4 Minute Money

What You Need to Know About Financial News By Douglas Goldstein, CFP® - helping olim handle U.S., IRA, investment, and brokerage accounts from Israel Should financial news and media reports affect the way you make your investment decisions? Recently, a client said: "I just read about _________ (fill in Israeli company name) in The Jerusalem Post, and I'd like to buy 1000 shares." I hear comments l...

How to Increase Your Retirement Cash Flow By Douglas Goldstein, CFP® - helping olim handle U.S., IRA, investment, and brokerage accounts from Israel When you retire, your cash flow changes. Since most pensions won't replace 100% of your pre-retirement income, you need other ways to increase your monthly cash flow. A bank may not meet your needs If you put your money in a regular savings account in...

What to Do When You Inherit an IRA? By Douglas Goldstein, CFP® - helping olim handle U.S., IRA, investment, and brokerage accounts from Israel If you inherit an IRA (Individual Retirement Account), you may be tempted to simply withdraw the funds and put them into your own name. But if you do, you would possibly be making a big mistake. Instead, you should transfer the money into a "beneficiary IRA...

Do You Need to Worry About a Market Crash? By Douglas Goldstein, CFP® - helping olim handle U.S., IRA, investment, and brokerage accounts from Israel No one knows if or when there will be another market crash. Anyone who could accurately predict the ups and downs of the market on a consistent basis would make an absolute fortune. Even if the market's exact moves can't be predicted, you can be sure...

What Really Happened in the 2008 Market Meltdown: A book review and analysis of Ben Bernanke's book, The Courage to Act: A Memoir of a Crisis and Its Aftermath Douglas Goldstein, CFP® As a financial advisor who worked with clients throughout the 2008 market meltdown, I was particularly interested in understanding the Chairman of Federal Reserve Bank's perspective of that period. Ben Bernanke's boo...

How Non-Americans Can Benefit from American Brokerage Accounts By Douglas Goldstein, CFP®, helping people in Israel with their U.S. IRA and investment accounts This past week, my office phone rang several times with non-Americans inquiring about opening American brokerage accounts. Given the hassles of dealing in some of the more popular offshore jurisdictions, and given the many benefits of keepi...

What Should You Do About the FBAR? By Douglas Goldstein, CFP® - helping olim handle U.S., IRA, investment, and brokerage accounts from Israel Whenever I mention the acronym FBAR, Americans often say one of two things: "F what??" or "I don't need to do that."   What's an FBAR? The "Report of Foreign Bank Accounts" (FBAR) is a required U.S. government form, which is important in the post-9/11 world....

Is Your Brokerage Account in Danger of Being Sold Out? By Douglas Goldstein, CFP® Imagine if your brokerage firm called you up and told you that they were going to sell out all of the positions in your brokerage account within the next 60 days. "Why?" you ask them. They respond that due to increasing regulatory restrictions they will no longer service your account. They give you two options: Trans...

Can Your Israeli Bank Provide Investment Services?       By Douglas Goldstein, CFP® Have you found that your Israeli bank no longer provides investment services for Americans living in Israel? Because if onerous reporting requirements to the American government, many Israeli banks have stopped opening investment accounts for U.S. citizens. While dual American-Israelis can continue with banking and...

Read This Before You Transfer Your Money to Israel By Douglas Goldstein, CFP® Making aliya doesn't mean you need to close your American brokerage accounts. In fact, there are many sound reasons for maintaining assets in America even if you move away. Think twice before converting your American retirement accounts to shekels and bringing them to Israel. Recently, some American brokerage firms asked...

Is Financial Success Just a Matter of Luck? By Douglas Goldstein, CFP® Is financial success more about planning or luck? In the book Rich Kids , Tom Corley discusses three different kinds of luck: Random luck is the kind of luck we can't control. Random good luck includes winning the lottery or getting an unexpected windfall. Conversely, examples of random bad luck include sudden illness or being...

How Modern Portfolio Theory Can Make You a Better Investor By Douglas Goldstein, CFP® Can “Modern Portfolio Theory” increase your investment returns? Recently, on The Goldstein on Gelt Show , I spoke with the inventor of Modern Portfolio Theory, Nobel Prize in Economics winner, Dr. Harry Markowitz. Dr. Markowitz explained various aspects of Modern Portfolio Theory and its impact on the individual...

Avoid Making This Mistake with an Inherited IRA By Douglas Goldstein, CFP® If you are the beneficiary of an inherited IRA, avoid immediately withdrawing the money. If you make an immediate withdrawal, you might forfeit the tax-deferred status of the account and be subject to paying taxes. A proper withdrawal strategy for an inherited IRA can minimize your tax bill. What you need to know when you i...

How to Avoid Tax Mistakes When You Receive an Inheritance By Douglas Goldstein, CFP® When receiving an inheritance, it’s important to avoid making tax mistakes. Certain tactics, such as opening a U.S. brokerage account (see below for an interactive tool) can help. Watch out for these mistakes: Mistake #1 – Taking money out of an IRA To maintain the tax-deferred status of an inherited IRA (Individu...

Why You Might Benefit from Having a U.S. Brokerage Account By Douglas Goldstein, CFP® Unsure of the benefits of a U.S. brokerage account? Use a free interactive form to find why it may be helpful to keep some of your investments in America even though you live in Israel. See the URL below. One of the most common financial problems Americans living in Israel face is when their U.S. investment compa...

The Best Way to Pay for a Wedding By Douglas Goldstein, CFP® After accepting all the good wishes and mazal tovs , the first thing parents of a newly engaged couple need to think about is the best way to pay for a wedding. Making a wedding can be costly. If you have savings to cover the cost, great. That’s the topic of today’s article. If you haven’t saved for the big day, however, you’ll need to a...

Should You Have a Shared Savings Account With Your Spouse? By Douglas Goldstein, CFP® What’s the best way to invest with your spouse? Should you have a shared savings account or separate accounts? Whenever I help a couple set up U.S.-based brokerage and investment accounts, I ask whether they want a “joint” account, or whether they want to keep their money separate. Shouldn’t couples always invest...

  Some people say the next best thing to being personally financially successful is having rich kids. However, teaching children good financial habits can be challenging. Here’s where Tom Corley and his book Rich Kids comes in handy. This is a great resource for teaching children (of all ages) about money. The three paths to wealth There are three paths to wealth: Live below your means. If you put...

Note: After reading the following true story, try the free Investment Evaluation Tool to determine if you are invested more aggressively than you should be. Details for accessing the tool are below. When I talk with people about how they should structure their U.S. investment accounts, one of the common questions I ask is how long do they plan to keep the money invested. Folks who see themselves a...

Is Panic the Best Reaction to a Drop in the Market? By Douglas Goldstein, CFP® As an investment advisor who helps olim manage their American brokerage accounts, I’m often asked, “ Why should I invest in the stock market when it only goes down?”   If you believe that the stock market only goes down, then putting your money in stocks is a big mistake. The people who tend to make money in the stock m...

How to Solve this Common Problem with American Brokerage Accounts By Douglas Goldstein, CFP® I often receive calls at my office from people who say that their U.S. investment advisor asked them to change firms. It’s not because they don’t meet the minimum balance requirements. Rather, it’s just because they have chosen to live overseas. For various regulatory reasons, several large investment comp...

What You Need to Know When Blending Two Families By Douglas Goldstein, CFP® Many second marriages are the blending of two families, not just two people. This situation raises various questions about child support, how to divide household bills, and inheritance issues. To ensure a smooth financial union, make sure to discuss these issues before the actual ceremony takes place. Sign on the dotted li...

Why You Need to Think Big and Start Small to Get Rich By Douglas Goldstein, CFP®   One of the most effective ways to achieve your financial goal is to develop good habits. Here’s what you need to know: Rome wasn’t built in a day Acquiring good financial habits does not happen overnight. First, you need to decide what you want to change, such as your spending or saving habits, budgets, etc. Whateve...

What is the Best Way to Transfer Dollars to Israel? By Douglas Goldstein, CFP® When clients ask to transfer dollars from their U.S. investment account to their Israeli bank, the details they must provide sometimes take them by surprise. Living in a different country from your assets means that money transfers are necessary to meet your cash-flow needs. Following procedures properly can expedite th...

Do All Married Couples Need to Share Their Money? By Douglas Goldstein, CFP®           What’s the ideal way to handle your money? In a perfect world, married couples merge their lives as well as their finances, and have joint accounts. However, sometimes a couple can be connected at the heart but have separate bank accounts. While partners should look at their overall assets together, depending on...