Citrus fruit in a grocery aisle
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Improving Investor Behavior: Understanding inflation, the cancer of retirement planning (Part 1)

One of the greatest challenges to retirees and investors alike is inflation. Not only is this principle often forgotten, but rarely understood. So let's discuss inflation: what it is, where it's been, and where it might be going in the future. How can you as an investor combat inflation over long periods of time, helping to ensure that the purchasing power of your money remains unchanged for years to come?
Marquis displaying "The World is Temporarily Closed"

Improving Investor Behavior – Hindsight in 2020

They say hindsight is 20/20, and as we make the year 2020 hindsight, it's a good time to reflect. What did we learn? What surprised us? How can we use our past to make our future bigger and better? It was former Secretary of Defense Donald…
Glasses on a book

Why I Became A Financial Advisor

I think we’re all very well aware, especially after the chaos this year has brought, that life can change in an instant. And when it does, it’s the work you’ve done up to that point that helps you through the crisis and gives you a stable…
Grandfather holding his grandson
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Legacy – The Power of Time and Good Behavior

Investing requires one belief above all others: that generally, the world will be a better place in the future than it is today. It’s a disposition that is often at odds with daily news, political banter, and sometimes our belief system.…
Two people discussing a chart

Your 7-Point Checklist For When Life Suddenly Changes

Let me start with a story. I live in Denver, Colorado, with my husband, Brian, and our two beautiful daughters, Addie and Eden. One perfect day in Breckinridge, Colorado, we were doing what we love to do as a family—snow skiing at our favorite…
Woman viewing a laptop
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Your Comprehensive Financial Planning Guide For Women

Over half of the wealth in the U.S. is controlled by women.[1] You are probably reading this because you are one of those women. Finances can be intimidating, so I have dedicated my career to helping women like you gain the confidence to take…
I voted stickers
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Improving Investor Behavior: Keep Politics Out of Your Portfolio

With the election a short 45 days away, the news stream is unrelenting. Political TV ads, postcards, and of course those phone calls during the dinner hour - it’s an all-out media assault designed to convince you that if the “other guy”…
Balloons

Does Your Business Need a LIFT?

If COVID has brought anything to business owners' attention, small and large alike, it's the need for a financial plan before bad news drops. A year ago, the likelihood of a worldwide pandemic effectively shuttering business in the U.S. for six months seemed so outlandish that had you suggested it; you would have been laughed out of the room. In hindsight, that suggestion would have made you look like a genius or a prophet.
Two people video chatting
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Improving Investor Behavior: Reframing Your Business Mindset

For business owners, improving investor behavior can mean more than a focus solely on financial instruments. The intent of this column has been improving investor behavior, which often discusses market investments like equities, bonds, and…
Buttons to report a fire or call police
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Fire Drills and Why We Do Them

Every meeting we have with clients includes a line item on the agenda: Fire Drill.  What would you do if the market dropped significantly tomorrow? What would that look like for you? For years now it has felt like an unnecessary discussion…
Campbells Chicken Noodle Soup
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Improving Investor Behavior – Campbell’s Soup & Rising Income

Cold winter weather means it is soup season here in Colorado, and none feel more familiar than Campbell’s Tomato Soup. Campbell’s tomato soup is an excellent benchmark for understanding the impact of the persistent enemy of all investors: inflation. For more than 100 years, the size hasn’t changed, but the price sure has. About 45 years ago, in 1974, the soup cost about $0.12 per can. Today, it retails for about $0.87 per can. That points to an average inflation rate of 4.3 percent. Forty-five years may sound like a long time, but that’s about the length of a typical retirement.
Person holding a TV remote

Improving Investor Behavior: Investing time now will pay dividends later

The average American spends more than 85 hours per month watching TV. The same person will likely spend about 265 hours sleeping and 228 hours working. Know how much time they’ll spend working on their finances? About 1.8 minutes, (yes, that works out to 96 seconds) per day.
Knife digging into a log
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Improving Investor Behavior: The Sharp Knife of Compound Interest

As investors, we seek to understand and control compound interest. Like the knife, when used correctly, compound interest is a powerful tool. Even better, the three variables behind compound interest can be put to work for anyone, regardless of income or amount saved.
Alarm clock sitting on a table

Improving Investor Behavior: The Price of Time

Money is a resource; there can always be more of it. But time is finite, and there is no getting it back once it’s gone… or is there?
Rack of comic books

Improving Investor Behavior: Strengthen Your Financial Superpowers

My son and I were in the car driving to the store as he struggled to plug in his phone with a USB cable. He flipped the cable back and forth a few times before it finally slipped in. “If I had a superpower, I hope it would be to knowing…