In a perfect world, where everyone knew exactly what they should do with their finances and made perfect financial decisions, there would be no need for you to use a financial planning team. The reality is, however, that we all live in an imperfect world, where all of you are very intelligent and highly skilled at something…other than financial planning.
It’s that time of year when caps and gowns are being packed away and newly minted college graduates have walked across the stage and into the real world here with the rest of us. Many of those students – and their parents and grandparents – will soon start paying off student loans, and will likely be thinking about consolidating some of them to make things a little more manageable.
A neutral third party is a good idea in many situations – right? Take personal training. Telling my significant other to work out more and eat better probably wouldn’t go over well, would it? She’d either ignore me, take offense, or get mad. Really mad! But a personal trainer is supposed to do all those things. That’s what they get paid for, after all.
Every year about this time I try to go through some of the clutter in my house. Invariably, I get to my sock drawer and find about eight socks without mates. I also usually find boxes that never got unpacked from the last move, and my basement these days seems like its sole purpose is to store unused junk. Who needs mismatched socks, or a room full of stuff you don’t use? Once a year, I toss anything I haven’t used in the last year and get rid of all those unworn socks.
Winter weather is upon us, and I know the snowfall has lots of people hunkering down inside. I know I’m trying to use this extra time on my hands to get my own finances in order for the year, and I’m encouraging all my clients to do the same. Here are three ways to be productive while you’re snowed in to help you kick off 2017 financially fit. First, simply ask yourself if you know where everything is in your financial life. By now you’ve probably started a work-sponsored retirement plan or two, opened an emergency fund account, and bought a few insurance policies.
Whether we participate in the annual ritual or not, we’re all aware of that thing called spring cleaning that happens each year (or does it?) when the weather finally starts to warm up. Well, with the first snow of the year predicted for this week, now is a good time to hunker down and tackle a winter cleaning – for your finances.
When it comes to money, you and your spouse will face many decisions over the course of your life – career choices, when to spend and when to save, what kind of lifestyle you desire and when to seek outside financial advice.
November is upon us and as 2014 draws to a close, we want to talk with our client families about planning ahead for 2015. At Family Financial Partners, we believe it’s always better to be proactive than reactive.
We have become a very news-conscious society. Thanks to social media, live-streaming newscasts and online journalism, we have access to information instantly, and can read about current events as they’re happening. While this instant access may give us tools to make more informed decisions, it has also introduced a whole new level of worry into our culture.
By now, 2014 is in full swing for most of us. The Christmas decorations have been removed and plans for the new year are underway. Personally, I have made some remarkable changes in my life already this year. First, I finally got around to cancelling the gym membership I bought five years ago (most of you are probably surprised that I even had a gym membership in the first place!). I also recently polished off what remained of a box of chocolates from Christmas. Now that those sweets are gone, I’m feeling deprived of chocolate and very thankful that Valentine’s Day is coming soon!
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