Tag Archive for: Families & Newlyweds

umbrellas over a street

The Cash That Protects Everything Else

How much cash reserve should a family keep for the unexpected, and how can you build it when every dollar already has a job? An emergency reserve will never be your most exciting asset. But with cash set aside, those expenses become annoying inconveniences instead of crises. 
mountain peak with snow
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The Snowpack Principle

Every spring, Coloradans watch snowpack reports with unusual devotion. We know the water filling our rivers in July often arrives as snow in January. The mountains collect it, then release it gradually when the valleys below need it most. Generosity also works like this.
for sale sign in front of a home

Thinking About a New Home? Move Wisely.

Most people think of a move as one transaction. But in reality, it’s usually two: selling the home you have and buying the one you want. The hard part is that those two events rarely line up as neatly as you might like.
sand in an hourglass
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The Money Value of Time

Investors often learn about this critical principle in finance: the time value of money. But recently, I began thinking about this from the other direction. If there’s a time value of money, there’s also something I call the money value of time. In the long run, that may matter even more.
group photo of microsoft founders

The Bell-Bottom Billionaires

Being told in 1979 that two yet-to-be-founded companies would be worth more than the entire output of the U.S. economy would have sounded like science fiction. But this history offers a valuable reminder that the future is so big, it’s almost incomprehensible.
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Don’t Just Own Shares: Share Ownership

Can you name five companies whose products or services you use almost daily? What top brands are your family members unable to live without? We consistently rely on — and budget for — these brands and businesses in our daily activities.
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History Over Headlines

Perspective is in increasingly short supply right now. Business news and market commentary is ever focused on urgency. But good investor behavior requires thinking long-term, staying grounded, and resisting the belief that daily market machinations are important enough to warrant changes.
meeting mr market

Meeting Mr. Market

What would it look like to have a conversation with “The Market” (the embodiment of the S&P 500)? What knowledge might we learn from this nebulous thing if only we could ask it? Let's find out.
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We Plan For This

Gut check: How have you been over the past month? When my last column was published a scant four weeks ago, markets were knocking on the door of all-time highs, and the overall feeling was one of cautious optimism. A lot can change in four weeks.
woman working in coffee shop
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Finding Financial Happiness, Part 2

Last month we discussed how Americans are still overwhelmingly dissatisfied with their finances, despite record net worth and increased income. That conversation focused on spending, and how increased inflation in housing, groceries and other…
barron's top financial advisors 2024
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PRESS RELEASE: Steve Booren Recognized as One of America’s Top Financial Advisors by Barron’s

Denver, Colo. — March 25, 2024 – Steve Booren, an independent LPL Financial advisor in Greenwood Village, Colorado, has been honored as one of Barron’s 2024 Top 1,200 Financial Advisors in America, an initiative to connect investors to…
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The Problem with Pessimism

With markets improving and the overall economy strengthening, why is everyone so negative about our country’s current financial state? By many measures, I believe our economy is far better than people’s sentiment toward it. The last two…
Capitol Building

The SECURE Act 2.0 Proposes Several Changes to How Americans Save for Retirement

The SECURE 2.0 Act aims to expand retirement savings options for Americans. It includes provisions such as increasing the age for required minimum distributions, allowing long-term, part-time employees to participate in 401(k) plans, and creating…
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Bullish on Humility, Gratitude, and Discipline

It has been a year for humility as many of the traditional methods of managing risk inside portfolios have been taxed. It has been a year of consciously focusing on gratitude for all that we have and all that has gone well. It also has been a year where the value of our disciplined commitment to planning has never been more highlighted. 
conversation at sunset

Focus on the “Personal” in Personal Finance

One of my favorite sayings is that personal finance is far more personal than it is finance. Simple math would tell you the wisest course of action is putting extra cash to work in the market, but the best advice isn’t always driven by cold hard math.