Financial planning blog

Timely and free financial planning advice

May 30, 2023

Asset Allocation and Investment Portfolio Management

We carefully build a portfolio of investments with the combined experience and education of our in-house investment committee plus two different research teams: Athena Invest and iMGP, (formerly known as Litman Gregory). The academic research shows: More than 90% of the variability of an investment portfolio is due to asset allocation. The average return for...

Podcast on real estate investment advice

May 30, 2023

Episode 79: Facilitating Important Family Conversations (Part 1)

Facilitating Important Family Conversations (Part 1) Karl Frank, CFP, Jeff Krommendyk and Nathan Merrill interview Shawn Barberis, JD, who is an expert on facilitating important family conversations about legacy. As Shawn says, legacy is often discussed but rarely acted upon. Shawn shares:How legacy is not quantitative, it is not measured in dollars. A legacy is...

May 23, 2023

Uncle James’ Legacy is More Than Money

Uncle James passed away a few years after becoming our client. With James, and all of our clients, we follow a slow, get-to-know-you process: Our discovery process Financial planning Asset allocation and portfolio maintenance Because we take it slow, we get to know our clients at a meaningful level. We talk with our clients as...

May 16, 2023

Die with Zero: A Conversation with the Expert Network Team

Recently, our expert network team discussed a best-selling book, Die with Zero, by Bill Perkins. This is the first in a series of podcasts about leaving a legacy. I hope you enjoy listening to them! You can catch us anywhere you listen to podcasts: Apple, Spotify, YouTube, and more. Bill Perkins book argues that we...

May 9, 2023

Springtime Gratitude

Spring has sprung here in Colorado. As the weather gets a bit nicer and the plants start blooming again, we are heading into some special times. Graduation season is upon us! We have several graduates in our staff’s family this year, and we have some in our clients’ families as well. We are so proud...

May 2, 2023

Alternative Investments: An Introduction

Last year, our best performing investments were neither equities (stocks) nor bonds. They were alternative investments, including managed futures. We believe the right way to invest is to diversify by strategy. This strategy zigs when equities zag, and last year did quite well. Click here to learn more about our alternative investments and hedging strategies....

AI-driven insights for winter stock market investments

April 24, 2023

A Winter Ascent and Our Investments

The photo in today’s Periscope shows two tents on the side of Mt. Whitney. In the yellow tent, I am sitting. In the red tent, sits a friend of mine. We had just climbed to the summit and back again safely. It was April, 2023. We enjoyed sunny skies overhead and a lot of snow...

April 18, 2023

First Quarter 2023 Investment Updates

Equities, by and large, had a good start to 2023. So did bonds. As we talked about recently, things may be better than they appear. However, our investment research teams remain short-term cautious. We are as conservative, in the vast majority of our portfolios, as we have been since the great financial crisis of 2008....

April 11, 2023

Things are Better Than They Appear

If you have not already read this month’s letter regarding the incredible growth of dividends over our investment lifetime, please click this link. And if you are not yet subscribed to the email Periscope, please do so so that you can see the link! Dividends: The Tortoise Breaks into a Trot Last year’s S&P 500...