Brian Quinn I Wealth Manager I Searcy, Weems-Scott & Quinn

Brian Quinn I Wealth Manager I Searcy, Weems-Scott & Quinn My goal is to address the complexities of people's financial lives with advice and solutions they can

My goal is to address the complexities of people's financial lives with sound solutions. Over the last 20 years in financial services, I have acted as guide for investors seeking assistance towards their financial goals.

09/10/2024

Estate Planning - It sounds like it may only be for the wealthy, but it's not.

If you don't plan, the courts 👩‍⚖️ and lawyers can devise a plan for you BUT...is that what you want?

Estate documents usually cover the following and maybe more.

A will - who gets your stuff 🚗🏡. Investment accounts and even bank accounts can often have beneficiary designations but what about the house, car or other assets without beneficiaries named?

Financial Power of Attorney - who can act on your behalf if you become temporarily or permanently incapacitated or disabled. Who can pay your bills? 💵📬

Health Care Directive -🩺💊 If you can't make health decisions for yourself, who can do so for you and what are your wishes?

Lastly - and this is a big one - it is almost never advisable to name children 👶👧under age 18 as beneficiaries. Do you need a trust that may name a responsible adult of your choice to oversee finances until the children reach a certain age?

If you need some names of attorneys who can help you with this, just let me know. I'll be glad to make an introduction

09/09/2024

CD Rates - Where Should You Look?

We've all seen what is happening with rates 📉 and many are feeling the most generous rates may be behind us.

Do you have money that should still be parked in CDs?

Instead of renewing for 1 year at a time, would it make sense to look at a rate for a longer period of time📆 ?

Two weeks ago, I was contacted by a client because her local bank's CD renewal rate became very unattractive.

We were able to do some rate shopping for her and found an attractive rate not just for one year but for the next 5 years.

If we can help look at alternatives to your local bank's CD rates, just reach out.

We'd love to help.

08/22/2024

Do you want an investment manager OR a financial planner?

Investment manager: Manages money for you in one or more accounts.

Financial Planner: May also manage various accounts but that will often be done with all of the following in mind.

- Analyze cash flow while working and in retirement.

- Look for ways to decrease tax bills over time which can result in less money to Uncle Sam and you keeping more.

- Offering guidance and strategies for dealing with various types of company stock.

- Educational Planning.

- Retirement income planning (what investments should be held in retirement and what should be withdrawal when?)

- Estate planning guidance with the help of an attorney.

- Risk Management which at a minimum would address:

- Needs based on losing a spouse - Life insurance

- Needs based on losing ability to work full time - Disability

- Proper coverage for home and auto (You don't want to have one of the lawyers from the billboards getting your accumulated assets)

- Analysis of health insurance coverage with FSA or HSA.

- Estate planning guidance with the help of an attorney

- Who will get your stuff?

- Who can act on your behalf if you can not for a period of time?

- Who will act for you on health decisions?

- What will happen if you get sick or injured in retirement?

Reach out of we can help.

05/17/2024

It's amazing how low cost, term life insurance can be.

After meeting with Peter (age 40) and Jan, it was decided that the life insurance he had through work (2X his salary = $340k) was not going to be nearly enough for Jan and the kids should something happen to him.

Also the fact that the policy at work went away when the job did, was very unsettling to Jan.

We shopped rates with highly rated insurers and found that for a $1 million, 20 year term policy, he would pay between $49/mo and $64/mo if he qualifies for one of the 2 best health classes.

Upon looking at these numbers and the types of things that they would like to have paid for should they lose him, an application was put in for a $2 million policy which, if approved in one the same 2 health classes, will cost between $96 and $124/mo.

Do you ONLY have coverage through work?

Should you have coverage that YOU own and control that is adequate to cover those you may leave behind?

If you'd like us to shop coverage for you, just reach out.

04/30/2024

A man walks into a bank and slips a note to the teller.

The note reads: "This is a bank robbery. Please only give me one dollar"

The man then tells the bank employees, "I'll be sitting right over there in a chair waiting for the police".

He does just that, and waits for the police to arrive.

The suspect, in Gaston County, NC said he robbed the bank of $1 for the sole reason of getting into jail so he can get free health care for a few years. He was not armed during the robbery.

His numerous medical problems and minimal income left him in a place where he thought THIS was a good solution.

We believe in doing proper proper planning and even getting a 2nd set of eyes on your plan.

As to this plan, he was charged with larceny and not bank robbery because of the small amount. His free health care in jail goal was not even attained.

04/22/2024

Top 5 Auto Insurer Rate Increases

5 - Liberty Mutual 16.1%

4 - Nationwide 16.8%

3 - USAA 16.9%

2 - American Family Insurance 17.5%

1 - Farmers Insurance 17.6%

Georgia is ranked #6 out of the states with the highest increases.

If you would like to talk to a broker who can shop your coverage among various carriers, I'll be glad to make an introduction.

Source: S&P Global

03/28/2024

One of the greatest financial lessons my Dad👴 taught me was to start investing early.

He would tell us - "When you start at your first "real" job, participate in the 401k to at get least all of the company match money 💰 but stretch yourself beyond that to pay more to your future self with every pay period."

As income increases, increase what you invest.

Investing may not be easy, but parts of it don't have to be complicated.

Time ⌛ to let your money work for you can have a BIG impact.

Having $300 per month invested and growing at 9% per year from age 30 to age 65 would grow to just over $850k.

Starting just 5 years earlier with the same $300/mo and growing at the same 9% rate of return would grow to 1,329,450.

That's a big difference!

03/22/2024

Are you getting all of the tax savings that you can?

Are you donating to a charity but not getting any tax benefit for it because you will not exceed the joint standard deduction of $29,200 for 2024?

A QCD or Qualified Charitable Distribution could help.

I was recently introduced to James (72 years old) and Sarah (Age 67), both retired.

Between their church and other charities they were giving around $20k to various causes per year. To do so, almost $25k was coming from pre-tax IRA withdrawals so that after federal and state taxes were paid, they would have the $20k net to give away.

Because James is over 70.5, we were able to target his IRA and have the funds distribute ($20k) via a direct transfer from his IRA custodian, payable to the qualified charities.

So now instead of withdrawing $25k which would have been added to their ordinary income tax bill for the year, paying $5k in taxes on the withdraw, and then taking the net $20k to donate - $20k worth of checks are made payable directly to the charities and they don't pay a dime of taxes on it.

Next year when James is 73, any such withdraws will also count to his Required Minimum Distribution.

02/21/2024

Roth or Pretax Retirement Contributions. Which is best?

I see A LOT of retirees and pre-retirees that have almost all of their assets in pre-tax 401k/IRA/403b.

Many have done a great job saving and investing over the years BUT this leaves them at the mercy of the IRS and ordinary income tax rates to determine how much they have to withdrawal to NET them what they need.

If their federal plus state tax rates puts them at a 30% combined tax rate, they would need to withdrawal $14300 to net around $10k.

We have a process and framework for investing into pre-tax retirement, Roth (IRA/401K/403b) as well as after tax/non-qualified accounts.

For a recent couple that we worked with, we recommended the following mix:

🔹 45% Pre-tax 401k

🔹 30% Roth 401k

🔹 25% Non-Qualified/After tax

This delivers tax diversification for them now and in the future.

They can benefit from tax breaks today and others upon withdrawing the funds. It also provides more flexibility and options for changing needs AND changing tax codes.

Note - this exact mix is not for everyone.

Having tax diversification, which provides more flexibility going forward is an important part of the financial planning process though.

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200 Ashford Center North, Ste 400
Atlanta, GA
30338

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