How High(er) Interest Rates Affect Financial Planning
Interest rates play a pivotal role in our economic landscape, making them an aspect of financial planning we pay close attention to. Not only do interest rates affect the ups and downs of investment portfolios, they shape our day-to-day financial activities like saving cash, borrowing money, and paying off debt. As a result, it’s crucial […]
Why Aren’t My Investments Growing?
Why Haven’t My Investments Grown as Promised? Over the past year, you may have been asking yourself why your investments haven’t been growing. How come, even with all the money we’ve put into our 401k or brokerage accounts, the value still feels stagnant? How come we’re not reaping the benefits of compounding growth? Your questions […]
How to Tell If You’re Saving Enough for Your Future Self
How much to save for the future is often the main reason clients come to us seeking help with financial planning. And it seems to be on everyone’s mind. When I talk with friends and family about finances, long-term savings is usually the topic du jour (though me being a financial planner no doubt encourages […]
The Truths About Passive Income
Brandon and I were recently talking about how we grew up playing Monopoly. We were remembering how great it felt to collect $200 every time we passed Go. Or how it felt to have a competitor land on one of your properties that had a lot of hotels on it. You got to collect a […]
Investing Doesn’t Need to be Fancy
Investing for your future doesn’t have to be complicated or intimidating. In fact, as we often say, the best investment plan is simple and boring. Most people at the start of their financial planning journey begin by tackling the big, overarching question of what to do with their money. When we work with clients on […]
What is SIPC Insurance?
Financial security and resilience are essential parts of a healthy financial plan. One critical aspect of achieving this security is understanding the different types of insurance available to protect your financial assets. In light of these recent bank failures, you’ve likely seen us talking about Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) insurance, the US government-backed insurance […]
Reminder: Investing Should Be Boring
I don’t know about you, but with the news of bank failures in the past few weeks I’m ready for ‘boring’ again. And this reminds me of a truth about your investment plan: it should put you to sleep! As we’ve written about in the past, the best investment plan is diversified and designed around […]
The Benefits of Diversification in Your Life and Investment Portfolio
I’ve been contemplating recently how we humans seem to have a tendency to define ourselves by one or a few things, be it our work, our family, our hobbies, or our beliefs. I haven’t dug into the research behind what exactly drives our personal identities, but I’ve certainly felt this on a personal level. The […]
‘Lives Under Care’ Instead of ‘Assets Under Management’
We were recently inspired to make a small tweak to one of our business metrics after reading an article on Rethinking65 by columnist James Brewer. In the article, Brewer proposes that financial planning professionals should drop the term “Assets Under Management” (AUM) and replace it with “Lives Under Care” (LUC) to better reflect the work […]
What does a recession actually mean for me?
As if the last three years of a pandemic, lockdowns, and political turmoil weren’t enough, now we’re consumed by rising inflation and threats of a recession. It’s a lot to digest, to say the least. I want to help break it down so you understand what these events mean for you. First, let’s define what […]