‘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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

How does a balloon rise? Hot air. How does a balloon fall? Cooler air. But how does one steer a hot air balloon? The short answer is wind, but like most things, it’s not as simple as that. After all, wind will certainly cause a balloon to move but does the pilot have any control over where the balloon ends …