shopping at the market

Intelligent Investing: Overcoming Inflation Using a Familiar Friend (Part 2)

For investors, inflation is the erosion of your money, a "cancer," if you will. It is the slow, subtle decline in what your money buys or the purchasing power of your money. Last month we covered what inflation is, how it works, and where…
generic photo of puzzle pieces

What I Do & How I Help

Planning is a part of life. We plan our days, our years, our vacations, our careers…the list goes on. It’s easy to get so caught up in the day-to-day planning and focus only on what’s in front of us that we forget to do the most important…
pathway to 2021

It’s A New Year! Is It Time To Reevaluate Your Financial Plan?

A new year is often a time for fresh starts, intentional planning, and renewed motivation to conquer goals and accomplish things that are important to you. And after the year we just had, a fresh start is just what we need. As you transition…
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…
Gold bars and coins

Why Do People Really Buy Gold And What Are The Alternatives?

Warren Buffet once said, “Gold gets dug out of the ground in Africa, or someplace. Then we melt it down, dig another hole, bury it again, and pay people to stand around guarding it. It has no utility. Anyone watching from Mars would be scratching…
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.…
Carved pumpkins

Improving Investor Behavior – Fear: Acknowledged and Avoided

It’s that time of year again when pumpkins start appearing on porches and horror movies are on TV. Halloween is when we indulge in our fear each year. We welcome it into our homes, knowing the temporary fright is sure to pass and make way…
Capitol Building

What Are You Doing on November 4th?

Election Day, Tuesday November 3rd, is only a week away. While 2020 has been historic, it seems that everyone has a dramatic expectation of what will happen in the investment markets, as if it will be the "next" big 2020 disruption. This morning…
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…