The 3 Most Important Financial Accounts Everyone Needs

October 10, 2017

Why is it that cash management seems to be so easy for some people, and yet so hard for others? Is it simply a matter of income—the more I have the less difficult it is to manage—or is it something more than that? Having total control over cash flow is a critical step toward optimal financial wellness, yet it proves to be more elusive than we’d like.

One event away from financial disaster

According to our research, 73% of employees say they have a handle on cash flow, but only 50% say they have an emergency fund. That means the other 50% are one unexpected event away from financial hardship.

No more wishing and hoping

So how do we go from wishing nothing bad happens to being totally confident no matter what life throws our way? It starts by having a firm financial foundation. Here are the three most important financial accounts you will ever need:

Account #1: A Checking Account

It may seem odd to think of a checking account as one of the three most important accounts you will ever need, but the checking account is a fundamental building block in your financial foundation. Your checking account is where you directly deposit your paycheck, and it should be the account used to pay all of your planned, regular monthly expenses (e.g., food, housing, utilities).

Which checking account is right for you? Check out these blog posts for ideas.

Account #2: A Savings Account

If you thought a checking account was a silly example of a critical account, then you’re probably thinking a savings account is even more silly—but hear me out. I agree, a savings account is a silly place to save money, but it is a FANTASTIC place to spend money. In other words, don’t treat it as a savings account; treat it as a spending account.

Your checking account is a great place for money you know you’re going to spend every month, but what about the money you know you’re going to spend three months from now; or six months from now; or nine months from now? (You get the picture.)

Your savings account is the perfect place to put money aside that you know will get spent soon, just not necessarily this month. That’s why we like to refer to it as a Planned Spending Account, because it is money you’re planning to spend. (Yes, we are very creative.) Others refer to it as “lump sum” savings. Whatever you call it, it’s probably one of the most overlooked accounts, but it can be very powerful when it comes to managing cash flow over the course of a year.

Account #3: An Emergency Fund

Well, if you have a checking account for planned, regular monthly expenses, and a savings account for planned, irregular, nonmonthly expenses, then what do you think this third magical account would be used for? You got it: UNPLANNED expenses.

Most of us know we should have an emergency fund for unplanned expenses, but what exactly would qualify as an “unplanned” expense? That’s a good question, and the best I can answer is to suggest that an unplanned expense is any expense that we would typically NOT plan for. (I told you we were creative.)

For example, I do NOT plan to crash my car into a tree, but I know that if I do I’ll have to pay a deductible on my auto insurance. I do NOT plan for my children to get sick, but I know that if they do I may have to miss work or find a last-minute care taker. I do NOT, necessarily, plan to lose my job, but I know that if I do I’ll still have mouths to feed until I find work again.

Don’t confuse urgent with unplanned

It’s important not to confuse “urgent” with “unplanned.” Fixing the car when it breaks down can be urgent, but no matter how old or new your car is you should save for car repairs and maintenance. Losing income due to illness or injury can be urgent, but you should carry adequate disability insurance to protect against such risk. Visiting the emergency room can be urgent, but you should save for health insurance deductibles in a planned spending or health savings account (HSA).

Financial experts don’t always agree on exactly how much you should have in your emergency fund, which is why I often tell people it’s really just a matter of how big of an emergency you want to be prepared for. That said, here’s a calculator that might help you determine the right amount for you.

Where’s the best place to keep an emergency fund? Check out these blog posts for ideas.

When it comes to building a structure that can withstand the forces of nature, triangles are the strongest shape. Why should building a financial foundation be any different?

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How I Finally Found My Dream Job As A Financial Planner

October 06, 2017

For the past decade plus, I have been helping people with their finances. It’s what I love to do. But getting to my dream job was a different journey than what I thought it would be. I started in the financial planning business to help people and scratch an entrepreneurial itch I’d had for some time.

The challenge of getting started as a financial advisor

At my first firm, I quickly learned that being an advisor meant selling life insurance and annuities. Success was measured by how many prospects I could get in front of and how much commission revenue I could generate through product sells. This wasn’t exactly what I wanted to be doing — I knew I was helping my clients, but also knew I needed to expand my training to be able to provide help in all aspects of their financial lives.

So I completed the gauntlet that is CFP® certification, and landed at a large wealth planning firm in a consulting role working with affluent clients. I was delivering financial planning for my clients and helping them manage their assets – my dream job (or so I thought).

Something’s missing

I was loving my work with clients and I was a good financial planner. I especially enjoyed building relationships and managing investment portfolios.  I was making a nice living, working with a team of incredibly smart and honest professionals, and delivering on comprehensive wealth management for my clients. But it always felt like something was missing.

Measuring my impact

I started asking myself how much of an impact I was really having for my clients who were already in great financial shape before I ever met them? I was left unfulfilled by helping wealthy clients become marginally wealthier. To be honest, I knew they would be fine regardless if their portfolios had a good quarter or not. What about the people who don’t have a lot of assets for an advisor to manage? Who is helping them?

Following the money

In order for most advisors or financial planners to make a living, they have to sell a product or service. That means they have to find clients that:

  1. Need/want that product or service; and
  2. Can afford to pay for said product or service.

There is nothing wrong with an advisor expecting to be compensated — most are honest and hardworking and should expect to be paid for their services. But there is a disconnect. Those people struggling with debt or cash flow problems would benefit tremendously from working with a financial professional, but the compensation structure in the financial services industry essentially denies them access to the help they need.

Where financial wellness benefits come in 

Luckily for me, I found Financial Finesse a couple of years ago, a company dedicated to unbiased financial planning guidance delivered by experienced, qualified professionals available to people in any financial situation.  I had to bide my time to meet the 10 year experience requirement, but I am so glad I did.

Being with the company that pioneered the idea of employers providing financial wellness to their employees as part of their benefits is amazing. We help employers provide an important benefit to their employers that is shown to improve absenteeism, increase productivity, and save on health care costs as financial stress is reduced. We help employees find actionable solutions to their pressing financial issues through a coaching model with no hidden agendas.

Living my purpose

And I get to live my purpose by helping people make good financial choices and reach their financial goals — now that is my dream job.

Want more helpful financial guidance, delivered every day? Sign up to receive the Financial Finesse Tip of the Day, written by financial planners who work with people like you every day. No sales pitch EVER (being unbiased is the foundation of what we do), just the best our awesome planners have to offer. Click here to join.

The Difference Between a Financial Wellness Benefit & Your 401(k)

June 20, 2017

Before I joined Financial Finesse as a member of the Planner Team, I worked for a large wealth management institution as a 401(k) plan specialist. As a 401(k) plan specialist, my role was to help design and implement 401(k) plans for companies as well as educate their employees about their retirement accounts. One of my bigger frustrations in that role was that I was pigeon-holed into discussions solely about retirement contributions and asset allocation.

Although these topics are important when it comes to retirement planning, as I tried to educate people about how to save for retirement, I quickly found that the real problem people were facing wasn’t that they didn’t know how much to contribute or how to invest. The reason they weren’t making full use of their 401(k) savings accounts stemmed from a lack of emergency savings or a budget.

This often leads to using a credit card or 401(k) loans to get through unexpected events like medical issues or family emergencies, and definitely gets in the way of being able to save for retirement. In order to help people achieve a secure retirement, I realized that they first needed help achieving a secure today.

A lack of solutions

As I looked for a way to help, I found myself stumped. I was trained to help people avoid estate taxes but not how to help someone who was overwhelmed by medical debt. My meetings were supposed to be focused on getting more money into 401(k) plans and helping people choose the best investments, not how to put together a budget or handle debt. The compliance rules in the industry kept me from REALLY being able to help with the other stuff, the stuff that had to be overcome before I could be of any use with my training and work objectives. It broke my heart to be sitting in 401(k) enrollment meetings, talking to people sometimes in tears over a financial crisis, feeling completely unable to help.

Finding a way to help

I knew that I really needed to be helping people navigate these barriers before my work as a 401(k) specialist would have any meaning. I started looking around for solutions, even something that I could offer as part of my meetings so that they could help themselves. That’s when I came across Financial Finesse, a company that provides employees with a workplace financial wellness benefit. I knew instantly I had found a new home. For the first time I could:

  1. Focus on financial wellness vs. just trying to get more money into the accounts I managed.
  2. Help “everyday” people with their daily financial needs vs. strictly helping affluent people become more affluent.
  3. Stop being judged by sales quotas and instead be judged based on whether or not I changed lives for the better.

The difference between your financial wellness benefit & your 401(k)

While employees often come to us with questions about their 401(k) and companies often hire us to satisfy their fiduciary duty as a 401(k) plan sponsor, my colleagues and I spend more of our time helping people deal with the rest of their financial picture – how to choose the right mortgage, how to pay off credit cards, deciding the best way to deal with their student loans, etc. The big difference is that we take a look at your TOTAL picture, not just the balance in your 401(k). And that’s what I love the most about my job – helping people with what they really need.

Your 401(k) is one piece of your financial wellness puzzle. Working with a planner through your workplace financial wellness benefit helps you to see where it fits in among all your other priorities. If you’re fortunate enough to work for an employer that offers you a financial wellness benefit, I encourage you to take advantage today.

Here at Financial Finesse, we believe strongly in the importance of workplace culture and the power of doing well by doing good. This article is the second in our week-long series of posts where we highlight a specific part of our company culture that helps to make Financial Finesse one of America’s best places to work. This is just one part of our celebration of recent recognition by Inc., who listed us as one of the Best Workplaces in 2017 and Entrepreneur, who named us to the Small-Sized Companies: The Best Company Cultures in 2017 list.

Want more helpful financial guidance, delivered every day? Sign up to receive the Financial Finesse Tip of the Day, written by financial planners who work with people like you every day. No sales pitch EVER (being unbiased is the foundation of what we do), just the best our awesome planners have to offer. Click here to join.

Why a Lower Paying Job May Still Be Worth More

April 05, 2017

When looking at job opportunities, it can be easy to be wooed by increases in salary. I learned the hard way that it’s not the only thing that matters when I took a new job many years ago for a couple thousand more per year, only to find that my actual take-home pay was lower because my new employer didn’t offer the premium benefits I’d enjoyed at my first job. But how do you know which benefits are better than others?

While you can’t put a price on things like “dress for your day” or bring your dog to work policies, you can figure out how much a lot of benefits are actually worth to you, personally, in actual dollar amounts. I’ll use my own benefits as an example since Financial Finesse is a well-recognized employer of choice. Obviously you’ll have to use your own numbers according to the benefits available to you and who would be covered in your family, but here’s a good framework to start with:

Health insurance – Definitely find out what your premium would be to factor that in, but don’t only look at that, especially if the employer covers your costs like they do at Financial Finesse. Is there a high-deductible option that comes with a health savings account and does the employer make a deposit into that account on your behalf? That’s also part of your compensation. If I were comparing offers, I’d also want to know the maximum I’d be on the hook for with each health plan since coverage levels matter as well. It’s all well and good if your employer covers your premium, but that could seem irrelevant if any costs incurred would require you to spend $5,000 of your own money to hit your deductible before any coverage kicks in.

  • HSA deposit to my account for individual coverage: $1,500 (This also happens to be my deductible. If I had to pay a premium, I would subtract that amount from this to arrive at the net increase to my compensation.)

Retirement plan – Any match your employer gives you should be considered additional compensation, so definitely take that into account. Some employers even make discretionary deposits regardless of your own level of contribution, which should absolutely be accounted for when considering total pay. Financial Finesse basically matches me 4% as long as I contribute 5%, which is a no-brainer. Contributing less than 5% is the same as saying, “No thanks. I don’t want that extra bit of pay.”

  • Annual employer match: 4% of my eligible pay = over $3,000

Financial wellness benefit – Offering a workplace financial wellness benefit is becoming an increasingly common (and smart, if you ask me) way for employers to demonstrate their commitment to employee wellness. In fact, it can be a great resource in helping you to make the most of all your other benefits! How you quantify this benefit will depend on what’s offered. At Financial Finesse, all employees have access to calling our Financial Helpline, which is the equivalent of having a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNERTM professional on retainer. When I was an independent financial coach working with the general public, I charged clients $300 per quarter for a similar service. That meant they had unlimited access to call, email or meet with me as long as they paid that fee, similar to the Financial Helpline that many of our clients offer to their employees. If the offer you’re looking at includes an unlimited benefit like Financial Finesse, that’s the best way I know how to quantify it.

  • Annual savings by not having to hire a financial coach: $300 x 4 quarters = $1,200 (Note that this has nothing to do with what employers actually pay for their employees to have access to financial wellness but instead is what you’d have to pay if you sought an equivalent service on your own.)
  • Not included in this number: The financial benefit of using a financial wellness program to pay off debt, create a budget, increase savings for the future or invest appropriately along with reduced financial stress. Value: priceless

Professional development support – This depends heavily on your career field and any credentials you have to maintain but can be a real differentiator. I have three professional credentials that aren’t cheap to maintain on an annual basis. Financial Finesse supports all of them, but my last employer only supported part of them, which is a big difference to my wallet. Beyond that, each employee at Financial Finesse also has a $250 per year personal professional development budget to be spent on things related to enhancing their job function such as books, classes, conferences, and even role-specific consultants. For mine, I add up all my credential licensing fees, professional association dues, cost of continuing education and the professional development fund.

  • Annual savings by having my professional expenses reimbursed: about $1,750

Life insurance – Most employers offer employees automatic coverage of at least a year’s salary should the employee pass away while they are employed. The differentiator is when they cover more than that. Quantifying that truly depends on your personal situation. For some people, one times their annual salary is enough so additional coverage might not factor in as applicable compensation to consider. If you would need more coverage than the employer offers, you can figure out the savings based on what you pay for any additional policies you have outside of work.

  • Annual savings by having a portion of my needed life insurance covered: $50

To add it all up, I’m actually receiving at least $7,500 in benefits beyond my salary and insurance coverage – not too shabby!

There are plenty of other benefits to consider as well, depending on your personal situation and what you need. For example, your employer may offer discounted pet insurance, but that’s only applicable in your calculation if you’d switch your pet insurance over and get a discount. Another example would be pre-paid legal assistance, a benefit that’s really handy for people who need to draft estate planning documents or own rental property and need a little real estate legal advice but not as useful if you’re all set it those areas. This also doesn’t include the more typical benefits that the majority of employers provide like disability insurance, an EAP and obviously unemployment insurance. Since you’re likely to have those benefits at any place you work, they won’t really help in making a decision even though they are useful and important benefits to have and appreciate.

 

Kelley Long is a resident financial planner with Financial Finesse, the leading provider of unbiased workplace financial wellness programs in the US. For more posts by Kelley or to sign up to have her weekly post delivered to your inbox each Wednesday, please visit the main blog page and sign up today.

 

Why I Do What I Do

August 12, 2016

As my kids and friends are far too familiar with, I’m a bit of a news and political junkie. That’s why it’s so surprising to everyone I’ve shared this with that I didn’t watch a single minute of either the Republican or Democrat conventions this year. I saw some “highlights” the next day on the news and heard people talking about highs and lows from each convention (depending on which side of the aisle they most consider their political home). I just couldn’t do it this year.

So many people that I talk with (and judging by the scroll on my Facebook home page, most of America) will be upset with our next President regardless of who wins. Both candidates from the major parties have greater than 50% negative ratings. A recent poll had Clinton disliked by 55% of voters and Trump disliked by 63% so either way we slice it, over half of the country will be unhappy on the day after Election Day. The overwhelming sentiment on my Facebook scroll is “THIS is the best we can do???”

One of the other areas of life where there is overwhelming agreement that we need to do better is in the world of banking and financial services. There is a lot of distrust of the big banks. Wall Street is unpopular with Main Street and criminals like Bernie Madoff give the financial advisory world a big fat black eye. When I look at the world through the political lens right now or through the lens of how most of America feels about the overall financial industry (painting with a very broad brush here), it’s easy to feel like there isn’t much positive to hang on to. But then I get up every morning and do what I do for a living, and my soul gets restored. Here’s why:

I’ve spent the last 3 weeks on the road and have spent only a sparse few nights in my own bed in the month of July. I’ve been at our client company sites and at our home office in California for some internal meetings on how we can do what we do better.  While the travel and hotel beds had me a bit out of my workout rhythm, I’ve been able to meet dozens of individuals in one-on-one settings at their employer and talk about their lives.

I wasn’t there to sell them anything, manage their money, or offer them a loan. I was there simply to talk to them, hear their story and suggest a few ways that they can get closer to their goals. Some have been in great shape financially, others on the verge of disaster. But the thread that weaves them all together is that they were all in search of progress.

In the last several weeks, I’ve heard about engagements that are about to happen (before the future fiancée is in the loop!) and have recently happened, weddings, births, job changes, promotions, significant pay increases, and happy retirement decisions. I’ve also heard about massive credit card debt, huge student loan burdens, ugly divorces, and layoffs. It’s been a time of highs and lows emotionally.

Regardless of the issue, it appeared to me that each person I met was truly happy that their employer offered a financial wellness benefit. The feedback I’ve gotten via email has made me realize how much they valued a person who was there to help them and not sell them anything. It’s also made me realize that I am doing exactly what I was meant to do. The ability to help people, see them change their lives for the better and be there along the way to coach them as they hit speed bumps is about as close to perfection in a role that I’ll ever find.

I usually like to close out a blog post with a bit of a financial lesson, so I’ll give you this: At different times in our lives, we are going to need help. Knowing where to go for that help before it’s a crisis situation can be incredibly valuable.

Line up your experts and trusted advisors now. If you don’t have access to a financial wellness program at your employer, ask them to investigate one. If you don’t have someone that you can trust to help you reach your goals and coach you along the way without their interests coming before yours, ask your family, friends and colleagues if they do. You can also search for a financial advisor through the CFP(R) Board, and here are some questions you can ask any prospective planner. Most importantly, find someone who loves what they do for the right reasons.

 

 

 

How Financial Wellness is Like Weight Loss

April 28, 2016

I always like to say that financial wellness is a lot like weight loss. When I came across this article in Vox about “surprisingly simple tips from 20 experts about how to lose weight and keep it off,” I realized just how true that is. Here are the weight loss tips and how they apply to financial wellness:

1. There really, truly is no one “best diet.” Scientific studies have found that all of the various diet plans have about the same modest long term results. What matters is finding one you can actually stick to. The same is true of money management systems and asset allocation strategies.

2. People who lose weight are good at tracking – what they eat and how much they weigh. They tend to count calories and weigh themselves at least once a week. In the same way, you need to track or otherwise limit spending, continually re-balance your investments, and periodically run a retirement calculator to make sure you’re still on track.

3. People who lose weight identify their barriers and motivations. Like with diet and exercise, we usually know what to do with our finances. The hard part is actually doing it. Start with knowing the “why” that motivates you. Then look for the barriers that are standing in your way of taking action.

4. Diets often fail because of unreasonable expectations. People tend to overestimate what they can achieve in the short run and underestimate what they can achieve in the long run. Don’t try to save too much too fast. Instead, set big long term financial goals that motivate you and then see how much you need to save to achieve them.

5. People who lose weight know how many calories they’re consuming – and burning. Similarly, you need to know how much income is coming in and going out. Making sure the latter number is lower than the former is the only way to increase your wealth.

6. There are ways to hack your environment for health. For example, don’t surround yourself with unhealthy foods. Simple things like where your food is served from and what size plate it’s on can also affect how much you eat. For your financial life, don’t put yourself in situations where you’re likely to spend more and try to automate your savings as much as possible.

7. Exercise is surprisingly unhelpful for weight loss. More accurately, exercise alone isn’t very effective since people often eat more to compensate for the calories they burn. Earning more income can have the same effect when we automatically spend more as well.

8. Weight loss medications aren’t very useful. Neither are “metabolism boosting” supplements. Complex, sophisticated, and high-fee investments are the weight loss medications and metabolism boosting supplements of the financial world. Stick to the basics.

9. Forget about “the last 10 pounds.” If they’re that hard to lose, people generally gain them back. Most of the health benefits came from the other lost pounds anyway. Likewise, trying too hard to save more can backfire if it starts to feel like too much deprivation. Allow yourself to splurge now and then too.

So what’s the main thing that weight loss and financial wellness have in common? They are both about making small changes over a long period of time. Instead of looking for the quick fix, find an approach that you can stick with.

 

The Four Pillars of Making Habits That Stick

February 29, 2016

How important are daily habits to financial wellness? In my own financial wellness journey, they’ve been crucial. By changing my own habits, including my inner dialogue about myself and my income, how I managed my cash flow and how much I saved and invested, I altered my own trajectory. The primary reason I became a financial planner is that I believe other people can do it as well. Continue reading “The Four Pillars of Making Habits That Stick”

How Understanding Your Personality Can Change Your Life

February 22, 2016

I’ve written frequently about how I changed my financial behaviors over time. Once someone who spent her paycheck down to the last penny, I became a successful saver and investor over time. That all happened because I changed both what I believed about money and what I was worth, as well as what I did in my everyday life to align my daily habits with those beliefs. Continue reading “How Understanding Your Personality Can Change Your Life”

Top 10 Financial Articles of 2015

December 23, 2015

I’m a huge fan of lists: to-do lists (yes, I sometimes add things just so I can check them off), best-of lists, pros and cons lists and yes, top 10 lists. Want a reading list to take you through the end of the year? Without further ado, here are my top 10 favorite money-related articles of 2015:

Continue reading “Top 10 Financial Articles of 2015”

The Two Hour a Week Money Prescription

December 14, 2015

Dear Financial Finesse: I’m a working mom with three kids and a busy job. I read Financial Wellness @Work and you guys make everything look so easy, but that is just not realistic to spend so much time on financial stuff! I don’t seem to have time to figure out what to do with my 401(k) or work out a college savings plan, and frankly, I’d rather relax or hang out with my family. Is there something simple I can do to manage my money without spending a lot of time on it? – Alexandra, FL Continue reading “The Two Hour a Week Money Prescription”

Financial Lessons From a Rugby Field

December 11, 2015

As I write this, I have clothing in the dryer and when it’s done, I’m throwing some of it in a bag and hitting the road. The university where I played rugby is playing in the college national championships this weekend. Some of my old teammates are the coaches and I’m still involved with the team in various capacities. I will probably be watching game tape of our Saturday opponent in the round of four and if we win (yes, I still say “we” when talking about a group of college kids playing rugby), I’ll spend part of Saturday night breaking down tape with the coaches for our Sunday opponent in the National Championship game. I’m pretty excited and can’t wait to hit the road to see the boys play with the prospect of a national championship trophy in reach. Continue reading “Financial Lessons From a Rugby Field”

My Declaration of Financial Independence

December 07, 2015

As I take over Financial Wellness@Work on Mondays (following in the very big shoes of Dr. Scott Spann, who is bringing Financial Finesse wisdom to the retirement planning pages of About.com), I thought I’d take some time upfront to tell you my story so you know my perspective. Twenty years ago, I declared financial independence. I remember my Financial Independence Day very clearly… Continue reading “My Declaration of Financial Independence”

A Few Last Words

November 30, 2015

It’s amazing how fast time flies but today marks my final appearance as a weekly blog contributor for Financial Finesse and you will have a new voice who will communicate her passion about financial wellness topics. I’ll still be here at Financial Finesse doing that financial wellness thing that I do along with conducting some research and continuing education for other CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ professionals. I will also occasionally make some guest appearances here on the Financial Wellness@Work blog, but you can still follow my Forbes contributions and my new role as the retirement planning expert writer for About.com. I may even be able to complete writing another book tentatively titled Live, Plan, Thrive by the end of 2016. Continue reading “A Few Last Words”

Meet Brian Kelly, Money Coach

November 23, 2015

I recently had the chance to sit down with Brian Kelly, CFP®, an expert “money coach” and one of our more recent additions to the financial planner team and the Think Tank at Financial Finesse. I asked him a series of questions designed to find out more about how he became interested in joining our group of financial planning professionals who are committed to providing unbiased financial guidance to employees in the workforce. Here is a summary of our discussion with some unique insights about how an experienced financial planner uses an unbiased perspective to help others learn how to take control of their financial future: Continue reading “Meet Brian Kelly, Money Coach”

Why I Came To Financial Finesse

October 02, 2015

As a financial planner at Financial Finesse, I do a lot more than just financial planning. I write blog posts here, contribute to Forbes, participate in our Think Tank, am involved in recruiting and interviewing, and lots of other things. Our plates are always full. Continue reading “Why I Came To Financial Finesse”

How To Determine Your Financial Priorities With A Late Start To Retirement

July 20, 2015

We hear a lot about the retirement crisis in America and there’s a great deal to be concerned about these days. With a decline in pension availability and concerns about the long-term viability of Social Security, the burden of saving for retirement rests squarely on our shoulders. However, the average American has less than $25,000 in total savings and investments for retirement (see EBRI’s 2015 Retirement Confidence Survey). Continue reading “How To Determine Your Financial Priorities With A Late Start To Retirement”

Unbiased Financial Guidance: Q&A With Kelley Long

June 22, 2015

I consider it a privilege to be a part of such an amazing team here at Financial Finesse.It has now officially been four years since I made the decision to leave my financial planning practice to join the financial wellness movement and I couldn’t be happier with that decision. I’m also pretty stoked to always have a group of CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ professionals available to provide me with a second opinion on my own financial decisions or to just help me validate that I am on the right path with my personal financial life plan. Continue reading “Unbiased Financial Guidance: Q&A With Kelley Long”

Financial Education, Literacy, or Wellness?

May 15, 2015

I was talking with a friend recently who is a big fan of words and language, which could explain the presence of more bookshelves in her house than I’ve ever seen in anyone else’s house. We started talking about the language and words involved in my role at Financial Finesse. I’ve noticed an evolution in terminology during my 5 years here. There have been three terms that have been used a lot by our employees, our clients and in the general corporate environment. I see the terms evolving in the corporate workplace and a few members of our financial planning team discussed the evolution recently and found that the evolution of the terms aligns with the evolution in the way people process information. Continue reading “Financial Education, Literacy, or Wellness?”