Fun Updates from Life Planning Partners and Fidelity Notices

In today’s newsletter, we have fun updates to share from your team at Life Planning Partners and comments on a few notices you may receive from Fidelity over the next month.

To start with the fun updates, Carolyn and Brett recently presented at the FPA NorCal conference. This is one of the top financial planning conferences in the country and was Brett’s first time presenting at a conference. We spoke about our financial planning process, how we serve as financial problem solvers for our clients, and why performance reporting doesn’t provide any value to clients. We are excited to help other advisors learn how REAL financial planning is done. Brett did a fantastic job and the reviews were stellar.

Our other fun update - We started a blog! It is available on our website and Tanner’s first blog post is at the end of this newsletter (see below).

Notices from Fidelity

FCASH Money Market

Fidelity has recently made the decision to switch the core money market to FCASH, which pays a lower interest rate. While we disagree with the decision, we recognize the industry has been trending this way for several years.

We have already purchased a higher yielding money market in each of your investment accounts where the FCASH conversion occurred. As Brett revisits your accounts for quarterly rebalancing, he will make sure to look at the cash in your investment accounts and move any cash to the higher yielding money market.

Fidelity IRA Notice

Fidelity will be mailing out a notice on income estimates for IRA and 401k accounts. These income estimates are a government requirement, are generally not reliable, and do not take into account your overall financial plan. All this information provides is how much the account would generate if you turned the account into an annuity which we most likely won’t want to do and is not in your best interest. Long story short – shred that waste of paper!

If you have any questions on the Fidelity notices, please do not hesitate to reach out. 

Welcome to the Life Planning Partners Blog

One of the greatest pleasures of financial planning is helping clients solve their financial problems. It brings the client peace and gives us enormous job satisfaction. Along the way, we learn a lot!

Many of these lessons are one-off events that are important to share and cannot be captured in a simple newsletter. To spread this wealth of knowledge, we have created a new blog. Each month one of our planners will share their take on a variety of financial planning topics- including investment, estate planning, insurance, tax, cash flow planning, or fun life topics.

Our newly created blog will also serve as an archive for all future LPP communications including our quarterly newsletters, timely market commentary, and LPP webinar recordings (both past and future).

To keep up with our blog, visit https://lifeplanningpartners.com/blog/

If there is a subject you would like for us to address, please send your ideas our way.

To kick things off, Tanner provides some helpful travel tips to keep your adventures safe and worry free (attached below). We hope you enjoy our blog and we look forward to your feedback.

Don’t Just Pack – Prepare

Smart Travel Tips That Can Make a Difference

By Tanner Merritt

We all love a good trip —whether it is crossing off bucket-list adventures or going for a weekend getaway. Personally, packing is my least favorite part. It is so easy to put that off until the last minute, leaving you rushed and potentially forgetting important things like your toothbrush.

To help you plan, we've put together some tips to prepare you for your next journey.

1. Take Photos of Important Documents

Before you finish packing, take a minute to snap clear photos of your passport, driver’s license, and both sides of any credit cards you are taking with you. Save them in a secure, password-protected folder, cloud storage site, or to your eMoney portal so we can help if they are lost or stolen. If something goes missing, having digital copies can ease the pain of getting replacements.

2. Let Your Bank Know You Are Traveling

Let your bank and credit card companies know ahead of time that you are traveling. This simple step can help prevent your cards from being frozen for “suspicious activity” when you are just trying to buy a coffee in Paris. You can set a travel alert in just a few minutes through your bank’s app or website.

Before traveling internationally, you should consider ordering foreign currency with your local bank instead of at the airport. A study by Bankrate.com determined that travelers who ordered foreign currency through a bank can save up to 15% on the exchange rate and avoid additional hidden fees from the airport exchange kiosk. 

If you need more cash on the road, using your debit card at a bank ATM will incur lower fees than other avenues such as using your credit card to obtain cash.

3. Use a Travel-Focused Credit Card

If you travel often, using a travel-friendly credit card can really pay off. Look for a card with no foreign transaction fees and travel rewards such as free miles, first-class upgrades, free checked bags, trip cancellation coverage, or rental car insurance.

Look at the latest travel credit card offers and remember to check what perks your current cards already offer. Weigh any annual fees against the actual value of the benefits. Many travel cards also include benefits for services you might already be paying for separately—like TSA PreCheck/Global Entry or discounted companion passes for family and friends traveling with you.

4. Always Bring a Backup Payment Option

Even if you are planning to use one card, bring one or two backups —ideally from different banks. That way if one card gets lost or flagged for fraud, you’re not stuck.

Many places abroad don’t accept American Express because of higher vendor fees. If that is your go-to card, make sure you have cash or a backup card that is more widely accepted.

5. Get Travel Insurance

Purchasing travel insurance is a must for international or longer trips, but may not be needed for domestic trips. There are two main functions of travel insurance – medical coverage and trip coverage.

A recent (2024) NerdWallet.com article notes that full trip insurance averages about 7% of total trip cost. Prices vary based on destination, trip length, and coverage level.

Medical coverage is usually cheap, and is important to have because medical evacuation can cost about $100,000 from Europe or $250,000+ from remote areas.

Trip coverage, which includes things like cancellations, delays, and lost baggage, tends to be the most expensive part of travel insurance. If you can afford a cancellation loss, you can lower the policy cost by reducing the trip cost input when getting a quote.

For example, based on a quote from Travelex, a $10,000 France trip costs $729 to fully insure, but only $38 if you insure just $100 of the trip cost and the same medical coverage. That is a huge difference!

Buying directly from insurers like Travelex or Allianz is often cheaper than going through airlines, and you can customize coverage. Travel agents may also find lower rates. If you travel often, an annual plan could save you money.

6. Don’t Let Pickpockets Ruin Your Trip

Even if you are a seasoned traveler, keep your guard up. Pickpockets love confident tourists who aren’t paying attention. Keep your wallet and phone zipped up and close to your body in crowded places.

If you are heading out for the day, consider leaving your passport and a backup credit card locked away in the hotel safe. Avoid using backpacks and consider an over shoulder cross body bag or a fanny pack.

Following these tips can make your trip more enjoyable and give you peace of mind on your journey. Let us know the dates of your adventure and we can be ready to assist you should something happen on your journey. Lastly, remember to share photos with your team at LPP! We love seeing your travel experiences and the moments that bring you joy.