Making Cents: When You’re In Charge Of An Estate
There is a saying about the only two things that are certain in life are death and taxes. That may be true, but for people with any assets, there is a third to be concerned about. That third issue is the resolution of the estate of the decedent. The loss of a loved one is…
Making Cents: Knowing Your Level of Financial Independence
Many trod through life because that is what they do. They go to work, they save and spend, and they keep in that motion until they either must stop working or decide that doing something else would be nice. Some are so good at what they do, that they couldn’t fathom how they would spend…
Making Cents: Why Financial Education is Important
We live in the age of information and big data. As a result, there is no shortage of ways to obtain information about any matter of personal finance. Sometimes the information that you find is relevant and useful, and other times it is outdated and not germane to your topic or need. The problem is…
Making Cents: Decoding Alphabet Soup When It Comes To Financial Advisors
Recently, a friend poked fun of my email signature because of all the initials after my name. Lots of professionals use designations in their signature; some recognizable and some not. The question you need to ask is whether the initials, (AKA credentials or designations) are necessary and would a credentialed professional deliver better service and…
Making Cents: Are you Suffering from Familiarity Risk?
Unless you are a CPA who audits public companies, you’ve probably never heard of familiarity risk. Familiarity risk are risks that you may be incurring that are easily masked by something or someone that you simply become used to. Being too familiar with any situation may cause your guard to become lower than it should…
Making Cents: Why Many Won’t Discuss Their Finances
Many people would rather talk about their love lives than their finances. This is a conundrum to me, but I have a few theories on what may be holding you back. The fear of confirming ignorance appears to be a riskier place for many than the complacency of innocence. For many, it is as simple as…
Making Cents: What Type of Advice Are You Getting?
There are so many different terms used to describe a relationship with a financial professional that what you get may frequently differ from what you expected. Terms like investment consultant, financial planner, wealth management or broker are frequently tossed around with little thought as to what each actually means. Regulation surrounding the titles and services…
Making Cents: How Are Your Buckets Filled?
One strategy utilized to allocate assets and generate retirement income is commonly called the bucket strategy. In the bucket strategy, a retiree would consider setting up different buckets of money with a different investment strategy for each bucket. The buckets are established utilizing a time horizon. The first bucket should be designed to hold money…
Making Cents: Professional Skepticism
When I was trained as a rookie CPA candidate in the late 70’s, the term professional skepticism was first introduced to me. What it means is that we should not accept all stories at face value. In the accounting world, it goes even further to mean that one should corroborate or validate through examination and…
Getting Your Financial House In Order
There is a big difference between knowing what to do and then doing it. Take a look at the health food and diet business and how it is booming. It’s not like people can’t learn what to do on their own – but making a routine out of tracking intake and sticking to an exercise…