I’m a financial planner, not a therapist. Nevertheless, I want to talk about your emotions.(Relax. I’m not trying to be Dr. Phil here. This will all make sense shortly.)We need to discuss emotions because everyday job situations and money matters stir up strong feelings inside us. And our reactions in those moments have a huge […]

Your mutual fund got clobbered in 2023. You’re wondering if your mutual fund manager is out of sync with the times. How long do you wait before you dump him/her? Therein lies the problem with looking solely at last year’s results—they are so…last year. To fix something that’s not working, you have to analyze not […]

Bob claims he wants a second home on a lake where he can build memories with his kids. He’s asking, “How do I accomplish my goal?” To be fair, Bob’s “goal” is really more of a daydream at this point. Nothing wrong with that. Daydreams are harmless fun. They CAN lead to goals; usually, however, […]

Last week we met Ron and Sharon, the couple who started a little side hustle, watched it boom into a profitable business, and then lamented how this “blessing” of a company had completely overtaken their lives.  I described three stages many business owners go through. I argued that the essence of contented simplicity is saying […]

Ron and Sharon started a little side hustle…that unexpectedly morphed into a booming business. Initially, all those happy customers—and that sizable bump in income—were thrilling. But in time, their growing enterprise became a 24/7 obsession. Says Sharon, “At first, it was fun telling people, ‘We’re business owners!’ Now it’s more like ‘Ugh! This business owns […]

There’s an old maxim that “Two can live as cheaply as one.” Is that true? Or is it what people used to call “an old wives’ tale”? Consider… In 2006, in a State of Our Unions report from the Institute on Marriage at Rutgers University, Barbara Dafoe Whitehead declared, “Marriage is a wealth generating institution.”  […]