Reading through the various blog posts and industry articles that come across my desk every week, I came upon several articles dealing with homeowners insurance. With all of the recent rains and possible flooding in our area, many of you could, or should, be concerned with the question that also happens to be the title of one of the articles I read: Is Your Home Adequately Insured by the Right Company? While SGL does not deal with property and […]

  A Mistake Here Could Upend Your Retirement Dreams I think you would agree that life doesn’t always work out as we plan. When the unplanned comes our way, we set out to fix whatever it is—to make things right. Sometimes we can get back on track quickly, but other times it may take months or even years. A storm on your vacation, for example, may sideline your touring for a few hours but, after it passes, you are back […]

  I have an important question for you: Are you procrastinating on creating or finalizing your retirement plan? Life is certainly busy and throws a lot your way. We rush to and from work. There’s always something to clean up or fix around the house. Errands are constantly pulling at us. And, don’t forget about those bills to pay! So when should you carve out the time to get your retirement plan in place? Is there really any harm in […]

  If you have read my blog posts in the past, you will undoubtedly know that I am a total nut about the game of golf. In fact, I even made a living at it for a brief part of my life after college. As a competitive golfer, I was perpetually looking for opportunities to improve my game. This is where golf club fitting came in. Without a properly fit set of clubs, a golfer’s swing and mechanical changes may […]

  Getting out of a timeshare is nearly impossible, and there is a new scammer hitting the airwaves with various “solutions” to get out of your timeshare—guaranteed (well maybe not­­). I just returned from my annual golf vacation with my wife, sister-in-law, and brother in-law. For the past several years we have taken advantage of their timeshare ownership and it has been wonderful. Upon my return, I came across several articles warning about timeshare ownership and the relatively new wave […]

  As we continue delving deeper and deeper into the financial picture of retirees and pre-retirees, the psychology behind how people think about retirement is really interesting.  A mentor of mine once told me that we should “retire” the word retirement as it doesn’t mean much anymore with the changing landscape of work, family, and the economy. In fact, there have been several studies that suggest the majority of individuals working today will probably continue working into retirement. “What’s My […]

  I was looking through my e-mails and blog posts this week, and came across an article that piqued my interest. I have to confess that, every month my cable bill shows up, I have a mini meltdown. I was looking over the bill one night when my wife looked at me and said, “What are you looking at? You look like someone you know just died!” In a manner of speaking, she was right, another part of my paycheck […]

  The population in Illinois is growing, but in the wrong direction. It is growing smaller! Late last year, the Census confirmed that the number of people living here declined for the fifth consecutive year, enough to drop the state from fifth-largest — a position it had held for decades — to sixth, behind Pennsylvania. Over the past few decades, about 65,000 more people voluntarily left the state each year than arrived. This was neither shocking, nor worrisome. Then came 2014. That year, with […]

  The biggest and most significant component of a strong retirement plan is that its a guide to help you make informed decisions on the things that are most important to you in your Golden Years. Needless to say, there are a number of important decisions that most people must make when reaching their 60’s. One, of course, is when to begin receiving Social Security benefits. There are a number of tools that help us determine the possible scenarios here. […]