Final Chance to Undo a 2017 Roth IRA Conversion

If you converted a traditional IRA to a Roth IRA in 2017 and your Roth IRA has sustained losses, you may want to consider whether it makes sense to undo (recharacterize) your conversion. You have until October 15, 2018, to undo your 2017 conversion.* A recharacterization can help you avoid paying income tax on IRA…

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Investment Planning: The Basics

Why do so many people never obtain the financial independence that they desire? Often it’s because they just don’t take that first step — getting started. Besides procrastination, other excuses people make are that investing is too risky, too complicated, too time consuming, and only for the rich. The fact is, there’s nothing complicated about…

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2018 Retirement Plan Contribution Limit Increases

The beginning of the New Year brings increases to the contribution limits for 401k, 403b, and 457 plans. You can now contribute up to $18,500. This is an increase of $500 from 2017. Additionally, if you are over the age of 50, the catch up contribution of $6,000 per year is still allowable which means…

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Making Everything Simpler & More Secure for Our Clients

Yesterday, we closed our offices so our team could attend a one-day Charles Schwab conference.  This conference offered us so much new and exciting information.  Your experience with Chesapeake Financial Advisors and with Charles Schwab will improve greatly – now – and in the coming months. Improvements have been made in several areas of client…

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Retirement Planning (It is never too Early)

Retirement is one of the biggest experiences that you will have in your lifetime. The planning takes many years of hard work and persistence. The headaches and uncertainty can be reduced with homework, investment plan, and a long term commitment. Retirement planning is a continuous process that even goes on in retirement.   To get…

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The Fall of a “Titan” – Even the Best Underperform

In 2014, hedge fund “titan” Bill Ackman managed to earn a 40% return, dramatically outperforming the S&P 500 by over 26%. His fund saw an influx of new investor money and its portfolios’ values ballooned to about $20 billion! As of Wednesday, February 24, 2016, that 40% gain has been nearly erased. Ackman’s fund lost 20.5%…

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