Jacob Bauchmann, CFA, CFP

06/25/2026

Which is the final word: your beneficiary designations or your will?

Your beneficiary designations. In almost every circumstance, it’s beneficiary designations.

It's one of the most overlooked facts in estate strategies. The beneficiary forms on file for your retirement accounts, insurance policies, and other accounts are legally binding—and they almost always override whatever your will says.

A former spouse still listed on a retirement account can inherit it. Someone written out of your will entirely can still receive an insurance payout. Assets intended for your children may pass to someone else because a form was never updated.

This applies across the board—even to payable-on-death bank accounts. 📋

The good news: a beneficiary review takes minutes. 💙

When did you last review yours?

06/24/2026

Most couples spend years preparing financially for retirement.

Very few have talked about what retirement will actually look like.

Not the number. The life.

👉 Where will you live?

👉 What will your days look like?

👉 What happens if one of you is ready to stop working and the other is not?

A 2025 Fidelity survey found that 48 percent disagree on the age they prepare to retire. And research from Ameriprise found that nearly two-thirds expect to retire at the same time, while only 11 percent actually do.

The gap between what couples assume and what they have actually discussed is where retirement quietly breaks down.

The good news is that most couples are not as far apart as they fear. They just have not had the conversation yet.

👉 If retirement is somewhere on your horizon, the most valuable thing you can do right now is not check your portfolio.

It is to sit down with your partner and start asking the questions you have both been putting off.

06/22/2026

Cyber attacks are a growing online threat, but the good news is that you can insure your business!

90% of small businesses in the U.S. don't protect their data from cyber attacks. Is your business at risk?

06/21/2026

There's a version of your father you didn't know. The one who existed before you came along. Before the responsibility. Before the sacrifices, you may not have fully understood until you were older.

Most of us only piece that together with time.

What fathers leave behind isn't just memories. It's a way of moving through the world.

A standard.

A sense of what it looks like to take care of the people who depend on you.

That's worth honoring. 👔

Happy Father's Day weekend to every father and father figure out there.

06/19/2026

Required minimum distributions can catch retirees off guard. Use this calculator to estimate your RMD and think through how it fits into your overall picture.

Calculate your required minimum distribution amount based on your account balance and age.

06/19/2026

That's Abraham Lincoln's signature.

It appears on the Emancipation Proclamation, signed January 1, 1863.

Yet, it would be two and a half more years before enslaved people in Texas learned they were free.

They were kept in the dark on purpose.

On June 19, 1865, Union soldiers arrived in Galveston and delivered the news.

That's what Juneteenth commemorates.

It has been celebrated by Black Americans for more than 150 years and became a federal holiday in 2021. It's a day worth understanding, not just observing.

Wishing everyone a meaningful Juneteenth. 🤍

06/17/2026

Most people assume that a spouse's unused estate tax exemption passes to the surviving spouse automatically.

It doesn't.

Claiming it REQUIRES A FILING WITH THE IRS within 9 months of a spouse's death.

The IRS doesn't send a reminder. The deadline just passes.

A six-month extension is available, bringing the total window to 15 months. But the clock starts the day your spouse dies, not the day you think to ask about it.

This is exactly the kind of detail that gets lost in the fog of grief and estate administration.

It's also exactly the kind of thing we watch for on behalf of the families we work with. We also help families by working with their tax, legal, and accounting professionals to make certain that paperwork is completed in a timely manner.

06/15/2026

Are you looking for a balance? Find yours, starting with this video.

06/15/2026

Father's Day is at the end of this week. Before the dinner and the gifts, there's something worth talking about.

Most men will show up for everyone around them without being asked. But when it comes to their own health, the appointments get pushed off longer than they should. 💚

The CDC reports that women are 33 percent more likely than men to visit the doctor and twice as likely to seek preventive care.

If there is a man in your life worth celebrating on Sunday, ask when he last had a checkup.

That conversation might matter more than any gift.

06/12/2026

Surprises crop up every day, and they’re a great reason to work with us.

Making the most of surprises is a great reason to work with us.