Kyle and Jenn purchased a historic home in the northeast. Owning a historic home can be a bit like the opening line of “A Tale of Two Cities”. If you don’t get the reference, you can hit Google after we are done. But Kyle and Jenn realized after living there a couple...
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Your Questions Answered: How Are Your Clients Handling This Market?
Several weeks ago, the US stock market experienced some turbulence. In fact, in the span of just a few days, the Dow Jones Industrial Average saw a decline of 2,000 points give or take, or about 5%. I was at a party somewhere about that time, and someone who knows...
Your Questions Answered: Do You Work for a Financial Firm or Insurance Company?
I was at a dinner party on Saturday night and during a conversation, another guest became aware that I work as a financial advisor. Upon hearing this information he asked, “What company do you work for?” This is a reasonable question since all manner of financial...
Simplify For a Better Life
"Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication," proclaimed an Apple Computer marketing brochure back in 1977. In the ensuing decades, Steve Jobs' commitment to this ideal resulted in technology products that were as beautiful as they were easy use, and in Apple becoming...
Your Questions Answered: I Inherited an IRA. What Do I Do About The RMD?
We have a client whose mother passed away at the beginning of the year. She was a beneficiary of her mother’s IRA, and we helped her move the inherited funds into a beneficiary IRA in her name. Because of her mother’s age, we asked if her mother took her full IRA...
Managers Vs. Makers in Retirement
In a 2009 essay that was very influential in business circles, Paul Graham of Y Combinator tried to figure out why workers at different levels of the same organization struggled to stay on the same meeting schedule. His conclusion was that you could break jobs down...
Your Questions Answered: Should I Buy Shares In The Company I Work For?
We have a client, Sandra, whose employer was in the process of being purchased by another company. As a function of her position, she was offered the opportunity to buy shares in the new company. She wanted to know if it was a good idea. Some personal finance experts...
Your Questions Answered: Should I Pay Down My Mortgage?
Last month we completed a Second Opinion consultation for Gloria. Gloria had accumulated extra money in her checking account and had extra money available each month to put toward additional savings. She asked if she should pay down her mortgage with those funds or...
Your Questions Answered: Should I Accept a Job Offer With a Lower Salary But a Higher Pension?
Last month Matt and Rachel asked for a meeting. Matt was offered a job, and he was weighing whether to accept it or not. The new job would have a little less flexibility and lower pay but came with a higher pension. Some probing revealed that the most attractive thing...
1% Better?
Would you like to achieve a 37X change in your life by this time next year? According to productivity expert James Clear -- and a little bit of math -- that's how big of an impact just a 1% daily improvement can make over time. Of course, the reverse is also true:...