New Financial Planning Software
February 5, 2019  | By Kevin Smith

Financial planning just got better with the addition of RightCapital, a fresh new cloud-based program for organizing financial information and visualizing financial concepts. We have been using eMoney for almost 10 years, waiting for a competitor to develop a better…Read More

Risk Level is SOOOO Important
February 5, 2019  | By Kevin Smith

The amount of investment risk you take will probably make the biggest difference in how your account performs over short and long periods of time. It deserves our attention more than almost any other topic. The two competing investment objectives…Read More

529 Plan Defaults are Deficient
January 15, 2019  | By Kevin Smith

College funds are designed to be simple so the largest number of people will use them. Signing up is easy. Linking your bank account is easy. Accessing accounts online is easy. Now investing is easy… maybe too easy. Choosing investments…Read More

2018 Year-End Trading
January 15, 2019  | By Kevin Smith

The stock market brought us gifts just in time for Christmas. The chart above show the % declines from all-time highs over the past five years for the S&P 500. Christmas Eve just happened to be the most significant pull…Read More

Saving taxes in a bad stock market
December 21, 2018  | By Kevin Smith

There are two great things about bad stock markets: 1) opportunities to buy at attractive prices, and 2) opportunities to harvest tax losses. We have been hard at work over the last couple of weeks finding ways to save our…Read More

Modern budgets
December 6, 2018  | By Kevin Smith

A tiny fraction of the population loves budgeting and has years of spending data stored in Excel models. The rest of us would rather scrub grout between bathroom tiles. Using a budget is how to make financial progress on purpose….Read More

From Vanguard on the Future
December 6, 2018  | By Kevin Smith

Vanguard stepped up its research capabilities and provided more information to investors in 2018 than ever before. Their market outlook for 2019 is particularly well assembled. My cliff notes are below and you can find the entire paper here. Short…Read More

My Lunch with Ben Bernanke
November 27, 2018  | By Kevin Smith

Ben Bernanke can smile… and he is actually kind of funny. The perfectly formal and stiff Bernanke we remember from appearances during his tenure at the Fed spoke freely with occasional wit and humor at a November 2018 lunch meeting…Read More

Year-End Planning Tips: Your Charitable Fund
October 24, 2018  | By Kevin Smith

A Donor Advised Fund (DAF) is kind of like your own personal endowment, but without the administrative costs and hassles. A DAF is an investment account that receives your charitable donations, allows you to take the tax deduction in the…Read More

Year-End Planning Tips: Employee Benefits
October 24, 2018  | By Kevin Smith

If you have open enrollment between now and the end of the year, here are some important considerations. Health insurance – if your employer offers a high-deductible plan with an HSA account and matching funding, this may be worth strong…Read More