Most owners spend decades building a business and a few months selling it. The taxes on selling a business are often the single largest cost of the deal, and nearly every lever that reduces them has to be pulled before you sign a letter of intent. After that point the structure is set, the price is allocated, and your options narrow to filing the return.
The Northern Arizona Healthcare benefits guide is thorough about what exists: a 401(k) that matches dollar for dollar up to 5% of pay, a 457(b) for eligible employees, a health savings account NAH helps fund. What it cannot do is tell you what to choose. How much to defer, and pre-tax or Roth? Is the 457(b) worth using if you are eligible? Spend the HSA on this year's bills, or let it build? The guide describes the accounts. The decisions are yours.
Some of the most important financial decisions we make have very little to do with math. On March 26, 2026, we gathered with clients and friends of the firm at the Moonshot Accelerator in Flagstaff for our Wealth & Wellness lunch event, an afternoon devoted to the why behind our money decisions. Our guest presenter, Emily Krushefski, CEO and Co-Founder of Emotional Innovations, shared research-based insights on how emotional patterns influence saving, spending, and long-term choices.
If you are 65 or older, a new federal deduction worth up to $6,000 per person, or up to $12,000 for a qualifying married couple, is available right now and is scheduled to expire after 2028. It can lower the tax you owe on your income overall, including the taxable portion of your Social Security. It also phases out as income rises, which means ordinary retirement decisions, an IRA withdrawal, a Roth conversion, the sale of a stock, can quietly change how much of it you keep.
If you are an NAU employee within a few years of retirement, you have probably started asking questions that did not feel urgent on your first day. Back then, somewhere in the onboarding paperwork, was a retirement plan election form. You had 30 days to choose between ASRS and the ORP. Most people filled it out quickly, or missed the window and defaulted into ASRS, and moved on...
A highly concentrated stock position often represents success. It may come from building a business, working at the right company, or holding a long‑term winner. Over time, however, that success can quietly introduce a new form of risk: having too much of your financial future tied to a single company.
For married couples, the Social Security claiming decision is not two separate choices. It is one coordinated strategy that affects household income for both spouses, including the one who outlives the other. The core question is not simply when to turn it on. It is how to sequence both claims to protect income today and create the strongest possible foundation for whichever spouse lives longer. This article explains how spousal and survivor benefits work, why delaying the larger benefit often makes sense, and how taxes fit into the picture.
Click Here to Read the Kiplinger Article Travis Babb, CFP® and Enrolled Agent at Babb Financial Group, contributed an article to Kiplinger covering nine [...]
Click Here to Read the Kiplinger Article We are pleased to share an article written by Travis Babb, CFP®, EA for Kiplinger, a publication [...]
The markets gave us plenty to talk about in 2025. Between shifting sentiment, quick swings, and a constant rotation of dramatic headlines—gold reaching record highs, shifting trade policies, Argentina’s currency [...]
