Financial Consulate

07/20/2026

You should be able to get straight answers about your investments.

What is your rate of return? What are you paying in fees? How would your portfolio hold up if the market dropped 20%?

These aren't complicated questions, and you deserve clear responses, not vague reassurances.

If you're not getting direct answers from your current advisor, let’s talk:

Connect with the wealth advisors at Financial Consulate in Hunt Valley, MD to discuss planning topics & services. Contact our team to start a conversation.

07/17/2026

If you've changed jobs a few times over your career, there is a reasonable chance your retirement savings are spread across plans you haven't thought about in years.

That creates a real problem, and not because any one account is necessarily wrong. It's genuinely difficult to make good decisions about your retirement when you can't see everything in one place. Are you overweight in equities without realizing it? Are two of those old plans invested almost identically? You may not know.

Bringing old accounts together doesn't make sense for everyone, but knowing what you have and how it all fits together always does.

07/16/2026

Is your accountant handling the Net Investment Income Tax correctly? After 40 years, Drew Tignanelli says many aren't. Here's what to look for.

Drew Tignanelli with Financial Consulate sees the Net Investment Income Tax commonly mishandled in outside tax returns. Why errors happen and what they cost.

07/15/2026

Where is Your "Retirement Heaven"?

When you close your eyes and imagine retirement, what do you see? Is it a quiet beach, a cabin in the mountains, or a walkable city apartment?

Finding your "Retirement Heaven" is about matching your lifestyle with your priorities.

In this video, our team dives into the critical factors you need to consider before making the big move.

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Roger Bair and Alec Sunners discuss what factors and locations to k...

07/14/2026

Most retirees know they have to take their RMDs. Fewer realize the timing is largely up to them, and that choosing wisely can have real tax consequences. Madison Bennett walks through the key timing decisions around required minimum distributions: what drives the choice, how to use your RMD for tax withholding, and when a qualified charitable distribution might make more sense than a standard withdrawal.

Learn when to take RMDs before your first required distribution. Madison Bennett is a fee-only financial advisor with Financial Consulate in Hunt Valley, MD.

07/13/2026

Planning after 80 looks different. The focus shifts from accumulation to preservation and transfer. Tax strategies, healthcare costs, and how you pass assets to the next generation all need a different approach.

Swipe through to explore key focus areas for seniors.

07/10/2026

What happens to your HSA money if you don't use it before retirement?

It rolls over each year and after 65, you can withdraw it for any reason without penalty (though you'll pay income tax if it's not for medical expenses).

An HSA can work like an extra retirement account if you're maxing it out and paying medical expenses out of pocket during your working years. You're building a tax-free reserve for healthcare costs later, which can be significant.

We review HSA strategies during the Financial Physical® because it's one of those accounts that gets overlooked in the bigger retirement picture.

07/09/2026

Two federal retirees. Strong pensions, but no coordinated plan. Here's what our team found and how we fixed it.

Optimize your federal retirement. Financial Consulate is a fee-only fiduciary firm integrating tax and financial planning for federal retirees.

07/08/2026

A couple came to us recently with 7 different investment accounts spread across 3 institutions. They had no idea how much overlap there was or whether their overall allocation made sense.

Consolidation isn't always the answer, but clarity is. We mapped out what they owned, identified the redundancies, and built a structure that was easier to manage and better aligned with their goals.

If you're juggling accounts and don't have a clear picture of what you actually own, let's talk.

Visit financialconsulate.com.

07/06/2026

As financial advisors, we get a lot of questions, but you don’t always get the full, unvarnished truth from the industry.

In this video, our team pulls back the curtain on the top 11 questions clients ask and reveals what many advisors are hesitant to say out loud.

Get the clarity you deserve so you can make decisions based on facts, not sales pitches.

Watch the full video here:

Should you pay off debt or invest first? Roth IRA or traditional? H...