When I started in 1990 as a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER®, there were few fee-only planners or advisors. Brokers were more prevalent, but I wasn’t interested in selling products I wouldn’t buy myself. I began by...
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The last several years have certainly tested investors. If we’ve learned anything, it’s to expect the unexpected—pandemics, debt defaults, bank failures. There will often be something on the sidelines waiting to foil the jubilance of...
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The winding down of the pandemic has brought a flurry of wedding activity. Aside from determining living arrangements, newlyweds often start contemplating the merger of their financial lives following all the wedding festivities. In my...
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While death is inevitable, we are rarely prepared for the grief and sense of loss we experience when a loved one dies. While trying to process the death emotionally, we can be overwhelmed by the...
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Several times a year, after months of intensive study, a determined group of budding financial planners “sit” for the day-long exam to become a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™. It is a tense day and the culmination...
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The concept of home ownership seems to be entrenched in the psyche of Americans, and most people consider owning a home as one of the best ways to accumulate wealth. Moreover, for most Americans, housing...
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In the years since the Silicon Valley Bank collapse, we have all learned more about bank stress tests and how these tests protect our financial system from banks taking extra risks. I was thinking about...
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What is the debt ceiling? The federal debt limit (ceiling) restricts the total amount of money that the Treasury Department can legally borrow at any point in time. Since the initial debt limit was set...
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Discussing life insurance is hardly a welcome pastime! Insurance terms are foreign, projections are hard to understand, and contemplating death is unpleasant. Evaluating insurance is central to your family’s long-term financial safety, but you may...
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The goal of tax-efficient investing is simple: maximize the amount of investment return you keep by minimizing how much is lost to taxes, without jeopardizing the integrity of the portfolio. With a U.S. tax code...
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