wealth planning Archives - Page 2 of 4

June 19, 2019June 19, 2019

Why personal finance is like dieting: there are no shortcuts

*Nick Foy, CFP*®
nick@greenwaywealth.com

Back at the 2008 Summer Olympic Games, Michael Phelps became known for more than just his historic gold medal accumulation: he also became known for his diet. During the training and the games, in order to keep up with the energy needed to perform at a world class level, he’d put down 12,000 calories a day.

Although he later admitted that the figure was somewhat exaggerated, the quantity of food he ate while training was still rather daunting:

Breakfast: Three fried-egg sandwiches with cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, fried onions and mayonnaise. Two cups of coffee. One five-egg omelette. One bowl of grain. Three slices of French toast topped. Three chocolate-chip pancakes.

Lunch: One pound of pasta. Two large ham and cheese sandwiches with mayonnaise on white bread, plus energy drinks.

Dinner: One pound of pasta, an entire pizza, and even more energy drinks.

Olympic level swimmers burn between 3,000 and 10,000 calories per day, so all that intake was put to good use.

Wouldn’t it be nice, though, to be able to eat whatever you want, not exercise, and still lose weight?

May 17, 2019May 17, 2019

What I’m willing to splurge on (or why financial advisors are boring)

In addition to seeming like total fraudsters, lots of financial advisors must come off as boring putzes to most people who come in contact with them, like an effervescent nanny in a pin-striped suit firing off lists of do’s and don’ts to anyone who will listen.

What I try to encourage is a view of spending that lines up with what we know about the psychology of money, and what actually bring the most satisfaction. We’ll call it the High Value Splurge.

I’d like to consider myself a tightwad who understands value. Or, as the famous refrain goes: Price is what you pay. Value is what you get. I’m willing to spend on those things that will actually produce some long-term satisfaction, and unwilling to spend on things that won’t.

May 10, 2019May 17, 2019

It’s not what you know. It’s who you know, and what they know

Over on Twitter, Anthony Isola of Ritholtz Wealth has been uncovering the vile world of teachers’ retirement plans, which are typically high-cost annuities being sold as appropriate investment options. His findings have been eye-opening for many, though unsurprising for me.

Most salespeople who hock this crap are decent people. They exist in a perverse system of conflicted interests that demeans both the employees and clients. We must do better than this. https://t.co/Isjah3DbNA
— Anthony Isola (@ATeachMoment) May 3, 2019

April 26, 2019May 10, 2019

Right Back Where We Started From

If ever there was a short-term example of why market timing is a game that only idiots play, it’s the past seven months. Check out what the S&P 500 has done since early September, 2018:

March 6, 2019March 6, 2019

It’s not how much $$ you make (at a certain point), it’s what you do with what you make

Last week, I came across this chart and tweet:

This figure is striking.

It shows the relationship between where people think they are in the income distribution and where they actually are.

Observations below the line indicate that people think they are poorer than they really are (and the reverse above the line). pic.twitter.com/exECjYOdaH
— John B. Holbein (@JohnHolbein1) February 16, 2019

January 7, 2019January 7, 2019

New Year’s (Financial) Resolutions To Make Anytime

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Nick Foy, CFP®
nick@greenwaywealth.com

I’m not typically into New Year’s resolutions; I tend to think that if there are things we’d like to do differently, we shouldn’t wait until January to start. And anyway, 80% of resolutions fail by February, so really, what’s the point?

Instead, consider these New Year’s resolutions, specific to your finances, that should be made anytime you’re doing something different: Continue reading “New Year’s (Financial) Resolutions To Make Anytime”

November 29, 2018November 29, 2018

How to travel like (this) financial advisor

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Nick Foy, CFP®
nick@greenwaywealth.com

Just about everybody we meet with talks about travel being one of their most important financial goals; the ability to see and share a journey with loved ones is high on the priority list for most of our clients.

I like to include travel expenses in just about every client’s financial plan, as both an acknowledgement and a reminder that experiences are more valuable than things.

My kids are now 7 and 4 ½, and they’ve already been all over the U.S., and have traveled internationally to Europe and Africa. We’ve made travel a priority, and they’re starting to get old enough to appreciate it (although my daughter claimed her favorite part of our spring break trip to Italy was the “yummy Cheerios” [Froot Loops] at the airport hotel in Boston).

Here are some tips to make your journeys as memorable as possible: Continue reading “How to travel like (this) financial advisor”

October 24, 2018

When markets go haywire

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Nick Foy, CFP®
nick@greenwaywealth.com

Every once in awhile, and sometimes more often than that, markets go nuts. Investors (over)react to some random news, in an attempt to predict an inherently unknowable future, and everyone pays.

We call the market gyrations “volatility,” especially when the market goes down. I’ve noticed that when the market goes up, we don’t call it anything; we just go on about our lives as if markets going up is normal and to be expected, like Mr. Market owes us something.

But, how should investors handle the trepidation associated with markets and headlines that cause discomfort? Here are a few tips: Continue reading “When markets go haywire”

October 9, 2018October 9, 2018

We bought Crocs for all of our clients (sorta)

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Nick Foy, CFP®
nick@greenwaywealth.com

Since 2002, Crocs (CROX) has sold over 300 million pairs of some of the ugliest shoes on the planet. Their strategy, it seems, is to embrace the ugliness, and design what many consider to be the most comfortable shoe they’ve ever worn, fashion sense be damned.

This approach has led to a bit of an online backlash over the years, as this (one of my personal favorites) Facebook group shows. The group has existed since long before Facebook became the web’s number one destination for middle aged women to sell essential oils and other various multi-level marketing products, and they do nothing to shield Crocs and Croc-wearers from their disdain.

Crocs - Shoe Continue reading “We bought Crocs for all of our clients (sorta)”

September 21, 2018September 21, 2018

Ten years later – Three lessons from the front line

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Nick Foy, CFP®
nick@greenwaywealth.com

Last week marked the tenth anniversary of the collapse of Lehman Brothers, which, along with the forced sale of Merrill Lynch to Bank of America, and the federal takeover of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, triggered the Dow Jones Industrial Average to plunge almost 4.5% that day. Two weeks later, an even bigger 7% drop signaled the spread of the financial crisis, as Lehman’s $613 billion in debt reverberated throughout the financial market. Their bankruptcy remains the largest in history.

Shortly thereafter, Washington Mutual was seized by the FDIC, and their assets were sold to JP Morgan Chase, and Wachovia was acquired by Wells Fargo.

Debt markets froze up, housing prices plunged, and individual investors faced countless sleepless nights as they watched the value of their portfolios deteriorate over then next five months, until the market bottomed out in early 2009. Continue reading “Ten years later – Three lessons from the front line”