Wealth Management

Our Trust Officers have spent considerable time the past few months learning about upcoming changes to the Iowa law regarding Guardianships and Conservatorships for adults and minors. As Corporate Fiduciaries, it is our responsibility to understand and follow changing laws and regulations when it comes to the administration of our accounts. This is one of the key differentiators between naming an individual, such as a family member, and a Corporate Fiduciary, in your legal documents. For those of

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Tags: IOWA CONSERVATORS

First Citizens Wealth Management is pleased to announce that Associate Investment Officer, Brad Dummett, successfully passed the Level I Chartered Financial Analyst (“CFA”) examination and is currently a Level II CFA candidate. The CFA designation is globally recognized and attests to a charterholder’s success in a rigorous and comprehensive study program in the field of investment management and research analysis. Brad has been with First Citizens for six years.   As part

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Tags: First Citizens Wealth Management

  Weekly Market Summaries is a feature in the Resources section under Wealth Management on our website. The summaries contain information on the Dow, S&P 500, NASDAQ, Russell 2000, Global Dow, Federal Funds interest rate, and 10-year Treasury yields as well as highlights of past and future economic data. Want to know what the market summaries are for this week? If so, click here. Products provided by First Citizens Wealth Management are not insured by the FDIC, are not deposits of

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First Citizens Wealth Management is pleased to announce that Trust Operations Specialists’ Amanda Berding, Teresa Shaw, Steve Rowlet and Cheryl Rottinghaus have completed the requirements to attain the Accredited Trust Operations Professional Designation awarded through Accutech University, a division of Accutech Systems Corporation, in cooperation with the Fiduciary Education Center. The coursework includes fiduciary law and administration; income and estate tax; operations functions; compliance

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Do you have all your ducks in a row with your estate plan? If you answer yes, let me ask you when the last time you reviewed it was? Are you clear on what happens when you die? Yes, I said it…when you die. There are few guarantees in life but one that I can guarantee you is that you will, in fact, die. Having practiced probate law myself, I have seen the negative impact of failing to accept that fact until it is too late. The widow sorting through stacks of documents trying to locate everything

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Tags: ESTATE PLANNING CONSULTATION

Many investors may be inclined to review their portfolios only when markets hit a rough patch, but careful planning is essential in all economic climates. So whether the markets are up or down, periodically reviewing your portfolio with your financial professional can be an excellent way to keep your investments on track, and midway through the year is a good time for a checkup. Here are three questions to consider. 1. How have my investments performed so far this year? Review a summary of your

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Tags: PORTFOLIO REVIEW

In the last Wealth Management blog post entitled "What Am I Really Paying for My Investments", we discussed various types of fees and expenses associated with investments. At the end of the day, building a solid investment strategy requires understanding not only the cost to do so but also your unique risk and reward preferences. Our team has been incorporating a cutting edge tool to assist demystifying the conversation around risk.   How does it work? Simply click here and you will run through

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Tags: INVESTMENT STRATEGY

This is a question that all clients of financial advisors should know the answer to, but unfortunately, we suspect few people really have a good handle on. At First Citizens Wealth Management, we feel that one of the most important things we can do is be very transparent about the fees and expenses associated with being a client of our organization. Here is a brief overview of the different types of costs a client may pay when working with a financial advisor: Commissions: This was once the

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It's almost impossible to overstate the importance of taking the time to plan your estate. Nevertheless, it's surprising how many American adults haven't done so. You might think that those who are rich and famous would be way ahead of the curve when it comes to planning their estates properly, considering the resources and lawyers presumably available to them. Yet there are plenty of celebrities and people of note who died with inadequate (or nonexistent) estate plans. Most recently The

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Tags: Estate Planning

First Citizens Wealth Management is pleased to announce that Mike Castle and Carol Juhl, formerly of Castle Financial and their client base, have joined the team at First Citizens. Clients of Castle Financial will continue to be served by Mike and Carol with the added resources of our experienced team.   Mike Castle joins First Citizens Bank as a Wealth Advisor in our Mason City office having worked in the financial services industry for over 16 years as a Financial Representative/Advisor

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Tags: First Citizens Wealth Management