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Financial Planning

Financial Planning

Coronavirus – Part 2

While we’ve already written on coronavirus a few weeks ago, it seems the virus is still not contained and is wreaking havoc across the globe—and in financial markets as well with the S&P 500 falling by over 3% today. Through February 2020, nearly 25,000 cases of coronavirus have

Sarah YakelSarah YakelFeb 24, 2020
Financial Planning

Investing Early

Nothing seems to go by faster than the time does watching children grow. As most parents can agree, it is bitter sweet to see our little ones transition from one milestone to the next …. Or let’s be honest, in the case of the second, third, fourth child milestones are gone in the

Sarah IrvingSarah IrvingFeb 18, 2020
Financial Planning

Raise Your Performance

This week marks the end of a very fun, very tiring, and very rewarding basketball season as coach of the Fresta Valley middle school girls basketball team. I’ve spent the past few evenings writing notes to each of my players, which has made me think back on the season and wax nos

Nathan GilbertNathan GilbertFeb 11, 2020
Borrow or Use Cash?
Financial Planning

Borrow or Use Cash?

Thank you to one of our loyal readers for the suggestion of this topic! It’s a good question and one we get a lot from people, especially those nearing or in retirement. And, it usually involves whether or not to pay off the mortgage on a primary residence (or use saved money to

Nathan GilbertNathan GilbertFeb 4, 2020
A woman wearing a face mask
Financial Planning

Can the Market Shake the Flu?

This week, Nathan and I are attending one of our favorite conferences Inside ETFs—the conference is filled with all kinds of exciting sessions such as “The Non-transparent ETF Revolution and the Inevitable Adoption” and “Beyond the FAANGs: Understanding Technology Subsectors”—it’

Sarah YakelSarah YakelJan 28, 2020
Young boy playing hockey
Financial Planning

A Positive Influence

Last week, my son was fortunate enough to get to practice with two Washington Capitals hockey players at the Capitals’ practice facility in Arlington. The entire Piedmont Predators under 10 group was able to participate, and I think it’s safe to say they all had a great time (and

Nathan GilbertNathan GilbertJan 21, 2020
Financial Planning

A Picture is Worth A Thousand Words

So, let’s count this blog post as 3,000 words long since I have three great pictures… We are busy with writing our client letter and assembling our quarterly economic review, instead of a lengthy blog post this week, we wanted to share three really interesting charts and infograp

Nathan GilbertNathan GilbertJan 14, 2020
SECURE?
Financial Planning

SECURE?

The Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement act (SECURE act) has been receiving a lot of press lately, and deservedly so. The act does make some significant changes to the rules around IRA contributions and distributions, and the House and Senate waited till the las

Nathan GilbertNathan GilbertJan 7, 2020
Company team wearing christmas sweaters
Financial Planning

Twixtmas

The week between Christmas and the New Year is a little disorienting—internet memes abound: 2019 Recap & 2020 Preview On this last day of 2019, we are caught in a little bit of Twixtmas too—we could look back and write about how amazing 2019 has been for investors… Pretty fantast

Sarah YakelSarah YakelDec 31, 2019
Financial Planning

Elf

To follow up on Nathan’s post from last week, I hate the Elf on a Shelf. Ours arrived a few years back and was especially clever, hanging paper snowflakes in the kids rooms, staging elaborate battles with other stuffed animals, and making snow angels out of flour…now, ages later,

Sarah YakelSarah YakelDec 17, 2019
Three happy kids holding a new toy
Financial Planning

US Labor & Elf on the Shelf

Both hard at work! Anyone with Santa-believing-aged children is likely familiar with Elf on the Shelf™. It’s yet another invention that I’m mad about not thinking of first! If you are not familiar, the elf is simply a small elfin-looking doll dressed in a Santa outfit. The short

Nathan GilbertNathan GilbertDec 10, 2019
Your Investment Time Horizon is Longer Than You Think
Financial Planning

Your Investment Time Horizon is Longer Than You Think

Recently, my wife’s grandmother (my grandmother-in-law?), affectionately known as Ging, celebrated her 94th birthday. While she has had some medical complications along her journey, her quality of life has mostly been very good if not excellent. She is certainly lucky to have a l

Nathan GilbertNathan GilbertNov 26, 2019