Financial planning blog

Timely and free financial planning advice

“Keep your hands firmly on the data,” says Dr. Tom Howard, our chief equity investment manager. Well, the data keeps pouring in. Here is some research based on a survey released from the CFP® Board: CFP® professionals act as partners, navigators, and counselors to the consumers who work with them. Their customers describe them as...

October 5, 2018

Keep in Mind These Lessons from the 2008 Financial Crisis

October 3rd was World Financial Planning Day, and we’ve recently marked the 10th anniversary of the financial crisis. As we reflect on the past ten years, now is the perfect time to re-evaluate your financial strategy and make sure you’re avoiding the personal finance mistakes made a decade ago Follow this check-list of best practices,...

Key factors driving real-life financial and investment success

September 25, 2018

What’s the Biggest Determinant of Financial Success?

Timeless insight from September, 2018. I read an article in the Wall Street Journal that reminded me of our speaker and researcher, Dr. Howard. “A Better Way to Think about Portfolio Rebalancing,” by Meir Statman, describes it well. Mr. Statman says “risk isn’t about volatility; it’s about not satisfying wants.” What could be more risky,...

Young man reflecting on financial advice services

September 11, 2018

FIRE: Financial Independence, Retire Early

Some young Americans are working toward FIRE, or Financial Independence, Retire Early. Go figure. Actually, retiring early requires a lot of figuring out!

August 31, 2018

It’s Not What You Have

“We self regulate to the level of our beliefs not to the level of our potential.” Dr. Rick Perea Last week, Stacey and I had two dramatically different and wonderful experiences with two people whose advice directly fits into your financial planning situation (I hope). My hope is that in the next 3.5 minutes you...

Wealth advisor guiding women's charitable planning.

May 26, 2013

What Are the Tax Benefits of Charitable Trusts?

Americans give freely to support the causes they value, from churches, education, and the arts to medical research. Fortunately, current tax laws encourage and even reward philanthropy.