For Individuals: Exploring

Education Planning

Collegeboard (1), Collegeboard (2), The College Board is a not-for-profit membership association whose mission is to connect students to college success and opportunity. Everything from finding the right school, getting in and paying for it.

FinAid, The SmartStudent™, Guide to Financial Aid, Scholarship search, FAFSA Application, Loans, Expected Family Contribution (EFC) calculator, and more.

Trust Funds For Kids, This blog documents setting up a trust fund, selecting investments, measuring performance, and weighs the impact of taxes and alternative savings solutions for college. 

Internal Revenue Service, Tax Incentives for Higher Education

Internal Revenue Service, Tax Benefits for Education Publication 970

Internal Revenue Service, Tax Rules for Children and Dependents

Back to top

Estate Planning

Internal Revenue Service, Estate and Gift Tax information and publications

National Association of Estate Planners Council, Find an Estate Planner, helpful articles and events

Leave a Legacy®, A public awareness campaign designed to inspire people to make a charitable bequest. 

 Wealthy Might have to Kiss their GRATs goodbye, Legislation would make the tax-saving trusts much less favorable 

Check Those Beneficiary Forms, Not doing so in a newly converted Roth IRA could be a costly mistake for clients

States Compete for Trust Business, For those looking to set upa trust, the best oprions may be far from home    

Back to top

Insurance Planning

National Association of Insurance Commissioners, Free Consumer Guides for Auto, Homeowners, Health and Life Insurance, Medicare Supplement, Long-Term Care insurance and Annuities

National Association of Insurance Commissioners, Home-Based Businesses

National Association of Insurance Commissioners, Group Health and Disability

National Association of Insurance Commissioners, Insure U—Get Smart About Insurance

InsureMASS, Essential information about major types of coverage such as automobile, health, life and homeowner's insurance

InsureMASS, Essential information about major types of coverage such as automobile, health, life and homeowner's insurance

InsureMASS, Insurance Agent Finder for Auto, Health, Homeowners & Life

Healthcare

Massachusetts Health Connector, Shop, compare and enroll

ehealthinsurance.com, A for profit site to enable shopping and comparing health insurance for individuals and small businesses. This site requires registering your email address.

US Department of Labor, Employee Benefits Security Administration,
Consumer Information on Health Plans

Internal Revenue Service, Health Savings Accounts, IRS PDF Publication 969

Internal Revenue Service, Medical and Dental Expenses, IRS PDF Publication 502

Back to top

Investing

Make sure to learn about our investing philosophy, articles on how to manage your credit and savings and enjoy the articles in the learning section of the resource center for individuals.

Shopping for a Union Credit Card to help users find local institutions with the financial services they require ...

 

US Inflation Calculator, Current Inflation Rate Calculator (2000—2009)

Bankrate.com's Safe & Sound service is a proprietary system designed to provide ratings information on the relative financial strength and stability of U.S. commercial banks, savings institutions and credit unions.,

Bloomberg, Bloomberg World Indexes

iMoneyNet, Retail Money Fund Rates

United States Treasury, Learn about Treasury Bills, Notes, Bonds, and TIPS. Learn how to purchase Treasury securities. Get in depth information on EE/E Savings Bonds. Get in depth information on I Savings Bonds. Find information about buying savings bonds as gifts. Find out whether your Treasury securities are still earning interest. Check Treasury Hunt to see if you own matured savings bonds.

Yahoo Finance Exchange Traded Funds Center, After reviewing a number of well respected sites for the most useful information and tools for researching ETFs this site wins handsdown.  It explains the category benchmark and provided important information such as all the important statistics needed to understand how a particular ETF would impact a portfolio.  Drill down to the specific ETF level after using the screener and read the profile, performance and risk information. 

Other People's Money, A guide to getting started in buying and selling foreign currencies - either on your own or with the help of a professional    

Back to top

Retirement Planning

US Department of Labor, Employee Benefits Security Administration, Consumer Information on Retirement Plans

Internal Revenue Service, Retirement Plan tax information for plan participants/employees

Back to top

Tax Planning

Internal Revenue Service, Life events such as marriage, divorce, job loss, disability, new baby, moving etc… all have tax implications. This page at irs.gov helps you find the information you need.

Internal Revenue Service, Retirement Plan tax information for plan participants/employees

Massachusetts Society of Certified Public Accountants, How to Choose a CPA and a directory of CPA’s in Massachusetts

Fairmark, Tax Guide For Investors

Convert Existing IRAs into Multiple Roths, Strategy could be a tax saver if investor wants to switch back to traditional IRA in the future  

How the New Wealth Taxes Will Hit You

Back to top