I have had a few conversations with clients recently where they asked about market volatility and what we planned to do about it. After discussing for a few minutes, the clients would then say something to the effect of, “So, we are going to stay the course?” “If you don’t know where you are going, […]
This Veterans Day, I am thinking of the men and women who have served our country, but also the unique way in which we encounter them. With many of the veterans in our lives, their service occurred long before we met them. However, we have the privilege of seeing how that experience has helped to […]
Successful wealth management requires us to construct diverse investment portfolios made up of different asset classes, including stocks. In choosing our investments we often have biases that unknowingly create challenges as market cycles change. For many investors, what they know best are the stocks of their own country. They often ignore the opportunities that exist […]
When the stock market is near all-time highs, smart investors feel confident as they reflect on the strategies that have made them successful. As their wealth has grown, they have benefitted from many of the advantages of savers. This includes buying the dips, rising income and savings, and tax-free growth in their retirement plans. However, […]
Experience is not the same as expertise. Confusing the two creates the potential for mistakes as smart investors approach retirement. In his book Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell popularized the idea that it takes 10,000 hours of experience to become an expert in a particular field. Smart investors spend thousands of hours saving and investing during their […]
I am a planner by nature, which makes sense considering my choice of profession. In addition to planning for the financial lives of clients, though, I also make time to plan for the success of our business. My partner, Katie Brown, and I believe that the best advisors and firms are intentional about how they […]
In middle school, I took a class in home economics that taught me skills to run a household like a tight ship. I learned to sew (a sweatshirt) and cook (using baking soda when I should have used baking powder). My teacher, Mrs. Phelps, knew a lot about managing a high intensity household as her […]
Why would a financial advisor host a podcast about leadership? This year, I launched my new podcast called “Leading with Purpose”, where I interview leaders from different industries and backgrounds and help relate their experience to the financial decisions we all make. So, why does this matter for you as you plan and invest for […]
A brokerage statement can be a neat, orderly presentation of chaos if we focus on the wrong things. What if we had a sense of what our investments should be doing, not just what they did? What if we made a thoughtful investment process the norm? Case in point: Compare your statements from the end […]
…The most optimistic psychology is always applied when things are thought to be going well, compounding and exaggerating the positives, and the most depressed psychology is applied when things are going poorly, compounding the negatives. This guarantees that extreme highs and lows will always be the eventual result in cycles, not the exception. We have […]