To live and thrive as humans, we require certain basic necessities such as food, water, shelter, sleep and companionship. Whether right now or at the beginning of human history, these five items can provide for a happy and healthy life. At some point in time though, greed and societal pressure crept in and shaped the framework of what a happy life is perceived to be. There are times I need to remind myself that there is a big difference in need and want. What do we really need? A need is what is required for us to live and be health ..read more

As a financial advisor for 24 years I touched all areas of the financial services world and saw all the good things happening… as well as the shitty things that were going on. I worked with a lot of great people who taught me how to operate and maneuver in this world ethically, but on the flip side, I also saw the “not so pleasant” side of the business.   I felt censored during my career working first for a large brokerage firm, then a large bank, and even when finally running my own firm. I felt I was not allowed to say what I trul ..read more

Sometimes you need a second set of eyes on your portfolio to see if you’re heading in the right direction. Other times you might need an independent second opinion to verify and give you confidence that you’re on the right track. I can help you with both. Often times people are nervous about reaching out and asking a financial advisor for guidance because in the back of their mind they are thinking “What are they going to try and sell me?” That’s a very fair statement. Most financial advisors get paid a commission or charge you a p ..read more

Airbnb has grown tremendously over the years in popularity, although it’s not a risk-free endeavor. Many cities are starting to regulate the use of Airbnb’s with restrictions on how and where an Airbnb is legal. Taking a deeper dive, some homeowner associations are banning the use of Airbnb’s in neighborhoods due to traffic and parking issues. With that said, there are still many areas across the country that still allow Airbnb’s and that creates some opportunity for you to make some money. Yes, Airbnb can be time consuming dependin ..read more

FIRE stands for Financial Independence Retire Early and if you are researching retiring early you’ve certainly stumbled across the FIRE movement. FIRE first came into light in the book “Your money or your Life” written by Vicki Robin and Joe Dominguez back in 1992. The movement is based on saving a large portion of your income and investing such that you’re able to retire at an earlier age. What’s not to like about FIRE? The movement encourages you to live within your means, strive to live debt-free, save an above average amount of ..read more

Over the years we’ve all heard that you’ll need at least $1 million dollars when you retire. If you listen to Suze Orman, she’ll tell you that you’ll need $5 million if you plan on retiring early. Depending on the lifestyle you want to live most of us will get by just fine with less. Remember your DIAL. If you have your debt, income, assets and lifestyle tuned in, you should be able to live comfortably in retirement. Be debt free Ideally when you retire, you want to be debt free. Now, I know that won’t be possible for everyone but h ..read more

Hiring a financial advisor can be a stressful process because it’s hard to know where to start.  Do a quick google search and it’s likely that you’ll have hundreds of advisors in your general area to choose from. Here are 8 tips to keep in mind when searching for a financial advisor 1) Interview multiple advisors Ask family and friends who they are using and see if they’ve been happy with their advisor’s advice, customer service and fees. Go sit down with at least three different advisors at three different firms.   2) The perso ..read more

We all have fears. Some are as basic as a fear of spiders, snakes… or a big favorite: public speaking. Then some are much more complex such as the fear of making a life change. There is a sense of comfort that comes along with consistency and routine. For some, there is a real fear in breaking the pattern of their life; even when they may not be actually happy in that life. At the age of 40 I finally faced my fear of stepping outside of my comfort zone. Up until then I hadn’t realized the comfort zone I was living in was not so comf ..read more

This has been an active debate in the personal finance space for many years. Ask most people and they will answer “Term Insurance is the way to go because you can buy term and invest the rest.” Ask an insurance salesperson and you’ll get “Buy whole life because it covers you for your whole life.” Which is right? Well that depends on what you need insurance to do for you.   Term Insurance is defined as life insurance coverage that will cover you for a specific (term) number of years. It does not hold any cash value and will need to ..read more

Last year one of my most popular blog series was a “How to Retire On…” $100,000, $50,000, $25,000 and $10,000. This was an exercise of imagination and logistics based on how I would retire if I had a minimal dollar to work with. I included ideas on how I would minimize and maximize my lifestyle to pull off a successful early retirement. Now I am going to look at retirement on $250,000. Here were the rules that I used last year, and they will still apply. -For me retirement is all about enjoying traveling. So, I won’t leave that out ..read more