True financial independence is when you’re working because you want to and not because you have to. Understanding what you have and what your goals are is the first step to becoming financially independent.
In this episode, Thom Guidi, CFA, and Luke Hail, MBA, CFP®, discuss what it means to be financially independent and provide you with four actionable steps to help you move closer to your goal of financial independence.
There comes a time in your life when you may not welcome being another year older. But if you plan ahead, it can make the difference between a senior lifestyle you choose and the one that someone else chooses for you.
In this episode, Tony Luckhardt, MBA, CFP®, CRPC®, and Amy Thomas, CPA, discuss some of the tough decisions that come with senior care. They also provide some advice on how to evaluate the options.
Tony and Amy share more about:
What senior care means
Why thinking about it before you need it makes the most sense
Questions to ask as you consider different senior care facilities
Losing a loved one is an emotional time. One way you can make dealing with it a little easier for your loved ones, is to have a strong estate plan and family letter in place. Your appointed executor is there to make your final wishes come to pass, but they need to know what you wanted.
In this episode, Zach Binzer, CFP® and Zach Horn, MBA, CFP®, CMFC®, discuss this important role of being an executor.
Zach and Zach share more about:
What being an executor entails
How both parties can prepare for this role
What a executor is expected to do at the time of death
Maybe it’s your goal to own a lake house or a second home. But have you thought about what buying versus renting might look like for your scenario?
In this episode, Joe Patterson, CFP® and Rachel Rasmussen, MBA, CFA, CDFA® discuss the pros and cons of owning versus renting and what might make sense for your unique situation.
Joe and Rachel share more about:
What to consider when owning a second home
Considerations for renting a second property
How research can help you determine if you should buy or rent a home
As an investor, it is helpful to understand the yield curve. Its movements are tied to economic growth, monetary policy, and inflation which impact investment portfolios.
In this episode, Ryan English, CFA, CPA, CFP®, talks with Sarah Conwell, MFE, to explain the significance of two separate points on the curve and the ways investors interpret its shape, slopes, and steepness during economic cycles.
Sarah shares more about:
The concept of a yield curve
What the yield curve can tell you
The shape of the yield curve during economic cycles
As a fixed income investment professional, Sarah possesses over nine years of experience, and her greatest skills lie in investment research, portfolio management, and macroeconomic analysis. Sarah is a dedicated investment professional with expertise in fixed income securities, financial reporting and analysis, risk mitigation, statistical analysis, financial systems implementation, and revenue generation for overall company growth. Also, she is known for thorough, accurate, and profitable securities recommendations based on analytical processes and data-driven decision-making, and she possesses strong market knowledge in multiple sectors. Additionally, she is consistently relied upon to spearhead projects requiring analysis and collaborative problem solving while working in a fast-paced environment.
The first half of 2022 was the worst first half of a year for stocks in over 50 years, with the fear that inflation was right around the corner.
In this episode, Mark Motley, CFA, shares a brief market update from the second quarter of the year, outlining the impact of inflation, the prospect of a recession, and what all these key changes mean for you.
Mark shares more about:
Why the federal reserve changed its posture from accommodating to restrictive
A glimpse into the effects of inflation
What market changes you are expected to see this month
Excerpts from prior Updates as mentioned in the episode:
1/4/2021 Market Update
Another near-term concern is the possibility of rising inflation. The money supply has risen nearly 25% over the past year … that’s a significant concern as we move later into 2021. It’s well known that the Federal Reserve has committed to an accommodative monetary policy for an extended period. We think that characterization is inaccurate. Instead, we think the Fed intends to remain in an accommodative mode essentially forever to the extent tame inflation allows, and that it will do so until inflation increases … the reason higher inflation is likely to have severe consequences for markets is that it would be the catalyst to change the Fed’s posture.
2/1/2021 Market Update
Inflation: We’ve written of this danger before … we note the most common measure of the money supply has expanded nearly 27% in the past twelve months … [we] are entirely confident a higher inflation scenario, should it occur, would greatly upset markets since it would force the Federal Reserve to reverse its easy money policy.
4/2/2021 Market Update
Many think the … $1.9T stimulus bill may be over-stimulus, eventually leading to inflation and a need for the Fed to tighten. And close on the heels of the last give-away comes talk of much, much more and perhaps too soon, as some are beginning to fear this porridge may too soon become “too hot”. If a rude discovery is made that free money isn’t free, that may not sit well with either the economy or markets.
7/1/2021 Market Update
That inflation turned up significantly was no surprise. The question is whether higher inflation will be transitory or persistent. … We’ll have to see. What we do know is this is the most urgent unanswered investment question of the hour … The reason is any moderation in accommodative Federal Reserve policy will be dictated by future inflation, Fed policy in turn defines liquidity, and liquidity drives markets …
10/4/2021 Market Update
If higher inflation is not transient, the Fed will be unable to remain accommodative and markets would likely retrench. We don’t know how this will play out, but we recognize danger to markets from inflation that may be stickier than markets currently expect, and this may not be sufficiently appreciated …
… conditions remain positive for markets, but it’s a fragile positive, and inflation appears to be the thing with the best chance of upsetting it. The world is awash in created money that has bid up stock and home prices. That’s nice, of course, but underlying, intrinsic values have not risen as much and inflation may test that, particularly if it forces the Fed to a tight money mode.
1/3/2022 Market Update
Economic growth is booming. However, inflation remains a looming question, and the Federal Reserve, which had formerly labeled the price surge “transitory,” recently removed that word from its communication, implying more concern about inflation as a longer-lasting problem. “Owner’s equivalent rent” represents nearly a fourth of the Consumer Price Index (CPI) and the … lags built into the convoluted calculation of this part of consumer inflation mean home price jumps which have already occurred are likely to boost inflation readings for several months to come.
A balance sheet can be a useful tool in personal finance to inventory your assets and track growth over time.
In this episode, Joe Patterson, CFP®, explains the benefits of using a balance sheet and some actionable next steps for creating a personal balance sheet.
Joe shares more about:
A definition of a balance sheet
Why the balance sheet is one of our core client reports
How your balance sheet connects to your estate plans
Private investments are different from publicly traded investments like stocks and bonds. They’re limited to a certain type of investor and have a unique set of considerations.
In this episode, Rachel Rasmussen, CFA, CDFA®, discusses the lesser known topic of private investments. She references specific examples of private investments and explains how some investors can target a wider range of opportunities than the public markets.
Rachel shares more about:
A definition of private investments
Types of private investments
Why private investments are a good fit for some portfolios
Balance is a tricky thing. Something that is balanced today may not maintain its balance; take investment portfolios, for example. When Foster & Motley begins working with a client, they balance their portfolio based on several targets, but over time rebalancing is necessary to maintain those targets.
In this episode, Ryan English, CFA, CPA, CFP®, and Nicholas Roth, CFP® explain their hands-on approach to rebalancing, and the importance of rebalancing across a household of accounts rather than individual accounts.
Ryan and Nick also talk about:
Two types of rebalances
The importance of rebalancing accounts
Why you don’t want one asset class to grow too big
