It might feel like whenever the IRS makes a change, your taxes seemingly always increase. A recent change, however, will lower the minimum amount the IRS requires you to withdraw from your retirement accounts. In other words, the IRS lowered Required Minimum Distributions (RMDs). An RMD is the amount the U.S. government requires an individual to withdraw from their traditional IRAs and employer-sponsored retirement plans upon reaching age 72 (it used to be 70 ½ prior to 2020). RMDs are calculated using the account balance at year end and the account holder’s age, which corresponds with an official “distribution period” that the IRS sets based on average life expectancy. Over time, medical and technological advancements have increased the average life expectancy of an adult. In order to account for increased life expectancy, the IRS has adjusted RMDs so that it will take longer to draw down retirement accounts. What does this mean?...

On Wednesday, November 18, Governor Cuomo announced that parts of Western New York will move to an ORANGE zone due to rising coronavirus cases in the region. Although we will continue to offer in-person meetings, we are anticipating that the region will move to RED in the coming days or weeks. If the region moves to RED, we will no longer offer in-person meetings in our Amherst or Hamburg offices. In anticipation of this change, we highly recommend you schedule Zoom or phone meetings with your advisor, instead of traditional office visits. Clients can use the same tools they have used during the pandemic to schedule these meetings (client portal, calendar links from advisors, calling our office to schedule). To protect the health and safety of all visitors to our offices, we continue to follow our Covid-19 protocols for in-person meetings. All visitors and employees are required to wear a...

PRESS RELEASE Amherst, NY: Level Financial Advisors has hired Desiree Weppner as a Client Services Specialist at the fee-only investment management and financial planning firm. She will assist the firm’s operations department with various administrative activities including working with clients on daily requests, deepening client relationships, and assisting the company’s financial advisors with meetings and paperwork. She will also assist the company with special projects related to finance and human resources. Ms. Weppner graduated from Gannon University, achieving a Bachelor of Science in Mental Health Counseling; she later received her Masters of Science in Elementary Education from Edinboro University. Prior to joining Level, Ms. Weppner worked as a School Counselor at St. Gregory the Great Catholic School for the past twelve years. She serves on the board of the Character Council of Western New York as its Vice President and is also the Co-Director of the Champions for CHANGE Youth Leadership Conference. She resides with...

Election years can be fraught with uncertainty as developments surrounding the candidates, their platforms, and their predicted effects on the economy and markets dominate the news. But should you let this stream of political information influence how you and I manage your investment portfolio? A lengthy history of empirical research suggests not. Elections matter, just not in all the ways you might think to an investor. Of course, they hold great importance in upholding the U.S. tradition of democratic, representative government. However, their impact on market returns has historically proven to be negligible, as shown in the chart below. Given the horse race nature of political campaigns, you may think that in the months closest to an election, there is a noticeable uptick in volatility. Think again. In actuality, the opposite has been true. From January 1, 1964, to December 31, 2019, the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index’s annualized volatility was 13.8% in...