Pay Yourself First: What to Do When You Receive a Raise
February 26, 2024  | By David Lowe

Many companies conduct performance reviews and announce employee pay raises toward the end of February or in March. As a smart, creative go-getter, you most likely have great news on the way! But how do you put your higher pay…Read More

my529 Account Prepaid Access Card
December 15, 2023  | By Manisha Gupta

A 529 account is an excellent vehicle to save money for kids’ education. The contributions grow tax-free, and withdrawals from the account are tax exempt as long as they are used for qualified educational purposes. A list of qualified educational…Read More

Helping Your Teenagers Build Credit
November 20, 2023  | By David Lowe

Parents often have questions about the best ways to help their kids develop wise money habits. Common questions relate to when and how to start teenagers down the path of responsible credit card use. Teens under 18 cannot open a…Read More

What to Do With a Lump Sum of Cash?
September 4, 2023  | By Kevin Smith

Having a pile of cash in the bank is usually a good thing, but it requires some stressful decision making. How much can we spend (YOLO!)? How much should we save? What about taxes? Should we pay down our mortgage?…Read More

Inflation and Your Cash Flow
November 15, 2022  | By Kevin Smith

The combination of high price inflation, higher interest rates, and a stock market recession is rippling through household budgets across the world. The impact varies quite a bit depending on sources of income, debt levels, property ownership, insurance coverage and…Read More

Should I Pay Off My Mortgage?
August 15, 2022  | By David Lowe

Debt can be a complex and emotional topic. That is true even for mortgages and other “good debt” (a term sometimes used for money owed on an asset that is likely to increase in value). For many Americans, the mortgage…Read More

Emergency Fund: Not Too Much, Or Too Little
May 27, 2022  | By Manisha Gupta

Dave Ramsey has been telling America for years on his financial radio show to keep an emergency fund that covers at least a few months of expenses. Thank you, Dave! You saved a lot of people from financial ruin with…Read More

Talking Money with New Graduates
August 6, 2021  | By Manisha Gupta

By Manisha Gupta, AWM Financial Planning Lead & Candidate for CFP® certification Summer is an exciting time for freshly minted graduates embarking on their own. Finally, the moment that you have been waiting for is here. Your child is going…Read More

Managing Your Cash to the Max
July 27, 2021  | By Derek Ripp

AWM partner Derek Ripp, CFP® recently authored this piece for Kiplinger on how much cash to hold, where to keep it, and strategies to get the most out of it. Read the excerpt below and full article here. If the…Read More

Snipping Sneaky Subscriptions
June 28, 2021  | By Kevin Smith

  I used to be really cheap. From the time I went to college until my early 30s, I actively avoided nice things. I bought house brand groceries, almost never bought new clothes, never paid for a hotel room, rented…Read More