Is there such a thing as overdoing it when it comes to contributing to your 401k / employer sponsored plan?  If you are in the position to be questioning this, then congratulations, that is an excellent place to be financially! Obviously yes, there are limitations as to how much you can put into your 401k […]

TL;DR: more cute dog pics below 😊   Over our 20+ years in the industry, my partner Sarah Yakel and I have heard the refrain ‘I’ll get out of the market now and get back in when things look better’ countless times. In the least accusatory tone possible, that is almost never the right thing […]

The old adage of “Money Can’t Buy Happiness” has been tested in several high profile academic studies—the first major study was in 2010, when a paper was published that showed a correlation between higher household income and increased levels of satisfaction (happiness). That original study showed happiness

Our dog Dude is a reeling ball of energy, not surprising given his breed as a Blue Heeler and their intuitive need to be constantly occupied with a job or a purpose. As of right now we don’t have any field animals for him herd, so by default he has latched onto our two kids […]

Short answer: Likely your company plan. Feel free to stop reading now! 😊 If you are employed and covered by a 401k, 403b, 457b, TSP, or some other unnecessarily complicated number/letter combination (qualified plans), then you should maximize contributions to that plan prior to adding to your own IRA. Reasons: Ease

What a difference a few months can make…with time, perspectives can change! From last quarter to this quarter, this happened: Bailey doubled in size. Here are a few other charts or images that caught our attention this past month and shifted or confirmed our perspectives: Large cap stocks returned to the top of the

We’ve officially hit the half way mark in the year and as another parent pointed out, the half way mark of the summer as well. Last summer looked a lot different for everyone, so we are trying to make up for “lost time” and are squeezing in as many quintessential summer activities as possible without […]

My family and I were on vacation last week at Bethany Beach, and as usual, it was a great and relaxing time. It was especially nice to see my kids and their cousins playing together after last year’s hiatus. I didn’t totally escape work and did have my laptop in tow (I avoided it as […]

As I write this blog, the Yakel family is working our way down the Florida coast. We started in Hollywood, and now we are working our way towards Key West.  From there, we plan to head up to Marco Island and then end our trip in Orlando. Sort of a little sampling of Florida’s attractions… […]