by Dave Conley on November 4, 2022.
How much money is enough? For John D. Rockefeller the answer was “just a little bit more.” At the pinnacle of his success, Rockefeller had a net worth of about 1% of the entire US economy (about 1/3 of a trillion dollars). He owned 90% of all the oil & gas industry of his time....
by Randy Chalmers on October 28, 2022.
When conversations navigate toward the topic of retirement, one of the most common subjects discussed is IRAs. If you are unaware, IRA stands for individual retirement account, meaning it is not offered through your employer, you made a choice to start saving into a retirement account on your own. Traditional IRAs are invested pre-tax, and...
by Dave Conley on October 21, 2022.
The hamster wheel literally describes the concept of lots of activity but making no progress. In times of crisis, either real or imagined we are encouraged to do something. If your house is on fire or if you witness a car accident you must do something and quick. Why is it that doing nothing when it comes to our investments is so difficult. When clients ask "what are you doing..." sometimes the better question is "is there anything that needs to be done" related to our investments? Are you OK with doing nothing when nothing needed to be done?
by Dave Conley on October 14, 2022.
Ralph and Betty recently bought a new Ford Explorer SUV for $40,000, after carefully research before the purchase. Surprisingly, over the next few months they began to receive offers to buy the vehicle from them at smaller and smaller amounts of money. As far as they knew the vehicle was still in great shape, it had a few thousand miles on it, a ding or two but apart from that the engine still purred and ran like it did when they bought it. Still, Ralph and Betty considered selling the Ford Explorer for half of what they paid for it because they worried that something might be wrong. Should they have sold the vehicle?
by Randy Chalmers on October 7, 2022.
Have you been fearing that you will be living in poverty in your golden years because news articles and studies have long stated that Americans do not know how to save or don’t save enough? In 2002 the Economic Policy Institute study reported that 40% of households then aged 47-64 would retire on less than...
by Dave Conley on October 7, 2022.
We so desperately try to nail down certainty in every area of our life but this pesky thing known as reality gets in our way. The realities of life refuse to conform to our desire for certainty. We make plans for our lives and then reality "happens" and throws a monkey wrench into our plans.
by Randy Chalmers on September 23, 2022.
Have you ever heard someone say something to the effect of “a dream is only a dream until you write it down, then it becomes a goal”? This concept examines how we view seemingly impossible things, like getting our “dream” job, living in the “dream” town, climbing Mount Everest, or completing a marathon. You wouldn’t...
by Dave Conley on September 23, 2022.
Most of us make the same mistake with our money over and over: We buy high (when the economy and markets are up) out of greed and sell low (when the economy and markets are down) out of fear, despite knowing on an intellectual level that it is a very bad idea.
by Dave Conley on September 16, 2022.
Each and every month we get a question that is similar to the statement above. The questions are sincere but based on the assumption that one can invest in the markets painlessly. What I mean by that is I can get marketlike returns when the market is going up, then jump out of the market...
by Michelle McEachin on September 15, 2022.
These days, rising food prices have us all wondering how to make ends meet. Even if you have lots of money at the end of your month, you are still probably looking for ways to stretch your dollars?! Right? I believe the absolute best way to stretch that food budget and get the most bang...