As we come to the end of the year, we are shifting our focus to year end planning. This involves cash flow allocation, charitable giving, and tax planning. We have a particular focus on tax planning given that taxes are the biggest lifetime expense most of us will pay. As we like to say around the office, pay your taxes to the IRS, but don’t leave them a tip! What… Read More
Here is a question for you: What is something that we all know is important, but that few of us make the time to do regularly? While I am sure that you can name a few things, the answer that I have in mind is budgeting. Budgeting is simply assigning jobs to each dollar you earn. If you do not give each dollar a job to do, you could find… Read More
Read the video transcript: Charlie: So Lyle, we find ourselves prepping for fourth quarter meetings, and in our total wealth management process, one of the items we hit fourth quarter as we talk with clients is generosity. And that’s something that I know is really important to you. It’s important to me. It’s been important to Master’s. Tell us a little bit about that. Lyle: Yeah, I think there’s a… Read More
Many of us have experienced the following event during a flight: “Good morning, folks, this is your pilot speaking. I have put your fasten seat belt sign on as we will be experiencing some turbulence.” The word turbulence is certainly an accurate description of the investment markets during the first three quarters of 2022! Sometimes it is helpful to pause and remind ourselves of the facts. The investment markets are… Read More
One of the biggest challenges with investing is applying a consistent and logical approach without the influence of your current emotions. We think of long-term investing in years or even decades, but in real time, we are investors every day. It takes many days of discipline to add up to being a successful long-term investor. However, the principles for success in investing are similar to the principles many of us… Read More
The most impactful lesson I learned in seventh grade happened during an indoor activity period. The teacher told us a story that went something like this. A wealthy landowner/farmer owed one of his peasant workers $100,000 for extra work he had done for the farmer. The poor worker gave the landowner a proposition. He said, “you can pay me the $100,000 you owe me today, or you can place a… Read More
This past June, I wrote a blog post that highlighted my journey over the past year and a half as I diligently studied for the CFP® exam. The main point of that blog was to shine a light on the importance of establishing and sticking with a plan of action when it comes to accomplishing a goal. Thankfully, I passed the final exam in July. The past couple of months… Read More
Mia, our family’s eight-pound Yorkie mixed-breed dog, has had some chronic leg problems. She typically gets around fine, but at times would move a little gingerly when getting out of her crate. However, about a week ago, she spotted the neighbor’s cat and bolted out the back door. When she got back to the house, she was limping and hesitating to put weight on her back left leg. After a… Read More
I recently read an article about Netflix and Meta (formerly Facebook) recently becoming ‘value stocks’ due to the significant drops they have both had in their share prices this year (Meta is down 52.3% Year-to-Date and Netflix is down 62.5% Year-to-Date as of this writing). You have heard us talk about value stocks many times before, as it is typically a tilt we hold in our portfolios, but what exactly… Read More
When I was growing up and my family would plan a road trip to a place we had never been to before, I remember my dad writing down directions on a piece of paper for my mom to read to him as he drove. At times, the trip went as planned and this system would work fine. However, there were times when something unexpected would occur and the handwritten directions… Read More
