There were so many big events competing for our attention this past summer … said nearly every investor, almost every summer, ever.
Read More
Not having a financial plan could be costing you. Find out what you could be missing out on.
Read More
Are you properly insured against income loss? Chances are you aren’t. Here are 4 ways to safeguard your earnings before it’s too late.
Read More
Learn more about Dan Olsen’s story and how he can help you reclaim control over your income and plan for a confident financial future!
Read More
Even though we know it was just dumb luck, can we get a round of applause for seeming to forecast last month’s surprisingly strong market returns? It’s almost (but not really) as if the market were reading our minds when three broad U.S. stock indexes ended July 2022 with their best returns since 2020 …..
Read More
Welcome to the second half of 2022. What’s up next? As always, your guess is as good as ours. If anything, the past quarter has demonstrated how even familiar shores can shape-shift on us with each tide.
Read More
I bonds are not a cure-all for inflation. And there is a thing or two to know about them before you decide whether to proceed. But as one of few holdings whose payouts are indexed to inflation, they may offer a refreshing haven for a portion of your emergency funds or similar cash reserves.
Read More
There’s been a lot of talk about recessions lately: Whether one is near, far, or perhaps already here. Whether we can or should try to avoid it. What it even means to be in a recession, and how it’s related to current market turmoil. To put market and recessionary concerns in perspective, it might help to describe six ways a recession resembles a bad mood. There are some intriguing similarities!
Read More
After taking a closer look at interest rates in part 1 and inflation in part 2, we come to the heart of the matter: When interest rates, inflation, or both are on the rise, what’s an investor to do?
Read More
And just like that, two years have passed since spring 2020. Two years since none of us had a clue how long COVID would linger … or how quickly today would arrive. Time can confound us that way, magically managing to crawl and fly at the same time.
Read More
Has rising inflation got you down? In our last piece, “Understanding Interest Rates” we explored how rising and falling interest rates can impact a healthy economy. Today, let’s add inflation to the conversation.
Read More
At its March 15–16 Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting, the U.S. Federal Reserve raised its federal target funds rate by a quarter point. It was the first increase since December 2018, but it wasn’t a huge surprise. Fed Chair Jerome Powell had already said we should expect as much, with the potential for additional hikes before year-end.
Read More
Have you been reading the daily headlines—watching markets stall, recover, and dip once again? Turbulence is uncomfortable for everyone. Pilots try to avoid it whenever possible. You, too, might be wondering whether there’s anything you can do to avoid motion sickness.
Read More
Lately, there’s been a fair amount of buzz about direct indexing as an investment strategy. In our last piece, we introduced direct indexing: how it works, why it’s been receiving more media attention, and what potential tax and investment management advantages it might offer over traditional index investing. Today, let’s talk about why we’re not as enthused by direct indexing as we are by our funds-based approach to helping you pursue your long-term financial goals.
Read More
As we start a whole new year, let’s talk about parts versus wholes. The theme is hardly new, but it bears repeating, so that we remember how essential they both are—to each other, to us, and to our financial well-being.
Read More
As if we didn’t already have enough flavors of investment strategies to choose from, a (sort of) new one has been receiving extra attention lately: direct indexing. If you’ve read about it, you may be wondering what it is, how it works, and whether it’s worth using for your own investments.
Read More
How do you invest your money over the long-term? If you’ve read much of our work, you’ve probably noticed we embrace evidence-based investing. But what does that mean? And is the “proof in the pudding,” as the saying goes?
Read More
Believe it or not, another year has rounded third base, and is dashing toward home plate. That said, there’s still time to make a few good plays in 2021, while positioning yourself to score more in the year ahead. Here are six financial best practices for the record books.
Read More
Sixty years after imagining the project, and after both had passed away, why did the famed artist couple Christo and Jeanne-Claude wrap L’Arc de Triomphe in Paris in silvery-blue fabric and red rope (which became an especially ethereal nighttime display)? Because they wanted to. And because their heirs carried out their vision, funding it through Christo’s estate.
Read More
In our last two pieces, we covered some tools of the tax-planning trade, as well as how to deploy them for tax-efficient investing. But tax planning isn’t just for your investments. Life happens. Often, we cannot predict its next moves. But we can weave each event into the tax-planning fabric of your financial life.
Read More