3 Lessons From Over 100 Financial Meetings Last Year

Earlier this year I was curious how many meetings Hale Financial held in 2023. We had a busy year and with over 700 contacts in our system, I thought it’d be fun to see some numbers.

To my surprise, Hale Financial held over 100 client and potential client meetings last year! We love these meetings, and they reveal common trends as we serve Wyoming retiree and pre-retirees across our community.

I thought I’d take a few minutes to share some observations from these meetings that will be beneficial to retirees.

Starting Social Security at Age 62--Bad Idea?

Waiting to start Social Security has a key advantage: the longer you delay, the higher your Social Security paycheck will be over time. 

But there are cases when it could make sense not to delay, contrary to popular opinion. Let’s explore this topic, and a few scenarios where it makes sense to start Social Security as early as possible–or at least not waiting until your full retirement age.

Exploring COLA Options in the Wyoming Retirement System Pension

The Wyoming Retirement System (WRS) pension is an impressive retirement plan, offering guaranteed income to thousands of Wyoming employees across hundreds of employers. 

Among its many features, a cost of living adjustment, or COLA, is available at varying amounts. This feature helps your benefit keep pace with inflation, but it reduces your payment initially. When does opting for COLA make sense, at what levels, and what is the financial impact?

How to "Profit" From Losing Investments

As the year comes to a close, lots of opportunities exist for families to make final decisions that can affect their finances and their taxes. These include Traditional or Roth IRA contributions, HSA contributions, year-end expenses for farmers, ranchers, and business owners, just to name a few.

Another lesser known year-end strategy is something called tax loss harvesting. This strategy helps investors take advantage of investment losses they may have experienced, but still keep their funds invested for the long-term.