Insights

During the pandemic, my family moved into a new house. We weren’t planning on moving, but that didn’t stop us from participating in the pandemic housing boom. But we did so at a time where the kids weren’t yet out of school, so for about three weeks, we owned two homes. Instead of having to …

By Erin Wood, Senior Vice President, Financial Planning and Advanced Solutions After my struggle with pregnancy issues, I was surprised by how quickly I found out I wasn’t alone. Friends, relatives, coworkers – people I’d known for years – were suddenly sharing with me a vital but private p …

As a financial advisor who’s spent her career in the midwest, I’ve worked with more farm families than I can count. From buying new expensive equipment to riding out the drought years, there can be millions in play even on small family operations. Estate planning – splitting up the land bet …

We live in the Information Age, where any information we could ever want is available to us within seconds, but due to the overwhelming wealth of info and sources – not to mention neck-break speed of the instant news cycle – it feels hard to know what’s really going on.

Your financial advisor may not be the first person you call when considering splitting up, but they should be somewhere on the list. One of the concrete things you can do to help with the process and the healing to follow is to plan ahead. 

Estate planning, no matter how large or simple your assets, is a conversation everyone should have. From dividing up gigantic bank accounts to choosing the music for a funeral, putting a plan in place can keep a lot of stress and family tension from reaching fever pitch.