Bill scowled at his reflection in the mirror. At least his grayish beard hid his double chin. “How did I get so old so soon?” he asked himself. Bill’s not old; he’s only 45. But he is at “halftime” in his professional life. Twenty years down, roughly twenty to go. In our twenties and thirties, …
Legendary investor Warren Buffett once said, “Only when the tide goes out do you discover who’s been swimming naked.” This was the billionaire’s iconic way of saying that risky financial behaviors inevitably get exposed when economic conditions change dramatically. Unless you have been snoozing the last 6-8 months, you probably know the economy is changing. …
Clients often ask, “Do I need to budget?” When I reply, “Maybe, maybe not,” they look at me like I’m a weight loss guru who just offered them a cheese Danish. “Wait—you’re a financial planner! Aren’t you supposed to tell me to budget?” My experience is that only about 10% of my clients budget. And …
When the iconic Mission Impossible music starts blaring, we all know what’s coming. A fuse has just been lit! The clock is ticking! It’s up to Ethan Hunt (played perfectly by Tom Cruise) and his talented team of spies to save the day again (they’ve done it six times so far). They’ve got two hours, …
The stock market is at an all-time high. Which is great, right? Your 401(k) has never been higher, and you’ve never been richer! But wait. “What goes up must come down,” right? If the market is soaring now, is a dip—or a crash—just ahead? It’s a dilemma: Should we be content or concerned? Should we …
Didn’t see that one coming, did you? We’ve been so focused on a deadly pandemic and unceasing political drama that we missed the onset of…winter. You remember winter, don’t you? Normally in Louisiana, it’s that brief period between the Sugar Bowl and the Super Bowl. At least, that’s the way I remember it. Until this …
The man told me he wanted to begin investing. He realized if he never invested his money, it could never grow. And if his money never grew, he’d never get to retire…at least not to the lifestyle to which he was accustomed. Ideally, the man said, he wanted the long-term growth available only in the …
The 1980s brought us cable TV, personal computers, parachute pants and mullet haircuts (powerful proof that not every “innovation” equals progress). The decade also saw the rise of the 401(k) plan. Before the heyday of mullet haircuts, the phrase “retirement plan” referred to a pension plan. A pension was a social contract between workers and …
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