Briefcase Study: The Aspect of Debt You May Not Have Considered
If you’re like many of our fellow Americans, you’re considering what rising inflation, a declining stock (and bond) market, and higher interest rates mean to you and your financial choices. And while there are a lot of varied consequences to this new ‘normal’, I think we can agree that one big change is that it’s immediately more painful to borrow …
Six Ways To Improve Physical and Financial Health in the New Year
With a new year underway, this signals a time when we tend to become more excited about taking inventory of our lives. If we’re really on our game, that excitement turns into an effort to resolve to be better, in any number of ways. Whether diet, exercise, career, finances, or relationships, New Years resolutions serve an important function in our …
The Antidote To A Stressful Retirement
‘Into the great unknown’ is a wonderful phrase to setup a big screen sci-fi thriller, or a dramatic novel, but seeing your retirement through this lens can cause many people to shudder a bit, and for good reason. After investing three or four decades into a career and amassing savings to support yourself through a non-paid retirement of similar length …
Busy, Busy, Busy
401(k), 403(b), 457, Roth IRA, Traditional IRA, Deferred Comp, SEP IRA, Simple IRA, HSA, Fixed Annuity, Fixed Indexed Annuity, Variable Annuity, Deferred Income Annuity, Mutual Fund, Exchange Traded Fund, Index Fund, Stock, Bond, Option, CD, Term Life, Whole Life, Universal Life, Variable Universal Life, and on and on. All you need to do is put just the right amount of …
The Aspect of Debt You May Not Have Considered
It’s been fairly well established that two keys to financial success are to avoid consumer debt and save as much as you can in retirement plans. While this sounds like great advice, I wanted to dig deeper and discover why that may actually be the case. Why are these two steps so important, and how related are they to one …
Can You Build a Retirement Income Plan With Both Risk and Reliability?
Two strategies for making retirement savings last — probability-based income planning and guaranteed income planning — can help ensure you have what you need in your golden years, but which is right for you? Two very different strategies can help retirees’ retirement savings last their lifetime, and the one that works for you, or even a hybrid plan, may depend …
Decision Making a Four Year-Old Would Approve Of
I fear that we’re all victims. All too often, we’re victim to forces that surround us that are pushing us to act in ways that appear to be rational but lack something critical: a clear purpose. In the busy-ness of daily life, we act on instinct and sometimes in haste. I do it and I suspect you do too. It’s …
To Dance with Debt
The Joker, in Tim Burton’s Batman movie loved asking, “Have you ever danced with the devil in the pale moonlight?” What does that mean and why did he say it? “I ask that of all my prey. I just like the sound of it.” Alright, I’ll admit that’s a really cool response. But today I ask you, have you ever …
Insurance Isn’t For The ‘Average’
There’s so much discussion of insurance these days, with politicians on both sides engaged in battle over what’s best for the ‘average American.’ Of course, the result of this debate is often gridlock, the result of competing worldviews. Most people can agree, however, that the system we’re in has significant flaws, with no easy answers to fix them. What’s fascinating …
Inheritance: Is Education The Modern-Era Farm?
As the cost of college rises, and careers become more high-tech, there’s a growing sense among many families with young children that the very thing their kids will need – college – is the very thing that’s becoming unattainable. There are horror stories about the debt loads that college graduates are carrying as they take their first steps into adult …
