Recently Katie, my wife,  needed help with a project in her music classroom. She wanted to mount about 24 ukuleles on the wall. It seemed pretty straightforward. The problem is, that I don't have any skills related to accomplishing it. Yet still, I want to help my wife. I knew that I needed reinforcements.  My first call was to my dad. Dad used to have his own handyman business. He's my go-to person whenever there is measuring or tools involved. The thing is,  I know that … [Read more...]

The infographic found below is an extremely compelling one. I use it in my Maximizing Social Security course when talking about the value of delaying Social Security. What it communicates goes well beyond just Social Security planning and invites us to think about planning for longevity in all aspects of retirement. It's not uncommon to use life expectancy tables to consider longevity and the timing of Social Security break even points. Unfortunately, most life expectancy tables consider life … [Read more...]

The following article comes from the “Follow the Money” blog and I found it helpful for those who are looking for direction on the difference between some common estate planning documents: _________________________________ Advanced Medical Directives are a vital part of your financial and estate planning. We often get asked to explain the difference in an advance directive vs living will. We will explain the differences and help you understand why they are important. What is an Advance … [Read more...]

If you haven't read our previous article on a new high yield savings account option with no minimums, high interest rate, and plenty of FDIC insurance, I recommend you read it here: I promised to keep you updated on anything I found that seemed strange or hinky. Well it wasn't but one week after I opened my account and funding it initially that I got an email that my interest rate had been reduced. The APR went from 2.32% to 2.07%. The explanation, of course, was that interest rates have … [Read more...]

Recently a new client confided in me that he had been the victim of a scam over the phone. By not catching it in time, he now owes nearly $30,000 on credit cards, which the credit card companies will not take responsibility for, since they were legitimate purchases the client made, not realizing that he was being scammed.  The police offered him little hope that the perpetrators would be caught or that any money could be recovered. Although it boggles my mind as to how these types of … [Read more...]