Life Insurance Basics     Life insurance can be an incredible planning tool that reduces your family’s risk and protects them on your worst day. The biggest issue I find with clients is a lack of proper guidance when purchasing life insurance and people not understanding their needs, their options, and the most effective solution...Read More

Jargon of Estate Planning Explained   The jargon of a topic that you don’t know about is always intimidating and can often lead to people just avoiding the subject altogether.  Estate planning is already a morbid topic to have to discuss, but it is a necessary one. Add in the confused look most of the...Read More

Experiences Are Never a Waste of Money   My wife, Christina, and I took our kids to see the Broadway play Wicked this weekend. We went in early and strolled through the theatre district, letting the kids take in the sights and sounds of New York City all around them.   We go into the...Read More

The Plan Is the Product, Not the Portfolio   I hate comparing financial planning to losing weight, even though I lost 100 LBS using the principles I use when creating financial plans. I tracked all the food that I ate and created a program designed to allow me to eat healthy 95% of the time...Read More

Monkey Mind   Youth football season has started, so my son, AJ, has been at practice each night for the past two weeks. Yesterday was the football jamboree, where all our league teams came together and played twenty-minute scrimmages against each other. AJ’s position has changed this year, and he is working hard to be...Read More

Income, Savings, or Returns. Which Matters Most?   The idea of a “side hustle” isn’t new, but we just called it a second job when I was growing up. Now, the concept of a side hustle is all the rage and is a weekly conversation with clients. This weekend I spent time with a friend...Read More

Return on Hassle     Some financial questions can be answered with a spreadsheet, but most are some combination of spreadsheets and behavioral psychology.   What many people don’t consider when making decisions of all types is Return on Hassle (RoH).     Set In Their Ways     We had a family event this weekend, and as it...Read More

Wealth Comes in Many Forms   Many Gen X and Millennials equate wealth to income level, while others look at the “stuff” you have, like what car you drive or the size of your house, to gauge wealth.   Let us remember that our financial situations are some combination of math and emotions, so wealth means...Read More

Don’t Yuck My Yum   My career and financial planning skills improved exponentially once I had children. I never realized how similar the lessons I try to impart to my children are to the financial lessons I try to guide my clients through.   I often say to my children, “Don’t yuck someone else’s yum.” In...Read More

The Good News…….and The Bad News   The most challenging part about the economy, and the stock market in general, is that much like your high school crush, it keeps sending us mixed signals. When things are going well, there are always signs of impending doom that may or may show up.  On the contrary,...Read More