I had the privilege to participate in a family meeting this past week. I’ve helped facilitate numerous family meetings over the years and I always find them to be a rich experience. Those of you unfamiliar with a family meeting in the context of financial planning might be wondering about the purpose. Of course, each family meeting is tailored to the desires and personality of the parent(s) leading the meeting,… Read More

Last March, the US Stock Market stopped it’s tailspin and reversed course, increasing 103% since it ‘bottomed out’ on March 21st. When we see the market essentially do nothing but go up, a funny phenomenon takes place; we get nervous! We know that withstanding market corrections are a normal part of being an equity investor, so we anticipate them when we see a sustained run of positive returns. We look… Read More

Over the last few weeks, we have been highlighting various sketches drawn by the popular author and speaker, Carl Richards. I love the sketch above; it serves as a great reminder. Every day, we are bombarded with headlines and life events we need to sort through. This sketch provides a nice filter that we can use to discern how to respond. We can all face the temptation to worry, especially… Read More

This week, we are again highlighting a sketch from Carl Richard’s book The Behavior Gap. The power of Carl’s sketches comes from his ability to identify a simple truth about money using an elementary illustration. The premise of this illustration is how to accumulate significant wealth over a lifetime. In other words, why do some people accumulate money rather easily and for others it’s an ongoing struggle? We might initially… Read More

In today’s blog we will explore another sketch from Carl Richards’ book titled, The Behavior Gap. This particular sketch is framed in our large conference room because it is so completely aligned with the way the team at Master’s views financial planning. Allow me to explain further. Friends, we don’t believe the end goal of investing and financial planning should be to see how large of a money pile you… Read More

If you recognize the illustration above, you have a good memory of the small front conference room in our office, as it is framed there. This sketch is from one of our favorite books on financial advice: The Behavior Gap by Carl Richards. Over the next few weeks, we will be focusing on a few of Carl’s sketches that illustrate various concepts on financial planning. The idea of “Real Financial… Read More

My wife, Krista, and I are enjoying the Summer Olympics. One of the things that captivates me about the Olympic games is seeing the top athletes in the world competing in a sport they have devoted most of their life to. While each athlete is gifted with natural ability, every one of them is fully dedicated to a rigorous training schedule. Here is what I know about physical training: it… Read More

I recently had the opportunity to help my parents work through some significant life decisions. As I have taken some time to reflect on that experience, I identified five tips that could be beneficial to anyone helping a parent or an older adult make a decision. Don’t wait to be asked – It could be tempting to stay out of their business until you are invited to get involved. This… Read More

I was recently having a conversation with a local business leader about Bitcoin and “Meme Stocks”, two topics that have been in the financial news a lot in the past year. He posed the following question to me: What do you think about these investments? My response to this question was to dig a little deeper with the following questions: What role will the money in question play in your… Read More