ACTIVE LIFESTYLE FINANCIAL PLANNING

I’ve had several conversations around the current market valuation, “Wall Street Bets” or “Meme Stocks,” Cryptocurrency and NFTs etc. I’d like to spend more time on each in the future as they all have their unique aspects, but for now, a good place to start is the difference between investment and speculation. At the most basic level it’s a simple question of, “Where’s the cash?” An investment is something that can be valued based on the cash that it generates/is reasonably

A conversation I’ve had in several recent appointments when discussing the events of 2020 goes like this. “It shouldn’t have happened.” Of course what “should” happen is a useless concept, but here is the sentiment. No, its not the pandemic that shouldn’t have happened. Although infrequent, widespread disease is a natural event like an earthquake, flood or hurricane and has been knocking on our door for some time with Swine Flu, SARs, MERs etc. I’m talking about the stock mar

As most of you will know I am not a fan of predictions or at least not relying on a predicted future state for decision making. However, there are bound to be permanent changes as a result of the virus and I don’t think it hurts to start thinking about how to position for them. I ran across this article (that I frankly don’t find particularly well written and containing some flawed conclusions) as a decent jumping off point for what I’ve been thinking about. Fewer Employees a

Risk Management: A Primer Risk management is a topic we address with clients. We talk about three basic ways to deal with risk: -Retain -Mitigate -Transfer More typically tactics used to address a risk are a combination of the three. Transference is where we use insurance companies to transfer the impact of low probability high cost events (your house burning down). Most of the time spent in this article will be on deciding how much risk we choose to retain and what mitigatio

There were lots of interesting conversations this week and last, but the two most common themes seemed to be around unemployment benefits (be it for client or family members) and what’s going on in the housing market. Unemployment With job losses now at historic highs, the shutdown was the latest event to highlight the differences between hourly hands-on workers and salary type desk workers. Hourly folks not deemed essential were among the first to be laid off and are

We received a couple of questions this week from folks eligible to receive a relief payment who hadn’t yet seen it via direct deposit. While initial indications were that if bank account information was provided on the 2018 or 2019 return, the payment would be pushed to that account. That doesn’t appear to be true in all cases. What we are now seeing is that if a refund was due on the 2018 or 2019 return, the payment was pushed. If however there was an amount owed, it ma

Coronavirus Relief Programs We must remain in constant study to ensure we are taking advantage of all opportunities available in client's plans. That's one of the things I like most about the job. There is always something new to learn. The Coronavirus has been particularly prodigious in providing changes in the financial planning landscape as there have been three pieces of legislation passed in the four weeks we have been dealing with the outbreak in the US. They are as fo

Coronavirus Relief Programs We must remain in constant study to ensure we are taking advantage of all opportunities available in client's plans. That's one of the things I like most about the job. There is always something new to learn. The Coronavirus has been particularly prodigious in providing changes in the financial planning landscape as there have been three pieces of legislation passed in the four weeks we have been dealing with the outbreak in the US. They are as fol

Muhammad Ali said, "Service to others is the rent you pay for your room here on earth." I’m a strong believer in this idea. This week brought some troubling realities. I personally know of businesses who could have continued to serve their customers, but instead chose to suspend operations and lay off their people. Families have lost their entire income stream in a week and customers are without essential services they rely on. This is unconscionable. A business exists to s

Seth Godin and Carl Richards are my two brilliant “digital mentors.” If you are unfamiliar, Seth is considered to be a modern-day marketing God, but he is so much more. His daily blog provides insights that are invaluable in all areas of a business owner’s (and really anybody who enjoys thinking’s) life. Carl is an former Financial Advisor turned financial advocate who writes articles for the New York Times, has authored several books and is generally a mentor to “Real Fina