My wife, Hannah, and I have known for a while that we wanted to start a family after being married for a certain number of years. After our wedding and purchasing a home, we knew we had to keep this goal of ours in mind as we made decisions. We were intentional about enjoying the stage of life we were in, while making choices that would set us up for… Read More

In last week’s blog post, Charlie wrote about the value of pivoting your plans when the circumstances of life cause a surprise change to be necessary. One underlying skill behind the concept of pivoting is decisiveness. The ability to be decisive comes easier for some people than it does for others. Decisiveness is comprised of two key components: being able to make a decision quickly and effectively. Being able to… Read More

I am a basketball fan. I’ve enjoyed playing the game (mostly in the past), following the NBA, and, college basketball’s March Madness tournament, of course! In basketball, a player pivots when they plant one foot, but then quickly spin to go the opposite direction. It happens many times during the game. Two weeks ago, my wife and I were planning to fly to Florida for a week-long vacation in beautiful… Read More

At Master’s, you hear us talk a lot about connecting your personal values with the use of your capital. We want to help you align your financial decisions with what is most important to you. Why do we believe this is so important? Because the more resources you have, the more difficult it is to be sure that they are all being optimized for your personal goals and values. Think… Read More

As I write this, headlines are dominated by news of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, soaring inflation rates, and dropping stock markets. These scary headlines can, understandably, lead to a sense of anxiousness on the part of investors. Times like these illustrate why the Master’s team recommends positioning money using a bucketing strategy. A bucketing approach to asset positioning involves deciding when money will be needed to fulfill a goal or… Read More

The 2022 Winter Olympics have come to a close.  There are many aspects of the Olympics that I enjoy and one of those is the athlete’s journey to compete in the Olympics.  I like to reflect on their story and how it can parallel our journey through life as we work to achieve our goals.  There are several great stories from the Olympics, and one of my favorites this year… Read More

Last week my mother-in-law, Carol Horning, passed after a several month struggle with cancer. As I have spent time reflecting on her life, I’m struck by how well she achieved balance in her life. Her family, friends and clients were extremely important to her, but she also prioritized golf, tennis, shopping, and the things she wanted to do. She seemed to have a great balance between work and play, giving… Read More

As a child, I was always highly active. I liked playing whatever sport was in season at the time, either by myself or with others. I recall many times getting injured during my activities; crashing my bike into the mailbox, being hit in the face with a baseball, getting brush burn from falling on macadam playing football, and many others! Each time an injury would occur, I remember vowing in… Read More

When it comes to picking investments to comprise a portfolio, what method makes the most sense? For some people, it is as simple as locating the investment products that have performed the best over the last few years and, if the fees are reasonable, simply selecting those products. All that person is doing is making their decisions by looking at what worked in the past. Taking this approach is often… Read More