Sommers Financial Management - A Wealthcare Company

05/29/2026

It's 5/29, so time to celebrate the benefits of investing for your family's education via 529 accounts.

These accounts grow tax-free, are extremely flexible, are intended for education expenses - but can fund a Roth IRA in the future. What's not to like?

Need another bonus benefit? SFM helps establish, fund, and spend out of 529 accounts for our clients that custody at my529 - at no additional cost!

529 plans are sponsored by states, state agencies, and educational institutions, and are authorized by Section 529 of the Internal Revenue Code.

05/04/2026

This May the 4th, build a financial plan that’s designed to go the distance — across the universe and into the future.

At Sommers Financial Management, we help you navigate the investing galaxy with a strategy focused on protecting what you’ve built and growing what comes next.

Because the right plan can help your money stay on the light side of the future.

May the 4th be with your portfolio.

04/30/2026

If we knew the numbers after the birth and “-" on our tombstone, it would be easy to calculate the break-even age where we would receive the most benefit from Social Security because we’d know how many checks you get. The earlier you take social security, the smaller your checks will be, and the longer you wait, the bigger the checks will be.

When Should I claim my Social Security benefit?

04/28/2026

Albert Einstein believed compound interest was the eighth wonder of the world. He said, “He who understands it, earns it; he who doesn’t, pays it.” The simple way money grows is over time so it makes sense to start investing early for kids when they are young. The greatest asset they have is time.

529 vs. Coverdell. Roth IRA? How best to save and invest for kids.

04/25/2026

Very interesting.

Maybe invest the difference and see what kind of peace and comfort that provides when the going gets rough?

The wedding industry is a $60 billion machine built on convincing you that spending more means loving more.

The research says something different.

Emory University researchers surveyed over 3,000 couples and found that the more you spend on your wedding the more likely you are to end up divorced. The data is consistent enough that it's hard to ignore.

Women who spent over $20,000 on their wedding were 3.5 times more likely to divorce than those who kept the budget between $5,000 and $10,000.

Couples who spent less than $1,000 on their wedding had the LOWEST divorce rates of all.

Now here's the nuance that matters.

The researchers don't believe an expensive wedding causes divorce.

They believe the financial behaviors and pressures that lead couples to overspend on a wedding create the conditions for marital strain down the road. Financial stress is consistently the number one cause of divorce.

Starting a marriage with $30,000 in wedding debt on a combined $80,000 income is a fundamentally different situation than spending $30,000 when you earn $300,000.

There's also a finding in this study that almost never gets mentioned in the viral versions of this stat.

Couples with large guest lists but modest budgets had some of the strongest marriages of anyone in the study. The researchers believe community support from friends and family matters far more to a marriage than what you spent on centerpieces.

The wedding industry spent decades convincing people that the size of the ring and the budget of the reception are expressions of love.

The data disagrees.

Invest in the marriage. Not the wedding.

04/21/2026

A good financial advisor can help you in many ways: manage your investments, assist in major financial decisions like buying a car or a house, find the opportune time to retire, figure out how to get the most out of social security, and one of my favorites: legally avoid and lower taxes when possible.

Seeing the whole financial picture - including tax returns - allows us to make better informed recommendations.

04/14/2026

For those of us who are too busy or not skilled enough to add value to a property— or are risk averse and prefer diversification and less use of debt in our investments—we should consider which of options 2-6 give us the most efficient exposure to real estate.

The Most Efficient Ways to Invest in Real Estate. We highlight six ways to invest, and why we typically recommend each one.

04/13/2026

After how the "negotiations" went this weekend, you'd think the market would have taken a turn for the worse Monday. But here is the result of the day's trading action - lots of green!

Stay focused. Stay diversified. Live life.

04/07/2026

While leverage typically amplifies returns on both the upside and downside, return-stacking—if done correctly—provides you the opportunity for increased diversification without reducing your stock exposure—potentially lowering volatility.

How to get more bank for your investment buck - in an efficient way. We introduce return stacking, utilizing NTSX from WisdomTree.

04/03/2026

Happy 4.03 day - where we here in our profession celebrate employees of educational institutions, 501(c)3 non-profit organizations and other governmental entities able to contribute to a 403(b) plan (also known as TSA).

Let Sommers Financial Management help review your 403(b) accounts and ensure you're on track to meet your goals in the most optimal way!