During his inauguration speech, Franklin D. Roosevelt left us with these famous words, "So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself – nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to...
If you are like most investors, you carry a few scars from past bear market experiences. And you may be asking the following questions, “What happened to get us here, and how do we make it through?” Answering these questions logically is the easy part. Not making...
Investors can find multiple reasons to be concerned about the current state of U.S. equity markets, including the current season. Summer is historically a poor performing time relative to the November through April period. Additionally, the Federal Reserve is on a...
The start of the year has continued the already rough track for fixed income. Rising interest rates and elevated inflation shake the safety net that bonds have traditionally provided. And the pain becomes particularly unnerving for investors when the equity market...
Do retirement plans work for the American investor? One of the nation's largest investment firms, Vanguard, analyzed data from 4.7 million of their defined contribution plans and found through their "How America Saves 2021" report that the average 401(k) balance...
Investing can be a very stressful endeavor, especially for us in or nearing retirement. Protecting the nest egg becomes very important as we near the time when distributions become a reality. Behavioral finance studies have repeatedly shown that many Americans would...
Knowing which basket to use is essential when engaging in activities like picking apples, or shopping at the grocery store. The same is true when evaluating your investment portfolio. The most common “baskets” used for investing today are mutual funds and their...
It will be no surprise that most of us are tired of the supply chain issues causing delays. These delays stretch across nearly every industry, from foodservice to manufacturing and even into technology. However, despite the frustration this causes in our day-to-day...
Our mental capacity for decision-making and dealing with change reduces as we age. Most of us recognize when we are "slipping," but we don't fully realize the extent. Most of us will go through life periods where we can make decisions, periods when we are mentally or...
The initial motivation for accumulating assets was to provide future opportunities during an elusive and vague future known as retirement. Creating future choices was the name of the game. Everyone loves options, but few love making decisions. When saving for...
Growing up, we all can remember either a parent or coach repeating the famous words, "Practice makes perfect." Or, "Better to be prepared." And although these words were easy to mock in our youth, they have aged well. They have aged so well we now pass the same...
College students have steep learning curves. In high school, they had to do well academically, participate in extracurricular activities, comply with the rules of their parents’ homes and, possibly, have a job. At college, they must decide what to study, how many...
By: Grant Soliven,AIF® With the recent college admissions scandal in the news, it seems some people are willing to risk everything for their child to attend the “right” college. For the rest of us, let’s talk about saving legally for a college education. College is...