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The importance of being early:
The plot of the Oscar Wilde comedic play “The Importance of being Earnest” revolves around the romantic advantages that accrue to a...

Alexandra Baig, CFP®
Mar 29, 20224 min read


529, ABLE or both for your child with a disability?
When my sons are not playing video games, they like things with wheels. Last summer, we got them larger mountain-type bicycles. They...

Alexandra Baig, CFP®
Mar 23, 20226 min read


Supported decision-making is now a legal process in Illinois. Just what is it?
The word “guardian” in the popular lexicon has both positive and negative connotations. The “Guardians of the Galaxy,” in the Marvel...

Alexandra Baig, CFP®
Mar 16, 20224 min read


Your heart should react. Your financial plan should not.
Horrifying pictures of dead children on hospital stretchers, covered with blood-soaked sheets. Disturbing photos of burnt-out...

Alexandra Baig, CFP®
Mar 7, 20225 min read


Make the transition years count for your student with a disability
As a financial and benefits planner for people with disabilities and their families, I am excited when clients first come to work with...

Alexandra Baig, CFP®
Jan 20, 20225 min read


How you save for retirement now affects your future financial and tax health
My late grandmother once said: “They didn’t have cholesterol when I was a girl!” in response to some family member trying to discourage...

Alexandra Baig, CFP®
Dec 5, 20215 min read


It takes a team to make your financial plan successful
Before I worked as a financial planner, I was the executive director of L’Arche Chicago, the small local chapter of an international...

Alexandra Baig, CFP®
Nov 4, 20214 min read


It is easiest to apply for Social Security and Medicaid immediately at age 18
Every time I use a certain gas station near my children’s school, I am prompted to scan my rewards card. Since I don’t have one, I am...

Alexandra Baig, CFP®
Oct 28, 20216 min read


Your pension might reduce the Social Security benefits that your adult child receives
My own children as well as some of the students that I teach are getting excited for Halloween. Besides free candy, the attraction of...

Alexandra Baig, CFP®
Oct 1, 20214 min read


A good DSP (Direct Support Professional) is a valuable find
September 12-18, 2021 is Direct Support Professionals’ (DSPs’) week. If you are a person with a disability, who needs support or are the...

Alexandra Baig, CFP®
Sep 17, 20215 min read


The challenge of counting earned, unearned and in-kind income for Social Security purposes
Although I probably found him a bit frightening as a toddler, one of my favorite Sesame Street characters, in reminiscence, is Count von...

Alexandra Baig, CFP®
Aug 25, 20215 min read


Medicaid Waivers: A (Partial) Backstory
I am a big fan of Star Trek and have watched every series from the reruns of the original series that fueled my childhood imagination to...

Alexandra Baig, CFP®
Aug 16, 20215 min read


Some long and winding roads...to Medicaid eligibility
The “Rerouting” function on my GPS is alternatively really helpful and impossible. Sometimes, when I miss a turn or misinterpret a step,...

Alexandra Baig, CFP®
Aug 5, 20215 min read


Several roads lead to Medicaid eligibility
When they bike, my kids conflate “shortcut” with “alternate route”. I have given up explaining that if you start at the same place, end...

Alexandra Baig, CFP®
Jul 29, 20214 min read


Entrepreneurship can be a necessity for people with disabilities
This article just showed up in my Facebook feed. While I do not know this family’s backstory, I strongly suspect that the father’s...

Alexandra Baig, CFP®
Jul 22, 20214 min read


For workers with disabilities, saving for retirement can feel like trying to solve a Rubik's cube...
My younger son likes to play with his Rubik’s Cube. Yes, I mean that same multi-colored cubic puzzle that debuted in the seventies. So...

Alexandra Baig, CFP®
Jun 24, 20216 min read


How does a la carte Traditional Medicare compare to Medicare Advantage, the combo meal?
The question “Do you want fries with that?” has become a shorthand phrase, synonymous with the fast-food industry. So much so that it is...

Alexandra Baig, CFP®
May 21, 20215 min read


It's not about special needs, but rather specialized knowledge
One of our four chickens is a rescue hen named Henrietta. She lived the first year or so of her life on an egg farm. It is not uncommon...

Alexandra Baig, CFP®
May 13, 20215 min read


What, exactly, is the work I do with clients?
“Could you clarify what it is, exactly, that you do?” Several prospective clients have asked me that recently. It is a welcome question,...

Alexandra Baig, CFP®
May 6, 20215 min read


PASS can help people with disabilities invest in themselves
Warren Buffet, the professional and very successful investor and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, has eight pieces of advice for novice...

Alexandra Baig, CFP®
Apr 23, 20215 min read
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