partner can reduce the stigma around prenups.

Just like people dont anticipate losing their home, car, or life when they get homeowners, car, or life insurance, respectively, no one anticipates divorce when they decide to get married. Prenups can cost anywhere from $1,500 to $10,000, depending on how complicated they are.

Think of a prenup or postnup as marriage insurance with terms you get to decide. Without one, the default laws in your state will apply which can be unfavorable, particularly in community property states.

Everyone needs to at least consider a prenup because people are getting married at older ages than previous generations, says Torres-Rodriguez. And so we are tending to acquire more assets that need protection in the event that we end up getting divorced.

Torres-Rodriguez got a prenup to protect her business assets that shes worked on building herself. It was important for her, she says, not only as a woman, but a woman with the ultimate goal of financial independence.

Plus, everyone who gets married already has a prenup, whether they know it or not: the default divorce laws of the state they reside in. You need to know what those terms and conditions are and if youre comfortable with them, particularly if you live in a community property state where assets and debts are typically divided 50/50. If youre not, then you definitely need a prenup that outlines how to handle your assets and debts that you bring into your marriage and acquire during it.

The beauty of a prenup is how it simplifies the divorce process, if it ever happens. Divorces can be expensive, messy, and drag on for a long time. But when you have a prenup, you already have a plan for how to split everything, which dramatically reduces the stress and emotions of a divorce during a time when you could be bitter or angry.

When your prenup comes from a place of mutual understanding, it can actually be cheaper and more efficient in the long run. Plus, it shows your spouse that youll honor their decisions if, for whatever reason, your marriage doesnt work out.

Like most insurance, its great to have just in case something happens.

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Getting Engaged This Valentine's Day? You Need a Prenup, According to These 3 Experts - NextAdvisor

Item 2.02 Results of Operations and Financial Condition.

On February 16, 2022, Independence Realty Trust, Inc. ("IRT") issued a pressrelease regarding its earnings for the three and twelve months ended December31, 2021. Additionally, IRT is furnishing certain supplemental information withthis Current Report. Copies of such press release and such supplementalinformation are furnished as Exhibit 99.1 and Exhibit 99.2, respectively, tothis Current Report and are incorporated by reference herein. The information inthis Current Report, including Exhibit 99.1 and Exhibit 99.2 hereto, is beingfurnished and shall not be deemed "filed" for purposes of Section 18 of theSecurities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, or otherwise subject to theliabilities of that Section. The information in this Current Report shall not beincorporated by reference into any registration statement or other documentpursuant to the Securities Act of 1933, as amended.Item 7.01 Regulation FD Disclosure.

The information provided in Item 2.02 above is incorporated by reference intothis Item 7.01.Item 9.01 Financial Statements and Exhibits.

(d) Exhibits.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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INDEPENDENCE REALTY TRUST, INC. : Results of Operations and Financial Condition (form 8-K) - marketscreener.com

Dear Quentin,

Were a gay couple who have been together off and on almost 20 years. We have been married for five years. My wife bought our home in November 2015. We moved in together in January 2016. We married in November 2016. She wont add me to the title or refinance.

I have been paying two-thirds or more of the mortgage for about five years, and have also contributed $12,000 toward improvements. During an argument, she said her daughter will get the house. What can I do at this point to secure my investment in the house?

Out in the Cold

This is a difficult and all-too-common dilemma: A case of our/her home and the/her mortgage. The law on what is considered marital and separate property varies by state, but many states will consider a property at least partly commingled if one partner has invested a significant amount of money in its upkeep.

If you owned a home before you got married and you never changed the title to include your spouse and did not put marital money into the house for renovation and upkeep, the house will likely be considered non-marital property, the American Bar Association says.

In Texas, for example, the surviving spouse has the right to occupy the homestead for the remainder of their life, even if it is separate property, per the State Bar of Texas.By virtue of being a surviving spouse, he or she has the exclusive right to occupy the home for as long as he or she desires, it says.

However, the use of community funds for the upkeep of a property in Texas does not automatically mean that separate property has become marital or community property, although you could in the event you divorced make a claim for that $12,000 in renovations.

Assuming your wifes house remains separate rather than marital property, there is a solution.

It all depends on where you live. In New York, on the other hand, your situation would have a very different outcome. If you contribute meaningfully to your spouses home, that could commingle that property, even if your wifes name is the only one on the deed of the house.

The Colwell Law Group gives the following scenario: Say, for example, prior to your marriage, you owned a piece of rental property, and then, during your marriage, your spouse helped you renovate the property in a way that improved its value and increased your rental income.

In this case, its not necessarily a slam-dunk 50/50 ownership. While the real estate itself would still be separate property, the increase in value would be considered marital property and would be taken into account for equitable distribution, Colwell Law Group says.

Assuming your wifes house remains separate property, there is another solution: Your wife could give you a life estate, allowing you to live in the house for the remainder of your life in the event that she predeceases you, and her daughter to inherit the house as planned after you pass.

Paying two-thirds of your wifes mortgage gives you a place to live and ideally a chance to save if you are paying under the market rate for rent, but you dont have a stake in the house and it doesnt secure your own future. Ultimately, the best way to invest in your future is to maintain your own financial independence.

Youcan email The Moneyist with any financial and ethical questions related to coronavirus at qfottrell@marketwatch.com, and follow Quentin Fottrell onTwitter.

Check outthe Moneyist private Facebookgroup, where we look for answers to lifes thorniest money issues. Readers write in to me with all sorts of dilemmas. Post your questions, tell me what you want to know more about, or weigh in on the latest Moneyist columns.

The Moneyist regrets he cannot reply to questions individually.

More from Quentin Fottrell:

She was homeless and I was alone: I was befriended by a woman who moved into my home she gradually stole $40,000 from meHes always been a shady character: My uncle asked me to sign a document saying that Id no rights to my grandfathers land. I didnt sign it. What now?He walked out on our marriage 2 years ago and disappeared: How do I serve my missing husband with divorce papers? He owes me thousands of dollars

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Weve been married for 5 years. I pay two-thirds of my wifes mortgage and spent $12,000 on repairs but she says her daughter will inherit our home -...

TORONTO, Feb. 14, 2022 /CNW/ - BMO Financial Group's Retirement Study found that while the average amount Canadians believe they need to retire has increased 12 per cent since 2020 to $1.6 million, fewer than half (44 per cent) of Canadians are confident they will have enough money to retire as planned.

The annual survey explores Canadians' expectations and approaches to retirement planning. This year's edition found their confidence in having enough to retire as planned has decreased by 10 per cent since last year. Provincially, residents in Alberta and Ontario are the most confident in their existing retirement plans, at 51 and 46 per cent, respectively.

Region

Retirement Confidence

Making an RRSP Contribution Before March 1, 2022

Atlantic

37 per cent

49 per cent

Quebec

43 per cent

61 per cent

Ontario

46 per cent

58 per cent

Prairies

38 per cent

58 per cent

Alberta

51 per cent

53 per cent

B.C.

40 per cent

58 per cent

National

44 per cent

58 per cent

Despite the challenges from the global pandemic and expectations of rising inflation, the majority (58 per cent) of Canadians have or plan to contribute to their Registered Retirement Savings Plans (RRSP). Quebec residents have the highest contribution rates while Canadians in the Atlantic provinces have the lowest.

"Canadians have demonstrated resilience during these uncertain times and it's encouraging to see them continue prioritizing retirement planning," said Robert Armstrong, Director, Multi-Asset Solutions, BMO Global Asset Management. "While 2022 will have its own challenges and opportunities, working with a professional advisor can help Canadians navigate these transitions and gain confidence in their financial plans and future."

Retirement Pulse Check

The survey also revealed additional insights into Canadians' retirement plans and strategies, including:

The Golden Age: Approximately a quarter (23 per cent) of Canadians plan to retire between the ages of 60 and 69, with an average age of 62.

Eyes on Early Retirement: 23 per cent of Canadians are planning to retire early and would like to retire at age 54.

Finding the Magic Number: More than half (53 per cent) of Canadians don't know how much they will need to retire. Provincially, residents living in the Prairies provinces at 61 per cent are the least likely to know how much they will need to retire.

Contribution Motivations: Among the 60 per cent of Canadians with an RRSP, 66 per cent of them contributed to the account to save for retirement. Close to a quarter (23 per cent) of respondents contributed to their RRSPs to achieve financial independence as early as possible, while 14 per cent are saving for an early retirement.

Advice Based Confidence: 79 per cent of Canadians rely on a financial advisor, a nine per cent increase from 2020. Those with a financial advisor are more likely to feel confident they will have the money they need to retire (53 per cent).

Story continues

Single, Together or Its Complicated? Achieving Retirement Planning Confidence Beyond Relationship Status

The study found Canadians' relationship status plays a role in how they approach retirement planning:

Confidence: Only 39 per cent of single Canadians are confident in their existing retirement plans. Confidence rates are higher among couples and respondents who are widowed, divorced or separated, at 47 and 46 per cent respectively.

RRSP Ownership: Compared to other groups, couples are much more likely to have an RRSP at 69 per cent. Ownership is lower among widowed, divorced or separated (52 per cent) and single (45 per cent) Canadians.

RRSP Knowledge:

Barriers to Contributing: 42 per cent of widowed, divorced or separated Canadians cite not having enough money as a barrier to contributing to their RRSPs this year. Couples and single Canadians are much less likely to cite this contribution barrier at 26 and 29 per cent respectively.

"While long-term financial goals including retirement can initially feel intimidating, Canadians are not alone. By working with a trusted professional advisor who can develop personalized plans according to your personal and financial goals, risk tolerance and values, Canadians can have the confidence they will be able to enjoy retirement and the other benefits that come with achieving your goals," said Mr. Armstrong.

For more information on Registered Retirement Savings Plans, opening an account, or other assistance, please visit http://www.bmo.com/rrsp.

The BMO Savings Study was conducted by Pollara Strategic Insights via an online survey of 1,500 adult Canadians conducted between October 26th and 29th 2021. The margin of error for a probability sample of this size is 2.5%, 19 times out of 20.

About BMO Financial GroupServing customers for 200 years and counting, BMO is a highly diversified financial services provider - the 8th largest bank, by assets, in North America. With total assets of $988 billion as of October 31, 2021, and a team of diverse and highly engaged employees, BMO provides a broad range of personal and commercial banking, wealth management and investment banking products and services to more than 12 million customers and conducts business through three operating groups: Personal and Commercial Banking, BMO Wealth Management and BMO Capital Markets.

SOURCE BMO Financial Group

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BMO Annual Retirement Study: Average Amount Canadians Believe They Need to Retire Increases by 12 Per Cent, But Fewer Than Half are Confident They...

BOSTON, Feb. 16, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The largest online referral network for small businesses, Alignable.com is announcing the results of its national search for leaders who've gone above and beyond guiding peers and supporting entire communities as they strive to recover.

The Association of TeleServices International (PRNewsfoto/Association of Teleservices Int)

Today, Alignable's network has chosen Beth Devine, Principal and Owner of Devine Solutions Group Digital Marketing as Tracy, CA's 2022 Businessperson of The Year!

The 2022 contest is the most popular competition Alignable has ever hosted, marking a 64% increase in participation over last year. In all, 2,400+ small business owners were elected by their peers to be their Local Business People Of The Year across the U.S. and Canada.

During the contest, which ran from Jan. 10 to Feb. 11, 2022, 160,000+ votes and 32,000+ testimonials were posted praising thousands of local leaders for helping their peers and communities through a turbulent year with many challenges: skyrocketing inflation, labor shortages, supply chain problems, and COVID variants.

Because of these issues, 70% of small businesses have yet to recover and recovery rates have declined 13% since December, according to Alignable's latest poll of 6,305 small business owners. This recovery reversal highlights how important it is for the contest winners to continue their work helping even more businesses bounce back from pandemic-era hurdles.

Giving Is the Glue Holding Us Together"In our tight-knit community, you almost always get back what you give," said Devine. "And the challenges we've all encountered have compelled many of us to offer counsel and other support to peers struggling to keep their businesses afloat. While I'm thrilled to receive this award, it's really a testament to our entire community. And it reinforces my resolve to push toward a full recovery for everyone here in Tracy by the end of 2022, if not earlier."

Devine received a special badge on her Alignable profile, recognizing this big win. In past years, the awareness generated through similar contests has spurred expanded connections, as well as new business for many winners.

Story continues

Driving Recognition Is Key"This has been a fun and rewarding contest to watch unfold," said Alignable's President & Co-Founder Venkat Krishnamurthy. "Local business owners are the heart and soul of their communities and they ought to get way more recognition for all they do. Friendly competition aside, this contest generated some incredible peer testimonials (to the tune of 32,000+), showing exactly why small business owners are stronger together."

About Devine Solutions Group Digital MarketingDevine Solutions Group is a multiple award-winning, full-stack digital marketing agency headquartered in Tracy, CA. As an affordable option to hiring an in-house marketing team, they work with small to mid-sized business owners to grow their business and their profit online.

Their purpose is to assist clients with turning their business potential into a profitable reality. They do this by implementing top tier transformational digital marketing services. They are committed to assisting their clients with growing their business, so they can achieve the financial independence they require the work/life balance they deserve.

Clients hire Devine Solutions Group for their expertise in ADA Website Design, SEO, Social Media Marketing, Reputation Management, and a whole lot more.

About Alignable Alignable.com is the largest online referral network for small businesses in the U.S. and Canada. With 7 million+ members across 35,000+ local communities, Alignable is the network where small business owners drive leads and prospects, generate referrals, land new business, build trusted relationships, and share great advice.

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SOURCE Devine Solutions Group, LLC

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Beth Devine of Devine Solutions Group Honored as Tracy, CA's 2022 Local Businessperson of the Year - Yahoo Finance