When markets and headlines become concerning, as they do just about every few months, remaining calm can be difficult – but is essential to making wise financial decisions.   Finding Your Calm   While we cannot control what happens in the world, the good news is that...

It is human nature to focus more on the present than on the future, which is in line with our basic instinct of survival.   We focus on the present because that is where “life happens” and where we experience feelings such as pleasure, pain, anxiety, and peace. Every...

As the kids go back to school and we realize that 2024 will be upon us in about 90 days, it is a good time to review the ABCs of successful investing.   A – Adjust Your Expectations  It’s important to accept the reality that all financial markets have selloffs. These...

Time is an interesting dimension.  While time is a fixed measurement, our perception of time can vary greatly depending on what we are doing and/or feeling.    It has been said that the longest eight seconds in life is riding a bull.  I believe that’s a true statement...

We all want desirable outcomes – those outcomes that bring us happiness, peace, and prosperity. Because we desire such outcomes, we may go into situations having high expectations. But it may be more beneficial to temper our expectations if we want to experience...

Investing may be simple in principle, but it isn’t easy in practice. Markets and economies are fraught with uncertainty, constantly changing news and markets, and news about how great some other investment is performing. Warren Buffett is one of the most successful...

I’ve been told that I have an amazing ability to state the obvious, but obviously some things need to be stated over and over again.  I’m also excellent at redundancy if you didn’t notice.  What I’m really trying to say is that rising interest rates are a significant...

Over the past 12 months, by far the most common question I’ve been asked is about inflation and its potential long-term effects on retirement plans.  Ever since food prices started rising about 18 months ago, inflation has increased the cost of goods and services...

Record Keeping.  Successful people tend to be organized.  It’s an even easier task now than it used to be, due to electronic files, online accounts and computer storage rather than the old school manilla folders.  But whatever method you use to keep track of your...

If someone offers you a free horse, cattle, donkey, mule, or goat; it’s probably best to pass unless you like repairing fences, gates and barns while trying not to get kicked, bit or hooked.  The same general principal applies to anything mechanical, especially...

I’m of the age now that when the phone rings in the middle of the night, it’s normally not an invitation to join a great party.  In fact, when it has occurred, I’m grateful for when it’s a wrong number or something funny.  But like some of you reading this, I’ve...

There has been a fair amount of press coverage over the past two weeks about potential changes to retirement accounts in 2023.  All of this of course is subject to being passed by Congress and signed into law by the President, but a number of the changes...