As we have previously written, it is difficult for investors to know what to look for in their search for a financial adviser (or advisor). In his most recent Intelligent Investor column for the Wall Street Journal, Jason Zweig updates the timeline of the fiduciary rule and points out that since its delay, “the burden
Category: Planning Tips
What Is a Life Settlement?
Imagine you’re cleaning out your attic and run across a box of dusty old books. You decide it’s not worth the time and effort to sell them, so you take the whole box to the dump. That same night, you happen to update your mom on your completed to-do list, making sure to include all
What Should I Do With My Next $_______?
We get this question often. A client will have just received an inheritance or sold a piece of property and has a lump sum of money. Or maybe they have just received a raise or paid off a debt and now have a higher monthly cash flow. “What do I do with this money?” can
6 Financial Commandments for Twenty Somethings
For the last 5 years I’ve had the privilege of mentoring a few young men. And by mentor, I mean they are younger and more interesting than me so I tag along on their trips and we share life together (I’m talking about you Tice, Tom, and Pearce). I wanted to write a letter of
Student Loans: The Best Tools (Part 2 of 2)
The following is the second in a two part series on school debt. See our first part here. Now What? As we mentioned in our previous post (Student Loans: Assess the Situation), the first step to paying off student loans is to know what you have. After you fully comprehend what your debt is, you can
Dying With a Will Could be the Least of Your Problems
Advanced estate planning can’t include every “what-if” scenario. In my wife’s family things didn’t exactly play out like they’d planned. Her parents each wrote their own obituary years before their deaths…or so we thought. It turns out that Anne’s mother authored both obituaries. Her mother’s read that her husband “preceded her in death” and his
Student Loans: Assess the Situation (Part 1 of 2)
It is near impossible to cover every student loan situation, payback option and variable in an individual’s life with a blog post. I recommend using the information below as a starting point and combining it with personal knowledge of yourself and your resources to mount a plan of attack for your scenario. Navy Seals and
Required Reading for Nearly Anyone: “Being Mortal” by Dr. Atul Gawande
Not Your Typical Summer Beach Read I bought Being Mortal a few years ago on a date night with my wife. We grabbed dinner and stopped through Scuppernong Books to judge books by their covers. We each bought a book and laughed that my choice was a surgeon’s thoughts on “medicine and what matters most
Keeping Track of Surprise Joys
May 10th - "Received 'Happy Birth Month' wishes out at dinner with friends" May 11th - "Got up early just to see the sunrise. Beautiful!" May 12th - "Saw a young Eurasian Eagle Owl in person! Still fluffy!" Some of our best friends surprised Jonathan and me with an invitation to join their family on
The Best Way To Spend Money On Healthcare
In life there are people that show up to work, do a great job, and go home without much fanfare: much like Tim Duncan. Tim (I wish we were on a first name basis) reminds me of a Health Savings Account (HSA) because he outperforms his peers consistently but is widely underappreciated. With an HSA the