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Blog Market Updates

AI is real and it’s here

This has been a really interesting year watching the discussion of artificial intelligence advance due to the rise of ChatGPT and similar machine-learning tools that have permeated daily life and business. In order to learn more about the subject, I recently invited Brad Watkins, a self-described “technology evangelist” to our podcast, “In My Day.” Ryan and I had a fascinating hour-long discussion with him where he broke down what AI really is and how it’s going to affect our lives moving forward. I thought that, for this month’s newsletter, you’d like to read an excerpt from that conversation.

Young traveler saving for future trips for financial freedom
Blog College Planning Financial Planning

Pay Yourself: Why taking that trip is important to your financial freedom

As young investors, everybody wants to advise us on what to do with our money. Bloggers, social media personalities, and TV talking heads claim their method will get us on the path to wealth and early retirement. We see it so much that some of us start feeling guilty, like every dime that doesn’t go toward our retirement, investment portfolio, or mortgage is a dime that’s setting us back from our goal of financial freedom.

Blog Market Updates

After a big week, is the market really a bull, or a bunch of bull?

Last week was a big one in the market. We had a new bull market declared, and we saw the Federal Reserve finally pause its year-plus campaign of hiking interest rates. Let’s deal with the Fed first:

No rate hike, but are more coming?

While it did not raise rates, the Fed did raise its terminal interest rate, which is its target for where it sees interest rates going, by 50 base points, or a half percent.

Blog Financial Planning

The Joys of Summer: How much should you really spend on that vacation?

I love summer because we have all these opportunities for how we can allocate our newly found free time, but I find when I talk with clients that summer can also be a stressful season. There’s always the pressure to plan that big vacation that we can forget to budget for it and end up paying for that vacation for the next six months. In my case, I’ve got three kids doing camps and getting braces and moving into dorm rooms — there isn’t much money left for the “what Dave wants to do” fund!

Blog Tax Planning

It’s time for a spring cleaning — of your finances

The weather is warming, flowers are blooming, horses are racing, people are socializing — spring is in the air! The arrival of spring also means that it’s time to tidy up our homes, declutter, and spring clean. This season of rejuvenation presents an opportunity to extend our cleaning efforts beyond our home and into a different space: our finances. Just as we spring clean our homes, undergoing a spring financial checkup can bring a renewed sense of financial well-being.

Blog College Planning

With the debt ceiling looming, are your assets diversified?

I’m hearing from a lot of you who are concerned about the debt ceiling battle in Washington and what it might mean for you if the two sides can’t come together on a deal before the U.S. defaults on its bills. 

In my view, the whole rodeo is being blown out of proportion by the media as it floods us with what-if scenarios. There is a history of presidents having to work with a hostile opposition party in Congress when up against the debt ceiling. The only solution is for both parties to agree to raise the debt ceiling and then focus on a truly balanced budget.

Blog College Planning Financial Planning

Tending your financial garden: How hard work today will let you flourish when it counts

So much of gardening is the hard work and growth that takes place underneath the soil — feeding and nurturing our plants so they can build strong roots that will sustain them long after our work is done, allowing us to sit back and enjoy the fruits of our labor. Nobody ever comments on the roots, on the quality of the soil, or on the weeding we did that gave them room to grow. All they see is the beauty that lives above the dirt — the finished product.

Blog Retirement

Are you nearing retirement with a pension?

We’ve been talking a lot around here about the rise of interest rates and its effect on everything from markets to loans, but an under-discussed aspect of rate hikes is the effect on your retirement. 

Blog Financial Planning

Budgeting for gig workers: How to spend and save on a fluctuating income

Building, maintaining, and sticking to a budget can be a tough task for many of us with regular, full-time jobs. But it gets a lot more difficult if you don’t have a regular income, like those in sales-based jobs, seasonal workers, or folks who work in the gig economy. If you fall into one of these categories — as more and more young earners do — it’s especially important to budget wisely to have a plan for those months when the checks don’t come in quite as high as usual.

Blog Market Updates

An eventful Q1 signals big changes in the markets. Where do you stand?

Sometimes the best-laid plans don’t work out as you expected. My mother always said, when things don’t go your way, consider the “why.” 

I believe that the Federal Reserve would do well to consider that message. We’ve just gone through a banking crisis caused in part by the Fed aggressively raising interest rates, which resulted in the closure of one of the largest banks in the U.S. and the sharpest decline in commercial lending on record. In the meantime, wage inflation and housing costs remain stubbornly high, while unemployment is historically low.

Enjoy
the ride.

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