I often analogize financial planning to dieting and exercise (as if financial planning isn’t unappealing enough already). The pain and effort comes now and the benefits come later. Both are also the subject of numerous New Year’s Eve resolutions that are cast aside by Groundhog’s Day. Continue reading “How Financial Fitness is Like Physical Fitness”
I grew up playing sports almost year-round. When I was 6, I started playing football. I played some sport competitively all the way through college and for many years afterward. (I’m currently debating whether or not to become a referee in a local youth rugby league so that I can still get out there and run around a field, but not wake up stiff and sore from being tackled.) Continue reading “Getting Back to Basics”
Sometimes I read something that touches me and makes me remember that, no matter what is going on in my life, things could always be worse. And then I remember to pick myself up, dust myself off and get back to the business of living my life with less whining. When I read this article, I had one of those moments. Continue reading “A Message in a Bottle”
I visited my doctor recently for a routine physical. I’m entitled to a physical once a year through my insurance, so I make sure to take advantage of this benefit. When I visit the doctor’s office, he usually asks me if I am experiencing any particular ailments or symptoms, to which I usually reply “Not really, I feel pretty healthy.” Nevertheless, my doctor checks my blood pressure, temperature, heart rate, weight, and other vital signs. I’m glad he does this, because while I may FEEL fine, the reality is that there may be something going on inside of me that I am not aware of. Continue reading “How’s Your Financial Health?”
Think for a moment about how optimistic you are about your personal financial situation. Are you confident that your financial life will improve over the next 12 months? Your response to these questions provides invaluable insight into your ability to achieve future financial success. Continue reading “Is it Possible to Think your Way to Financial Success?”
One of the things that I’ve lived through over the better part of the last decade is going through a relatively ugly divorce and beginning to rebuild my financial and personal lives while being a semi-workaholic. This point was brought into view very clearly recently in a conversation with a woman that I have started dating. I work a lot! So does she. And, I have the added element of traveling a lot for work. Somehow, we’ve started referring to my travel as being “out to sea.” Continue reading “A Draining But Fulfilling Choice”
A few weeks ago, I had the privilege of working with a young mother who had overcome countless obstacles to become the first college graduate in her entire family. During our discussion, it was revealed that she was trying to overcome a seemingly insurmountable pile of debt created by student loans. Her primary financial goal was to create a plan to stop living paycheck to paycheck and to start taking control of her financial future. Continue reading “Are Money Beliefs Holding You Back?”
Unless you’ve been living on a deserted island, you’ve probably heard about the exploits of my now former mayor, Bob Filner. The most notorious were the allegations by numerous women of various forms of inappropriate flirting, sexual harassment and possibly even assault. Less provocative, but also quite disturbing, were reports of improper demands for financial concessions from developers and the misuse of a city credit card for personal expenses. Continue reading “How to Say “No” to Your Boss”
The dog days of summer are here and it’s back to school time for millions across America. To a certain degree, I actually enjoy the routine of the school schedule. Like the changing of seasons, there is a sense of familiarity despite the unknowns of what may happen along the journey. Continue reading “Personal Finance Tools for Busy Parents”
From the time I was ~6 years old until very recently, I have been competing in one sport or another. If there is a winner and a loser involved in something, I’ll either try it or watch it. Over the last decade or so, I’ve become very fond of the sport of mixed martial arts (MMA). It’s a one-on-one sport combining boxing, wrestling, jiu-jitsu and other grappling styles. Because of the highly technical style of this sport, every single part of an athlete’s body needs to be operating at 100% capacity or defeat is nearly certain. Continue reading “Don’t Limit Yourself”
The real purpose of the financial planning process is often lost when we focus on just the specific elements of a plan such as budgeting, eliminating debt, investing, minimizing taxes, and saving for retirement. Financial planning is more than these things. It’s actually the process of aligning our financial resources with our life goals, values, and vision for the future. Continue reading “Putting It All Into Perspective”
I read this article about how we are working fewer hours now than prior generations and we have more “leisure time” than prior generations too. At first, I was thinking that the article was absolutely wrong. I know that I spend way more than the 33.7 average hours per week in this report. Most of my friends do as well. With our smartphones receiving emails and text messages from coworkers, along with the other technological tethers that many of us live with, it seems like we work all the time. Continue reading “Perception vs. Reality”
In this blog post, Michael makes the argument for a moderate middle ground between a couple he knows that are living well beyond their means and another couple he read about in this article that managed to pay off their mortgage in less than 5 years. While paying off your mortgage early may seem like a great thing, Michael worries that the couple may look back on this time of their lives with regret at all the things they didn’t do with that money. I don’t and here’s why. Continue reading “The Case Against “Moderation””
To borrow a line from Dickens: “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness…” The title of A Tale Of Two Cities really hit me as I read this article about a couple who paid off their mortgage in less than 5 years. They made a lot of changes/sacrifices in their financial life in order to pay off their mortgage and be totally debt free in a short period of time. They are being very frugal, looking for ways to trim their cost of living and putting off instant gratification and some “fun” right now in favor of getting totally out of debt and putting into place a lifestyle that would require only minimal incomes to sustain. This is a family that is taking financial independence and financial security VERY seriously. Continue reading “In All Things, Moderation”
My daughter and I took a trip together and I let her be our DJ and choose all of the music while we were in the car together. Well, almost all of the music. There are a few songs I had to ask to skip, I just couldn’t stand them! Continue reading “We All Make Mistakes”
My daughter lives with her iPhone and if it isn’t working 100% correctly, I get a phone call pretty quickly. One day when she was in school, her phone fell off of her desk and the screen cracked. (Why it was on her desk at school is the subject of an entirely different kind of blog post…) That aside, she is still walking around with her cracked screen and isn’t all that happy about it. Continue reading “Actions Have Consequences”
Whether you like it or not, we live in an information age, and you can get up-to-the-moment information on everything from news headlines to sports scores to financial accounts at your fingertips. But before you whip out that smartphone or wireless device to look up your checking account balance or stock portfolio, remember that you may not be the only one that sees what you see. Hackers and identity thieves live among us, and unbeknownst to you, they may be using your device to perpetuate unwanted activity or worse yet, stealing your personal information. Continue reading “9 Tips to Stay Safe on Public Wi-Fi”
Summertime is officially here and things around my house are just as hectic as ever. With all of the upcoming events my kids have on the schedule like summer camps, swim lessons, dance lessons, soccer camps, reading lists, vacations, and staycations, we have to do a serious balancing act as parents. (When I say “we,” I actually mean my wife, Heather, because I admit that she is the master organizer in our household.) Continue reading “Is It Time For Your Mid-Year Financial Check Up?”
With my colleague Greg Ward’s post yesterday about teaching his children the value of a dollar and Father’s Day still in my recent memory, I reflected on what financial lessons my own father passed on to me. After all, he was a former stockbroker and is now a successful investor. Here are some that have stuck with me: Continue reading “Financial Lessons From My Father”
I saw a news story over the weekend about ten ladies who were able to escape a burning limo. What makes it a good news story is that there were no significant injuries. And, most of the women were in their 90s. Continue reading “Does Your Financial Life Feel Like a Burning Limo?”
