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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…
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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…
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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”…
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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.
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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…
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Improving Investor Behavior: Blind Spots & Confirmation Bias

We talk a lot about perspective in this article. Our perspective is the lens through which we view the world. It is our way of framing everything we see and ultimately defines how we react to what life throws at us. We believe what we believe…
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Getting Back to Better

My goal as a parent has always been to build a better future for my kids, and to give them opportunities that I didn’t have. Whether that’s financial, educational, personal, or whatever it may be. It’s an essential part of my “why.” I think deep down there’s a part of us that wants our kids to be better than we ever were. To me, that’s progress and hope. It’s an innate and immeasurable desire - to want our tomorrow to be better than our today.
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Improving Investor Behavior: Fear is a Very Powerful Emotion

After almost 45 years as a financial advisor, one realizes that there’s truth behind the phrase, “Reality is made up of circles, but we see straight lines.” Market cycles, crises, and investor behavior are all echoes of things we’ve seen in the past and will likely experience again in the future. No doubt the COVID-19 crisis impacts us all, and while it may feel like something completely new, it really isn’t.
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Improving Investor Behavior: An Unintentional Sabbatical

Has it been a month already? In some ways, this feels like the longest 30 days many have ever experienced. For others, it seems to have gone by way too quickly. When much of the world is committed to staying home and avoiding COVID-19, time…
Capitol building

Highlights of the CARES Act

Late last week the senate passed and the President signed the CARES stimulus package designed to, among many things, curb the financial turmoil created in the wake of the Coronavirus. This $2.2 trillion, 800+ page legislation offers meaningful…
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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…
The Cycle of Market Emotions

Timeless Truths & The Cycle of Market Emotions

Just 30 days ago, on Feb. 18th, markets were at all-time highs. Today, fear grips the market and recession is at the top of every financial pundits’ mind. Benjamin Graham, said to be one of the best investors of all time, and a mentor to Warren Buffett reminds us: Control what you can control: yourself, your emotions and your response (or behavior) to those emotions.
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Improving Investor Behavior – Investing in Panic

A lot can change in 30 days. One short month ago, markets were knocking on the door of all-time highs, businesses were doing well, and Joe Biden was behind several candidates in the Democratic primaries. Oh, how things change quickly. Very…
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A Note to Clients on Virus Volatility

As I’m sure many of you are aware, this past week has been a difficult one for investors. The broad market indices have seen swift and dramatic drops, leaving many scared, confused, and upset. Make no mistake; it is moments like these that define all of us as investors. Fear is an emotion, and one that can quickly snowball into an all-out panic. We’ve often said your behavior as an investor will ultimately have a far greater effect on your outcome than when or how you are invested. This is one such moment.
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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.