Firm:
Meridian Financial Advisors, LLC
Job Title:
Founder/CEO
Biography:
Georgia and Rich Bruggeman founded Meridian Financial Advisors, LLC in 1990 to provide truly fee-only advice and guidance without any conflicts of interest that accompany commission sales. Meridian Financial Advisors, LLC is a comprehensive financial planning and investment management firm. They have been providing financial planning services to individuals, families and small businesses since 1990 in a fiduciary capacity. While they advise their clients on insurance needs, taxes, retirement planning, estate planning, education funding and Long Term Care they specialize in portfolio management and securities analysis.
Georgia and her team give one on one attention to each of their clients and develop plans that consider their clients' specific time horizon, risk tolerance and stated goals. They take a comprehensive approach to their clients' finances because a decision in one area will affect the rest of the plan. As a financial planner, Georgia is often compared with the quarterback who not only is an integral part of the game but who depends on everyone else on the team working together.
In addition to holding the CFP® designation, Georgia is a registered investment advisor and earned her MBA in Finance from Babson College and has passed Levels I and II of the CFA program. Georgia is a member of the Financial Planning Association, CFA Institute and the National Association of Personal Financial Advisors (NAPFA).
Georgia and Rich live in Sherborn with their 2 sons, and also spend time in Cape Cod near their alternate N. Eastham office.
Education:
MBA, Babson College
BS, Business Administration, Skidmore College
Assets Under Management:
$85 million
Fee Structure:
Fee-Only
CRD Number:
46050
Allocating a portion of your portfolio to something safe and that produces a decent level of income is always a smart idea. What you need to know about the annuity is what the expenses and charges are becasue they will reduce your actual rate of return. Was there a sales charge for this annuity? What is the mortality and expense ratio? What is the annual policy fee? What is the underlying investment management fee?
If you are a long term Aggressive investor you need a longer time horizon than 2-5 years. Since you are nearing retirement it would be advisable to reduce your risk to at least a Moderate level to preserve your gains and protect your capital.. When we have another recession be sure to rebalance back to your desired Moderate Allocation.
There is no income or age limit on converting a traditional IRA to a Roth IRA. You should be able to convert either of the IRAs you mentioned to a Roth. You will owe ordinary income taxes on the amount you convert to a Roth. The process is the same for either account. There is no limit on the amount that can be converted.
yes there is beta for bonds but it is not called beta. It is called duration. Beta measures how a stock moves relative to some arbitrary benchamrk such as the S&P 500. So a stock with a beta of 1.2 would be expeced to be 20% more volatile than the "market". If the market goes up by 10% a stock with a beta of 1.2 shoudl go up by 12%. If the market drops by 10% a stock with a beta of 1.2 should drop by 12% in price. Duration measures a bond or bond funds sensitivity to changes in interest rates. A bond or bond fund with a duration of 5 means that if rates rise by 1% the bond or bond fund would be expected to drop in price by 5%. Alternatively if rates fall the bond or bond fund should rise in price by 5%. When rates go up bond prices go down.
When you take you RMDs you should have the custodian withhold taxes at the tax rate you use on your return for both Federal and state tax. I am assuming you are talking about paying a long term capital gain tax on investments in the investment account. This tax is due by the time you file your tax return which can include extension until Oct 15. Given that the house is illiquid and you do not know when you will actually recieve the proceeds from it you may have to take money from the investment account to pay the 15% tax. Also after you sell the house you will most likely put the proceeds into the investment account. Since you were not offically married you are not allowed to roll her IRA into your own but rather retitle her IRA as an Inherited IRA and take distributions based on your life.
If you have not officially "annuitized" your annuities then you do have the ability to take out funds as you need them. Generally annuity owners "annuitize" their accounts and trade the value of the annuity for guaranteed lifetime monthly payments. This means you cannot withdraw more money than what you are getting monthly. Prior to officially annuitizing however you have access to your funds however and whenever you want them. If you need funds for home maintenance you should plan on having your monthly income exceed your needs so you can put aside funds for maintenance. Annuities can be a good part of a retirement plan but should not be your entire plan given their inflexibility.