We are often asked the question "should I manage my own investments or is that something I should let a professional handle?" While there is no black and white answer, the first step is to decide whether or not you want to take on that responsibility. Next, develop a process to follow when making decisions around your investments. Your investment plan should be the guide to making these important decisions and help answer questions such as, "when is the right time to rebalance the portfolio? What should the process be when I need to withdraw money? "In this podcast episode, Adam and Ben talk about the pros and cons of managing your own investments and the checklist you should have if you choose to take on the responsibility.
This special podcast episode for A/B Conversations discusses the potential impact the Russian invasion of Ukraine may have on investments and financial planning. We're far from experts on the crisis and the outcome is still unknown at this point in time, but we do want to try to be experts on client communications and financial planning. We can draw some parallels by using historical data from prior wars and other conflicts to predict how the market will react. We look at investing through a long-term lens and we know the market is more forward looking than we tend to be as humans. Ben and Adam discuss historical trends and inputs that drive the market in short-term bursts.
Have you ever thought about retiring at the same time as your spouse? Part of our job is figuring out if retiring at the same time is financially possible, but it’s also making sure that both partners are ready to commit to the next phase of life. There’s a lot of things to consider other than the financials. Are you emotionally and mentally ready to make that transition to retirement? And, often times couples have not even seriously discussed retirement timelines with eachother. Our goal is to ask questions so we may understand our clients' unique situations as we move through our retirement planning process. Listen to Ben and Adam discuss the variables and potential trade offs that go into making this huge decision together.
In our financial planning process, we assess any products you may own, such as life insurance or annuities. Next, we provide education on the implications of being contracted to that product. Our goal is to review if there are better options available to you, ultimately to decide if you should be doing something different. If you are unable to move away from the product, we discuss ways in which it may fit into your financial plan to help align your financial life in a way that helps you reach your broader financial goals. Tune in to listen to Ben and Adam go through all the details of what to do with your old products!
Whether you’re about to get married or you’re coming from previous relationship and entering a new one, there’s a lot of financial questions that ensue. Is it best to keep your financial lives separate, intertwined, or somewhere in the middle? There isn’t an easy answer and it depends on you feel, but there is some financial planning that should occur no matter what the result is! Take a listen to Adam and Ben give a few ideas of what you should be considering when bringing two financial lives together.
The stock market is off to a rocky start in 2022. How can we be opportunistic with a market that is flat or down? It's all about perspective! Listen to Ben and Adam talk about strategies for turning a down market into something positive for your portfolio in this podcast episode.
In this podcast episode we explore the concept of the Final Financial Plan. The Final Financial Plan is essentially a roadmap for those that are left to help settle the estate, such as the executor or trustee. It lays out where any important information is and how to access financial accounts. This document serves as a guide for organizing any wishes that typically wouldn't be put in a will. It is not a legal document but really just adds instruction and clarity to the estate settlement process. Listen to Ben and Adam give all the details of what is included in a Final Financial Plan and why it is important for estate planning in this podcast episode.
What if you can't come up with well-defined financial goals? In this podcast, we discuss ways to help get you on the right path without having a perfectly defined endpoint in mind at the beginning. In our planning process we focus on aligning your behaviors to the values that matter most to you.
What’s the best way to go about saving money? The pecking order of savings, like many things in financial planning, is dependent on an individual's situation. During our financial planning process we will have to make certain assumptions, especially around taxes and compensation later in life, but we focus on doing the most efficient thing that we can, while still offering some flexibility. Diversification of savings for accessibility and taxes in the future is key. We have a process to go through this with you. Listen to us discuss our process for defining a pecking order of savings for someone in this podcast episode.
You can weather the storms in the market when they happen by having all of your fundamentals in place. This includes “bucketing” your assets and staying the course in your financial plan and blocking out all the noise that occurs while investing. Ben and Adam talk about different ways to feel confident with your investments by recapping 2021’s market environment and staying the course as we enter into 2022 not knowing what the market will do.
Listen to Ben and Stevyn discuss how the health and wellness industry is closely tied to the finance industry and why health should become part of your retirement portfolio. You'll also have the opportunity to hear Stevyn's personal journey, as well as, gain insights on small things you can do now to improve your "healthspan" so you can fully enjoy retirement in the future.
Recently, Edward Jones put out the 4 Pillars of Retirement study, which was comprised of health, purpose, family and finance. Recently, Edward Jones put out the 4 Pillars of Retirement study, which was comprised of health, purpose, family, and finance. In this podcast episode, Adam and Ben discuss the findings, some of which were surprising. Throughout the survey results it was abundantly clear that the first three pillars held more weight than the wealth or finance side of retirement. In fact, did you know that 96% of retirees said that health is more important than wealth in retirement? Listen to us discuss the full results and how we believe the human side of finances plays an important role in financial planning and our process.
