Florida and Freakonomics

|
Entirely missing all of the Snowzilla fun; I just returned late last week from the Inside ETFs conference in Hollywood, Florida. This conference is one of my favorite events all year—and not only because going to Florida in January should be a requirement for all of us in the DC area… The main reason that

Patience and Planning

|
Over the past few weeks, I have been reminded of the importance of both patience and planning in three key parts of my life. The first was traveling with my 6-year-old son. Normally, I would look forward to the opportunity for just he and I to travel without the rest of the family, but—as is […]

Odds Are…

|
Some people made a lot of money during the historically awful stock market last week. Eighty-four people made over $1,000,000 on their $2 investment in this past Wednesday’s Powerball lottery drawing, with total winnings of over $1 billion. The national fascination with the huge Powerball lottery was interesting to

Three New Year’s Resolutions Everyone Should Make

|
Building from Nathan’s post last week…and in the seasonal spirit of making resolutions for the New Year…here are three New Year’s resolutions that we highly recommend you add to your list for 2016: “Live Life to the Fullest” — In a recent survey from GoBanking Rates, this idea ranked as the top

Resolve to Increase Your Retirement Savings Contributions

|
These days, saving for retirement is completely up to you. The days of working for one company your entire career and of counting on a guaranteed monthly income in retirement are over. Why? Most companies have decided that having a defined benefit plan (a pension) for employees is too costly and too unpredictable. I

Christmas Town and Failure to Plan

|
This past weekend, we took our family to Busch Garden’s Christmas Town for the first time. As you probably expect, I usually plan our excursions with military precision, being a planner by trade and all. But this time, I decided to wing it. The park opened at 2pm, but we chose to arrive at 5pm—right […]

Think the Stock Market Will Go Down? You’re Right.

|
Much like a stopped clock is right two times a day, a prediction that the stock market will decline will also come to fruition at some point. The more difficult part of the equation is figuring out when exactly that will happen. Further, how far will the market go down and over what time frame? […]

Time for a Hike

|
It is the season of anticipation—children are eyeing the presents under the tree, families are preparing for holiday guests…and investors are looking to December 16th to see if the Federal Reserve will finally raise interest rates for the first time since 2006. Given the recent good employment report, it seems all

To Plan or Not to Plan

|
A TIAA-CREF study published in October 2015 highlighted the most common barriers to seeking financial advice. The study found that the top reasons that Americans don’t seek help with their finances is because they either think they don’t have enough money to invest, they feel advice will cost more than they can