Bruce Starks, CPA, CFP® – Page 26

Investment Risk on the CFP Board Exam: Part IV

Good to Know This is the final article of our four-article series on investment risk for the CFP Board exam. Here’s a reminder of the risk concepts we’ve covered so far in the series: Part I: When to trust the “mean” return, Part II: Using standard deviation to manage investment risk, and Part III: Skewness—Do…

Percentage of Completion Method

Course: Income Tax PlanningLesson 10: Recognition of Expenses, Losses, and Deductions Student Question: Hello- Question 5 (below) did not make sense to me. I started out by breaking down by year — 400,000/2,100,000*3,000,000 and so forth, but did not arrive at the correct answer. So then I tried adding up 3 year — 400+650+700/2100000*3,000,000. That…

Investment Risk on the CFP Board Exam: Part III

Good to Know Question: Why should financial planners and advisors care about skewness? Answer: A negative skew can obscure excess downside risk in a portfolio. We discussed the mean (geometric average) return and standard deviation in our first two blogs. Now we’ll use those concepts to illustrate skewness in this, the third installment in our…

Premium Payments on Buy-Sell Agreements

Course: Insurance PlanningLesson 17: Business Uses of Life and Disability Insurance Student Question: Hello- I have a quick question regarding buy/sell agreement; not clear who would pay the premiums on disability and or life insurance on the principals and the key employees? Thanks Emerito Instructor Response: Hi Emerito, Great question. A buy-sell agreement relates to…

LITTLE USED RESOURCE TO PASS THE CFP BOARD EXAM

CFP® Certificants in the News Certificants who successfully navigated the CFP Board exam know how challenging the exam can be. Your CFP Board invites you to share your experiences with those preparing [for] the exam through the Mentorship program. The following excerpt from the program provides a high-level summary. “The CFP Board Mentor Program connects…

Present Value versus Payment Function on Calculator

Course: Fundamentals of Financial PlanningLesson 7: Educational Aid and Funding Calculation Student Question: Hello- In Step 5: solving for LUMP SUM needed today… Step 5: Determine funding actually needed Lump sum needed TODAY to fund the full cost of college education. How come we are solving for PV and not PMT? Thanks Kelly Instructor Response: Hi…

CFP BOARD’S PUBLIC AWARENESS CAMPAIGN

CFP® Certificants in the News CFP Board is on a mission to make consumers aware of a certificant’s value to their quality of life. Here is what the CFP Board says about awareness: “CFP Board’s current Public Awareness Campaign, With a CFP® Professional, raises awareness among consumers of the difference that a CFP® professional can make…

Investment Risk on the CFP Board Exam: Part II

Good to Know This blog is the second in a four-part series that includes: Part I: When to trust the “mean” return, Part II: Using standard deviation to manage investment risk, Part III: Skewness—Do we want negative or positive skew in our portfolio?, and Part IV: Kurtosis of a return distribution—Is more kurtosis a good…

Passing Property Via Will

Course: Estate PlanningLesson 1: Property Ownership Student Question: Hello- I’m a little confused about the example (below) discussing an heirloom of only sentimental value. Why would this be titled at all for a will, especially since an earlier lecture said items of no value would pass through will as the situation does not involve a…

Social Security Widower Benefits

Course: Insurance PlanningLesson 10: Social Security Student Question: Hi- When it comes to social security widower’s benefit’s, is the widow eligible to take his/her SS benefit early (age 62) and then switch over to the deceased spouse’s full benefit at 67? Or would the widow only be eligible for one of the two benefits? Thanks…