You’ve heard that taxes are going to increase and you’re waiting for the hammer to drop. We break down the new tax brackets and regulations that will impact you in the coming year.

If you’d invested your funds in 2012 based on doom and gloom newspaper headlines, you would have missed out on a great opportunity. Think about the lessons of the past before jumping ship on your current wealth management plans.

A few weeks ago I took my family to our annual vacation spot – Las Vegas. It’s a place that defies the law of averages. Normal people stay awake 16 hours a day. In Vegas, it’s 20+ hours a day. At home, one bowl of cereal and a banana completes my breakfast. In Vegas my stomach’s capacity expands to fit five plates at the wall-to-wall buffet.

What I’m about to tell you is unorthodox and unconventional and your first thought might be “This doesn’t apply to me” or “There’s no way I can do that!” But I can assure you from personal experience that acting on even one of these strategies can have a powerful impact on your financial life.

 Rather than attempting to randomly pick successful funds from a massive list, have your group’s financial advisor create model portfolios for you to select from, which display options based on risk profile.  

Bundled payments and services could be costing your group’s retirement plan untold thousands. Here’s how to find the added charges, assess the damage, and break the bundle when necessary.

Does your group’s retirement plan put your interests first? Making sure your plan’s trustee takes the role seriously and hires a fiduciary advisor is the first step to safeguarding your retirement.

Forget your return rate. The most important factor in increasing the size of your portfolio is also the simplest: Save more money.

Many of you invest in taxable (nonretirement) accounts in addition to investing in your 401k or IRAs. For those accounts there are new tax rules this year that you have to follow. These rules pertain to how you report gains and losses. Getting this right can potentially save you thousands of dollars in taxes.

I still don’t understand how emergency physicians can be classified as independent contractors. While you have some say in your shift schedule, you’re bound by rules you can’t control: you’re told how to do your job, how you’re paid, etc. That’s against the IRS definition of an independent contractor.