By: TK Irons Is my car really that bad of an investment? Before coming back to our discussion on invisible money – a quick note on our beloved cars. We can call this 1.5 of the 3 part series. The answer to the question above is – Yep! Pretty much! Many of us fall in…
By: Laura Walton AFC® According to Benjamin Franklin, death and taxes are the only two things that are sure in this world. As you work on your taxes for the April 15th deadline, did you know that several firms have an agreement with the IRS to provide tax filing for free to certain taxpayers?…
By: TK Irons You’ll often hear that most household’s top expenses are: housing, transportation, and food. There is a lot of wisdom and truth to this and these may very well be yours. And the implicit advice is great – know your top expenses. I agree. However, some money seems to remain invisible, but…
By: Laura Walton AFC® If you’re in your 20’s or 30’s, you’re probably juggling more than one money goal: paying off debt, investing in your retirement plan, saving for a down payment, etc. Although charitable contributions might be a priority for you, it’s hard to fit them in your budget. Well, I’ve got a win-win…
By: Laura Walton AFC® In several recent client meetings, graduates of the 3rd Decade program have shared their credit scores with me and they’ve been impressive. At the same time, I bet if you’d asked these individuals what their score was prior to our class that covered credit scores, they wouldn’t have known it. Now…
By: Laura Walton AFC® You can probably guess what they are but how long do you think it takes, on average, to recover from them? The findings are from a poll sponsored by New York Life and featured in a recent blog from Barry Ritholtz: Ritholtz goes on to make an important point: people tend…
Have you heard of Afterpay? Klarna?? I’m guessing you will. They’re upending access to credit by offering buy now, pay later options that are particularly appealing to millennials. Why millennials? Studies show they prefer using debit cards to credit cards to avoid building debt. However, debit cards are an instant draw on your funds –…
By: Laura Walton AFC® Are the followers of Jack Bogle, Vanguard’s founder. This cult for the good of investors first surfaced in 1998 when Morningstar established the Vanguard Diehards Forum. One day in 2001 it received 100,000 postings, the most postings ever received by any Morningstar Forum. The writing was on the wall –…
By: TK Irons Okay, for some reason, certain people grasp this concept right away, and others need to hear it a few times to keep it all straight. I hear people getting mixed up* when speaking about various investment accounts. You’ll pretty much always have three main components to think about – the company,…
By: Laura Walton AFC® Good friends traveled to Nepal to hike the Annapurna Circuit and, while talking about their experience, I couldn’t help but see the similarities between trekking and, you guessed it, saving and investing. Their story: “Trekking in the Himalayas in Nepal is an experience unlike any other travel adventure. It can…