Sun setting over a tropical beach
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Improving Investor Behavior: Retire to What?

If I asked you to define retirement, how would you describe it? Take some time and think about it. You’re probably envisioning white sandy beaches, trips to the golf course, and visits with family, free from the constraints of work and email.…
John Booren

Improving Investor Behavior – Managing Your Time Like Money

As a financial advisor, I am typically hired by clients to help them manage their resources. Most often, these are financial resources including cash, investments, etc. Sometimes I help people to manage their business resources such as connecting…
John Booren
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Improving Investor Behavior – Doubt, Sold with a Smile

Financial advice is usually broken into three steps. First, define your goals. Where do you want to go? Next comes a plan. This is the recipe for working toward your goals with actionable and measurable steps. Then comes implementation when…
Silhouette of a spider web
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Improving Investor Behavior: Managing Your Fears

Shark Week is among the longest running and most popular cable programs in history. First appearing 30 years ago in 1988, the show has since been watched and celebrated by millions. Why would a program about sharks and their danger be so popular? I think it plays on the emotion of fear, and more interestingly, people’s desire to be a little bit scared. My point is this: sometimes our greatest fears are the most unfounded. Whether it’s an oversized fish or monsters under the bed, our worst fears take up an oversized portion of our conscious and drive actions that can be damaging and counterproductive. Fear is a powerful emotion and one you must learn to rein in if you want to be a successful investor.
A woman expressing anxiety on the phone
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Anxiety and Investing: Taking the Fear Out of Finances

The chances that either you, a loved one, or a friend have had an incident with, or an ongoing relationship with heightened anxiety are likely. Almost 20 percent of the population expresses some sort of anxiety disorder in a lifetime. It comes…
Pat Alfano and Dave Anderson

A Retirement Plan Sponsor is Like the Pilot In Command of An Aircraft

The responsibility of being a retirement plan sponsor is like the responsibility of flying a group of passengers from one location to another. Are you and your team operating like a “pilot in command?”
John Booren

Improving Investor Behavior – Longevity and the Fear of Running Out

When do you plan to die? Weird question, right? It’s one that financial advisors have to ask their clients. The typical approach to retirement planning involves spending down the portfolio, a lifetime of savings for a client, at a rate that…
Nelisha Firestone

My Dad’s Story

When my Dad met my Mom, he told her that he would be a millionaire one day. From collecting hub caps on the side of the road to running a seven-figure business, this is the story of his rise and fall.
From Clutter to Clarity Workshop
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From Clutter to Clarity: What to Toss and What to Keep

By Michelle Santaferro, organizing expert and owner of Organomics Like many during this time of year, you may have found certain documentation painful to retrieve and scattered in several locations.  But there’s good news: you can create…
Steve Booren in front of a dry erase board
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The Difference Between Financial and Investment Advice

With the advent of technology, real financial advice will be a huge differentiator in the financial services industry. Anyone can create a portfolio, asset allocation or investment strategy. We are even told robots can do this with this concept called “Robo-Advisor”. What most people actually need is advice about how their investments fit into their overall financial plan, and more importantly their life. Believe me – robots cannot do this, nor do investment products do this. It takes an experienced, skilled, listening Advisor. Both investment management and financial advice are necessary components for long-term success, but it’s important to understand the differences. So let's compare and contrast the two.
Pencil shavings on a notebook

Think $1M is Enough for Retirement? Think Again.

Remember when $1 million was a target goal on which to retire? Today, even that may not enough – especially for Baby Boomers getting ready to retire - and the situation is even worse for Gen Xers and Millennials.
Tennis shoes and a kettle bell

Are You Fiscally Fit for 2018?

Are you ready to become “fiscally fit” for 2018? We want to help you work toward making this a successful and prosperous year, so we updated our checklist with pointers for getting a head start on the new year.
Steve Booren
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2017 In Review

At the end of every year I enjoy taking a look back. As you probably know, I’m a big believer in perspective and investing for the long term. And though our ability to look forward in time is still a work in progress, our ability to look back and gain some perspective is always valuable. So as we wrap up 2017, I want to take a look back at some of the major events that defined the year.
Brannon Brown

Feed Your Focus. Starve Your Distractions

Daily living, marketing, and the widespread adoption of mobile devices and social media have made it increasingly difficult to remain focused. Often, it is difficult to even know where to focus, much less maintain it over it time. But I’ve come up with a little reminder that I like to review from time to time, and I want to share it with you.
John Booren
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For These Financial Areas, Emotion is More Important Than Logic

Money is hard. Take it from us, we are honored to have very intimate, fragile conversations with clients like you every single day. And if you’ve been a part of those conversations, you know that it can be very emotional. Sometimes we think myopically that money is just about numbers—it’s spreadsheets and calculators. All we need to do be completely rational and figure out how to get the most out of an investments. But that’s not all money is. You may have heard the phrase: “Personal finance is a whole lot more PERSONAL, than it is finance.” There is so much truth in those words.