Taxes are Done! Now is a Great Time to Make Plans with your Clients

by Carolyn Rothwell

The end of tax season is a perfect time to connect with your clients and prospective clients to discuss creating or updating their financial plans.  Tax returns direct your clients’ attention to how their financial situation has changed overtime.  Important financial topics and terms are fresh in your clients’ minds, which facilitates natural conversation to identify financial priorities and highlight planning topics that need examination.  

January News: 2014 Tax Updates, Food Drive Results, Upcoming Events

by Carolyn Rothwell

Tax updates for your planning software were refreshingly straightforward for 2014. There was no need to anticipate changes, wait around for congress, and wonder when we would be able to build the tax updates into the calculations. Only modest changes needed to be made for inflation adjustments. Review highlights of the tax updates on included info-graphic (view full size).

December 2013 News: Holiday Food Drive, Practice Management, ACA, Top Tech Tips

by Carolyn Rothwell

Holiday Food Bank Donation Continued for December Money Tree donated a percentage of sales to support local food banks with food and personal care items for the month of November.  The donation added up to a total of 735 POUNDS of food and personal items for local food banks!  Find out more about the November food drive results on our Thanksgiving blog post. We are very fortunate to have wonderful advisors making Money Tree's financial planning software their top choice to create financial plans for their clients.  Thank you to all of our customers for supporting Money Tree Software.  You made this food drive possible.  The whole Money Tree team pitched in to support this event and was reward with wonderful results.

November News: Year-end preparations, giving back, making the switch from TOTAL desktop to online

by Carolyn Rothwell

Make the Most of 2013 with Year-End Preparations As we move towards the close of 2013, you are likely busy preparing for the year-end, which includes strategies to minimize your taxable income.   Money Tree’s financial planning software is fully deductible under Section 179 for 2013, meaning you can get financial planning software your practice needs today and a deduction for this year's tax return. To make the timing even better, we have a special offer to split purchases evenly between November and December.  You can also share in something good as Money Tree will be donating a percentage of November sales to charity (see Holiday Food Bank Donation article below!)

October News: TOTAL Online Announcement, FPA Experience, FL Workshop

by Carolyn Rothwell

Product News: Announcing TOTAL Online! TOTAL Online is here!  The cloud-based version of TOTAL Planning Suite made its official debut late last week and is off to an amazing start.  TOTAL Online improves the planning process for advisors with its easy to understand data input, backed with industry-proven calculations and reports. Advisors can create, collaborate, and deliver financial plans anywhere, anytime thanks to the cloud-based platform.

June News: The Cost of Supporting Adult Children, Orlando In-Depth Workshop

by Carolyn Rothwell

Planning Notes: Evaluating the Cost of Supporting Adult Children More parents find themselves helping to support their adult children financially, without fully considering the cost.  According to a Pew Research Center survey, 73% of adults ages 40-59 with adult children have provided some financial support to at least one adult child.  Of that 73% providing support, half have provided primary support for an adult child.  Most of the parents providing primary support are helping while their child is in school, but 36% provide primary support for other reasons.  A majority of parents feel obligated to provide financial support when asked for help by an adult child.  As a financial planner, you can help clients evaluate the feasibility of supporting adult children to ensure that extra support doesn't end up costing thier long-term financial stability.