Why a CDFA® Professional can be a critical member of your divorce team

Getting divorced is typically a painful and difficult process.  It can be emotionally and financially devastating to all parties.  Having a lawyer on your side to help navigate the...

How Can You Effectively Plan for the Increasing Cost of College Education?

For many parents, planning for their children’s college education is their second most important financial goal, behind planning for their own retirement.  Over the past five years, the total...

A “Millionaire’s Tax” for Massachusetts?

Last month, the Massachusetts Legislature approved a constitutional amendment, known as the “Millionaire’s Tax”. If adopted (as described below), the amendment will add a 4% surtax on all taxable...

Warning About New Taxpayer Scam

We would like to remind our clients to remain vigilant when they receive calls or emails regarding personal financial matters. Those seeking to inflict harm have increased the frequency...

Why You May Now Want to Consider After-Tax 401(k) Contributions

Defined contribution plans, such as a traditional 401(k) plan, offer the benefit of saving for retirement using pre-tax dollars.  For 2017, the maximum contribution to these plans allowed by...

Financial Considerations During a Divorce

Do you have a family member or friend who is contemplating divorce?  Putting all emotions aside, the legal aspect of divorce is essentially a business transaction involving the division...

Are Some Advisors Selectively Applying the Fiduciary Standard?

As seen in Advisors Perspectives The heated nature of the rhetoric surrounding the fiduciary standard has reached a new high, focusing on whether investment advisors should offer certain investment...

When Suitable Advice is Less Than Suitable

Just about everyone who has read this week’s financial headlines must be wondering about all the fuss surrounding the Department of Labor and the “fiduciary” standard being imposed on...

Client Journey: Heading Toward Retirement

A married couple in their late fifties came to The Colony Group after having received a large inheritance consisting of shares of a single publicly traded stock as well as a distribution of shares of the same stock from a trust established by a family member. With two careers,...

Client Journey: A Corporate Executive & His Family

A corporate executive who is married with three children came to The Colony Group after acquiring significant wealth from stock options through a previous employer. At the time he and his wife came to see us, their two oldest children were in college, their youngest was a minor with...

Client Journey: A Community Health Foundation

Following the sale of a community hospital, we began working with the newly formed community health foundation that was started with the proceeds from the sale. Launching the foundation was very important in this economically depressed area, with high unemployment, high teen pregnancy and high school dropout rates, and...

Client Journey: A Boarding School

In 2006, we were hired to work with a female college preparatory boarding school. Enrollment had been stagnant, and the Board was worried that they were not operating under a strong fiduciary model. Funds were being managed in a single strategy, and performance was not being monitored. They had...

Get Serious About Recruiting Women Advisors

As appeared in FinancialAdvisorsIQ For a client-centric practice, there is no more critical indicator of future success than the composition of its team. Thus, every advisory firm’s top priority...

Some Things to Consider about Gifts to Children

If you make significant gifts to your children or someone else’s children, or if someone else makes gifts to your children, there are a number of things for you...