No example of transformation is more well-known this time of year than that of Ebenezer Scrooge in Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol.
What’s up with crypto, and should it be in your portfolio?
Many of us are perfectly willing to talk a lot about others' money: the cost of government programs, the cost of living, our personal taxes, and public policy on taxing business profits. What we don’t talk about is our personal money.
The financial services field is one of the most regulated in the U.S. Our regulations are as complex as those in the medical field. This makes sense; our health and our money are two important pillars of wellbeing. Preventing harm to either can be a matter of life and death.
Last week's article on being financially stuck focused on getting help. But what if, for various reasons like affordability or availability, outside help isn't a practical option? Here are some steps you can take yourself to begin getting financially unstuck:
What do you do as a driver if your car gets stuck in the mud or a snowbank? You try shoveling, rocking the car back and forth, or putting something under the wheels. Sometimes, though, you can't get unstuck by yourself. You have to call for help. What do you do if you find yourself financially stuck?
As with any headlines or sound bites from political figures, it's a good idea to dig deeper before you respond with outrage.
One of the biggest conundrums of estate planning is considering how, or even if, you can give money or property to your heirs in a manner that will help them.
How do you find a comprehensive financial planner who integrates your humanity with the dollars and cents? The difference between a traditional financial planner and one that practices financial life planning is significant.
One of the most influential financial planning organizations I participate in doesn't officially exist.
Read the recent headlines about the so-called Pandora Papers and you would think it opened a Pandora’s box of tax-evasion schemes for the wealthy that leverages favorable tax treatment in certain states, such as South Dakota.
You may have reacted with concern to recent news reports about the August 31, 2021, report from the Social Security Trustees. But fears of Social Security going broke are overblown.
Money vigilance has a dark side. It can limit someone's ability to enjoy relationships, leisure, and fun.
People in this category equate net worth with their self-worth. They may hold beliefs such as, "The higher your earnings, the more successful you are."
When a client says, "Things would get better if I had more money" or "More money will make me happier," they are a money worshiper. Here is how to work with them.
Those with dominant money avoidance scripts resist budgeting, investing, managing finances, or even learning about money. The further away they can get from financial decisions, the better.
Home title theft. This is a "threat" I only learned about from frantic radio commercials warning that your home can be stolen from you.
For our ancestors, even as recently as the 19th century, survival skills were hands-on. If you didn't know how to build a house, farm, hunt, butcher animals, sew, and cook, you couldn't provide well for your family. Money skills were largely worthless. It’s completely different today.
Is maintaining good physical health a worthwhile investment? The statistics suggest that in the long run, poor health will cost far more than the money or time it takes to maintain good health. Most of us might say we agree with this conclusion, but our behaviors say just the opposite.
Emotional trauma can develop around eight general types of money events: giving, receiving, spending, saving, loaning, borrowing, earning, and taking. Typically, if one feels a sense of shame around any of these, there may be some past financial trauma.
Most lump-sum inheritances disappear within a few years in the control of an over-spender.
What does trauma have to do with money? Because money is so integral to all aspects of our lives, distressing or disturbing financial experiences can overwhelm someone and become traumatic events.
In the words of one of the wealthiest people in the world, "Possessions kind of weigh you down."
Since financial health is a crucial component of wellbeing, why do Americans avoid getting professional help from financial experts?
In July, families eligible for the federal child tax credit will begin receiving monthly payments instead of waiting to receive an annual credit when they file their 2021 tax returns.
I'm not a big fan of the Financial Independence, Retire Early (FIRE) movement, which advocates extreme frugality to retire as early as age 30.
Estate planning for the recently engaged couple is a challenge. It's something that is often overlooked, even by financial advisors. Yet it matters, as I've seen in my own practice.
How much money does it take to be wealthy?
The reasons that block us from acting to support our future financial well-being can be both internal and external. If you are putting off a financial action that you know is important, consider whether any of the following factors may apply…
Brokers who charge commissions are two to eight times more likely than advisors who charge fees to recommend risky investments.
A lot of stock market experts are concerned that the market is overheated and ripe for a new bear market.
Does the executor of an estate deserve to be compensated for that service? Absolutely.
Being named an executor means taking on a part-time job. Often, executors have day jobs so the duties of being an executor happen during lunch hours, after work, and on weekends.
Investment success requires that a person have a high tolerance for boredom, which means turning a deaf ear to the financial press’s investment panic-de-jour. It's good for your financial health to avoid following the advice of prognosticating financial soothsayers. Even when one of them is me.
One of the most common reasons new clients seek me out is the loss of their long-standing financial advisor. As an advisor, the best way to protect against losing those clients is to create a team or “ensemble” approach to providing financial advice.
The harmful power of mistaken money beliefs.
How much is a tax deduction worth? Maybe less than your money scripts would have you believe. Here are some common ways that over-emphasizing deductions may reduce your clients’ tax bills but cost them more money than they save.
Our economy is recovering; the stock market is booming. Yet I'm hearing investors express much more fear now than they did last March when the stock market was falling off a cliff. I see a couple of reasons for this.
Meeting on-line requires a "new language" and awareness. Here are some tips for making the most of virtual meetings.
"If I was your financial adviser, I would tell you that engaging me is not a good deal for you." I’ve told hundreds of prospects this over my nearly 40-year career as a financial planner.
One of President Biden’s early executive orders extended the temporary national moratorium on evictions for nonpayment of rent that begin on September 4, 2020. The moratorium is intended to help renters struggling to make rent payments because of the economic impact of the pandemic.
President Biden’s coronavirus stimulus package has the intention of flooding the economy with money at a time when economic growth is sputtering. Ironically, it contains one provision likely to create exactly the opposite of what he intends: raising the national minimum wage from $7.25 to $15.00 per hour.
In conversations with financial planners or therapists who ask about the specifics of my practice, I am inclined to answer, “I am in the wellness business.” This results in a deep and theoretical dialogue.
When there's drama in the stock market, I often learn about it at the gym. Case in point: the recent headline-grabbing hullabaloo about GameStop and Reddit.
"There ain’t no such thing as a free lunch," my grandpa once told me. The adage suggesting you can't get something for nothing seems to have bitten millions of unwitting investors who used a popular trading platform, Robinhood.
How much money do you need to have to be considered rich or wealthy?
As devastating financially as a frivolous lawsuit may be to one’s wealth, it’s nowhere near what I consider the number-one destroyer of financial wealth – divorce.
One of my saddest professional experiences came recently when one of my long-time clients, a man in his late 80s with no immediate family and few close friends, was diagnosed with early Alzheimer’s.
With the 2020 elections, we are hearing a lot about socialism. Many fear that, should the Democratic party sweep the White House and Senate, an inevitable march toward the US becoming a socialist country will begin.
A financial advisor that you feel you can trust is not automatically one who is trustworthy. Making that distinction is crucial to your financial well-being.
