Retirement & College Savings. You’re cruising along at 35,000 feet when the cabin suddenly losses pressure. Yellow oxygen masks deploy from the ceiling, begging to be used. You start reaching for the lifeline but your child sitting next to you screams for help. What’s your next move? If you follow the preflight safety instructions, you put on your own mask before assisting others, no questions asked. After all, it’s difficult to help others if you don’t help yourself first. This seems straightforward when we’re flying through the sky, but a recent report from T. Rowe Price reveals that it becomes cloudy when we’re on the ground, handling money, as an alarming number of parents are putting their own retirements at risk in order to fund their children’s college expenses. Nine out of 10 parents believe their children will attend college, and since college typically arrives before retirement, the majority of parents feel like they should put money toward that first and save for retirement after. In fact, 49% of parents are willing to delay their own retirements to pay for their children’s education, while 74% feel guilty they won’t be able to provide more financial assistance. Overall, 63% are concerned about their children having enough financial resources to attend...

Insurance & Annuities. Annuities are financial tools that can be used for receiving potential guaranteed income in retirement. Various types of annuities let you choose which benefits matter most and how often you are paid. All are tax-friendly, meaning you don't pay taxes on them until you receive your annuity or income payments, which are usually when you're in retirement and could be taxed at a lower rate. Allstate offers a variety of solutions from leading financial service providers, so you have many options when deciding what type of annuity is right for you. How Annuities Work: Learning more about annuities can help you understand what options are available to you. An Allstate personal financial representative can answers questions you have about the following features:Lasting income: An annuity is a contract between you and an insurance company. They invest your money and provide a regular source of income that you can receive a paycheck for life, depending on the contract selections you make. Tax advantages: Your earnings are not taxed until withdrawn. This means that when you typically start receiving your annuity or income payments, they could be taxed at a lower rate, making annuities an attractive savings option...

Cash & Credit. In my investment advisory programs, you generally pay an asset based fee, charged quarterly in advance, based on the total value of the assets in your account at the end of the previous quarter. Unless otherwise noted, the asset-based fee generally covers investment consulting and certain brokerage services provided by FinAdvision, as well as the external or internal investment management fees. However, the asset-based fee does not cover expenses paid within any exchange-traded funds or mutual funds you may own. You may select from our comprehensive suite of managed account programs, which are designed for various levels of investment experience and sophistication, with asset minimums that start as low as $5,000. Depending upon the program, your investment advisory account may include stocks, bonds, money market funds, mutual funds, exchange-traded funds and cash. You can establish investment advisory relationships for your retirement or trust accounts in addition to your personal investment accounts. If you select one of our Non-Discretionary advisory programs, your Financial Advisor will provide investment advice, but you will retain decision-making authority over your account...

Stocks, Bonds & Mutual Funds. Fresh off Wall Street's worst week in four years – one that saw the Dow Jones industrial average lose 10 percent of its value and the Standard & Poor's 500 index slip below the magical 2,000 barrier – I have two words of advice for gun-shy investors. Don't panic. "We're starting to get some calls, as should be expected," says Erik Jensen, president and founder of Jensen Wealth Advisors in Palm Desert, California, and a registered principal with LPL Financial. "We empathize with them; nobody likes seeing drops like last week. However, we recommend they keep a long-term perspective, understanding that corrections are the norm, not a calamity." Sure, last week may have felt like a calamity if you were watching your portfolio shrink by the hour. But there were tell-tale signs – after riding an extraordinary bullish market since 2009, Wall Street had been essentially trading sideways until this month. Then the market's softening became a full-blown meltdown Thursday and Friday. Wall Street's darling stocks – the tech sector – were among the hardest hit. Netflix (ticker: NFLX) lost nearly 16 percent; Apple (AAPL) and Facebook (FB) were both down nearly 9 percent and Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) fell 7.7 percent...