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.
Nelisha Firestone

Ladies, Use These Tips to Give Your Financial Confidence a Boost

I recently came across an article titled, “Warren Buffet invests like a girl.” As a female financial advisor, I wasn’t sure if that was a compliment or jab. Reading deeper into the article- they explain women, like men bring some gender-linked qualities to investing that can actually help. Women tend to do their research, invest calmly, and exercise patience. These are all great attributes to sticking to a long term plan.
Steve Booren
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With Markets at All-Time Highs, is Now a Good Time to Invest?

It’s a fair question and one we’ve heard a lot lately with the DOW and S&P continuing to push into record territory. Our little bull market has grown up and is about to start third grade. We’re due for a correction right?
2016 Taught Us These Things
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2016 Taught Us These 3 Lessons

If 2016 has taught us anything, it is to expect the unexpected. So as we wrap up a rollercoaster of a year, I find myself looking back to three surprises and the lessons they taught us. In the same way the bottom of a cup is revealed only when the liquid is quickly stirred, sometimes it takes a whirlwind of the unexpected to remind us of a few simple truths.
3 Keys of a Modern Retirement

The 3 Paychecks of a Modern Retirement

On November 29th, the oldest living person in the world, Emma Morano will turn 117. Based on my research she is the last living person to have been born in the 1800s. While some people might marvel at all she’s seen and been through, I ‘m curious about what she did during her more than 50 years in retirement.
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The Fear of Uncertainty and the Uncertainty of Fear

“We have nothing to fear, but fear itself.” With those words FDR accepted the presidency of the United States in 1933 during one of the most turbulent times in American history. Lesser known are the words that surround that key sentence.
The Value of Regret

The Value of Regret

As a financial advisor I often see clients with regret. For some investors it’s the regret of missing out on big gains. For others, the regret of taking part in big losses.
3 Principles of Retirement

The 3 Principles of Retirement

There are millions of words written every day about the economy, the direction of the financial markets, investment advice, and so on, yet no other topic gets as much attention as the concept of “retirement”. When you think about it, it should get attention. Investors spend their entire working career saving and planning for this phase in life. While we prefer the phrase, “making work a choice” (no one likes thinking about reaching the end of their usefulness) we know many people struggle to understand key issues of retirement. So today we want to cover three main areas.
5 Red Flags of Scams
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The 5 Red Flags of Scams

The scams and fraudulent schemes that come to consumers via E-mail, phone calls, and the USPS change all the time. It could be the ‘Grandparent’ scheme, an offer to reduce credit card interest rates, the offer to sell a timeshare, or even winning a lottery or prize. The wise approach is to look for the common red flags and know what to do when you see them. This workshop was originally presented at Prosperion EDU 16.