Aspen Wealth Management

10/14/2026

April is when you find out what your tax year cost you. Right now, you can still do something about it.

There’s still time to review your withholding, look for tax-loss harvesting opportunities, revisit whether itemizing makes sense, plan charitable gifts, account for vesting equity, or evaluate a Roth conversion. The important thing is looking while there are still choices on the table.

In this episode of Purposeful Planning, Troy Fore, CFP®, walks through the tax planning moves worth considering before year-end and how they can fit into a broader financial plan. Listen and read more here: https://www.aspenwealthmgmt.com/resource-center/tax/mid-year-tax-planning-strategies

10/13/2026

With the new, higher estate tax exemption in place, are your wealth transfer strategies up to date? Senior Wealth Advisor Jim Davis discusses what changed with OBBBA and how your family trusts may be affected.

Revocable, irrevocable, SLAT, GRAT, ILIT … trust options are complex. With the new higher limits, what’s right for your family?

10/12/2026

One of the first things lifeguards learn is how to help a drowning person without going under themselves, because someone struggling in the water will grab onto anything within reach, including the swimmer who came to help. Parents of adult children who are struggling financially face a version of the same problem.

Recent estimates cited by Yahoo Finance suggest that around half of U.S. parents provide regular financial support to a child age 18 or older, averaging roughly $1,474 a month, and for some families that includes children in their 40s. Helping through an illness, a job loss, or with a first home down payment can make a meaningful difference. The challenge comes when temporary support quietly becomes a permanent line item, potentially affecting both a child’s financial independence and the parents’ own retirement plan.

What usually makes the difference is clarity about what the help covers, how much it is, and when it ends. Our newest article works through how to set those boundaries, including what to weigh before co-signing a loan: https://www.aspenwealthmgmt.com/resource-center/retirement/help-adult-children-financially-retirement

10/07/2026

Most of the people we meet aren't disorganized. They're busy. The 401(k) is funded, and the insurance is in place. Still, there's an old account from a prior employer, a will drafted years ago, equity compensation nobody has modeled, and a general plan to think about taxes sometime in December. Every piece exists, and nothing is connected to anything else.

Our financial planning process brings those moving pieces together and aligns them with your values and goals, so we look at employment benefits, education funding, income tax, investing, insurance, and estate planning together rather than one at a time. The outcome is a roadmap you can use to make decisions based on where you want your life to go.

As we put it on our own site, our role isn't to impress you with what we know. It's to be the resource you turn to when you need a guide. See how the process works: https://www.aspenwealthmgmt.com/financial-planning

10/05/2026

There's an old joke in financial services about the party where the investment advisor has a crowd gathered around while the life insurance agent stands off by himself. Most of us would rather not be sold anything, but many families have ended up avoiding the conversation altogether, which is its own kind of problem.

At its core, life insurance is a protection tool. It exists so the death of a spouse, a parent, or a business partner doesn't turn into a financial crisis on top of a personal one. Beyond that, it can address needs that surface as financial lives get more complicated, including business continuity through a buy-sell agreement, estate liquidity, and inheritance planning when other assets are difficult to divide. The key is starting with the need rather than the product.

One item worth reviewing either way is your beneficiary designations, since those proceeds follow the paperwork on file regardless of what your will or trust says. Read the full article: https://www.aspenwealthmgmt.com/resource-center/insurance/life-insurance-wealth-planning-strategy

10/01/2026

For most of your adult life, money arrives on a schedule. Then you retire, and that regular paycheck stops. The question is what replaces it.

We spend decades thinking about how to save for retirement, but often far less time deciding the order in which we’ll spend those savings. The order you draw from different accounts can affect your exposure to market downturns, your tax bill, and how long your savings last.

In this episode of Purposeful Planning, Troy Fore, CFP®, breaks down retirement income sequencing and how to layer Social Security, pensions, savings, and investment accounts into a paycheck designed to last.

Listen and read more here: https://www.aspenwealthmgmt.com/resource-center/retirement/retirement-income-sequencing-strategy

09/29/2026

Healthcare costs, the rising cost of living, and outliving your money. Retirees name the same three worries again and again, and all three come down to one thing: having enough income.

After decades of a steady paycheck, retirement means building your own. The order in which you draw from your accounts matters, because different risks carry different weight at different stages.

Sequence-of-returns risk hits hardest in the early years. Longevity and inflation risk build over time. A thoughtful withdrawal strategy accounts for all of them, and the timing of your Social Security claim plays a central role.

Read how to design your retirement paycheck: https://www.aspenwealthmgmt.com/resource-center/retirement/retirement-income-sequencing-strategy.

09/24/2026

“This business is my retirement.” We hear it often from owners, and there’s a lot wrapped up in that statement. For many, the business represents not only years of work, but a significant portion of the wealth they’ll eventually rely on in retirement.

Turning that value into retirement income takes preparation, and the runway can be longer than many owners expect. An up-to-date valuation, clean and transparent financials, and a business that can operate without the owner are all important pieces of exit readiness.

There’s an emotional side too. Knowing what comes next, and what life looks like when the business is no longer at the center of it, can matter just as much as the financials.

Read the full article: https://www.aspenwealthmgmt.com/resource-center/retirement/business-exit-readiness-planning

09/23/2026

Please join us in welcoming Melody Heath to Aspen Wealth Management as a Client Services Associate!

Melody brings more than a decade of experience across client services, finance, and accounting, along with an Associate of Arts from Collin County Community College. Melody has a habit of asking the question behind the question, which helps her get to the root of a situation and handle details before they become concerns.

She was drawn to wealth management because the work spans generations, and her personal mantra sums it up: "If you want to make a friend, you have to be a friend." Outside the office, she volunteers through her church ministries, loves music, and spends as much time with her family as she can.

Welcome to the team, Melody! https://www.aspenwealthmgmt.com/team/melody-heath

09/22/2026

It’s natural to want to help our children any way we can. But parents approaching retirement need to guard against jeopardizing their own financial security for the sake of adult children who are capable of supporting themselves. Senior Advisor Helen Stephens shares some useful guidelines.

Many parents want to support adult children without sacrificing retirement security. You can give meaningfully, set boundaries, and protect your future.