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Enjoy this month’s newsletter which features commentary on our fixed income asset class, clarification on TD Ameritrade’s Standing Letter of Authorization (SLOA) notice to clients, some exciting technology features we are rolling out to clients over the next several months, shred day for disposing of sensitive documents and our annual Privacy Notice.

Come on, admit it, you place at least one bet each Derby on the name that means something to you. I do. For fun, below is the list of this year’s Derby horses with the investing or financial planning lesson that can be gleaned from their names. (In the order of their Road to the Derby points)

Clients ask us all the time about either keeping a house they used to live in and renting it out or buying a house to rent out. I guess us Americans have some kind of burning desire to control our section of the Monopoly board. Usually I begin my response with a flip answer such as, “A mutual fund won’t ever call you at 3:00 in the morning with a stopped-up toilet.” And, while the hassle of managing rental property can’t be overlooked, let’s concentrate on the numbers of residential real estate as an investment.

Yes, I know, you just filed your taxes and the last thing you want to think about is taxes. I get it. But, what if there were some simple ways of reducing your tax liability and decreasing your chances of owing next April? Interested? Take 90 seconds to skim the following tips:

If you’ve ever read this blog before you know I’m a huge fan of the book, The Millionaire Next Door. Written in the mid ‘90s the authors sought out the rich in the U.S. to learn how they became wealthy. To their surprise, they learned that most were ordinary working professionals who lived beneath their means, saved with a purpose and became wealthy the old-fashioned way: steadily, over many years. Since most of us accumulate our wealth through our 401(k)s or 403(b)s, here are 5 tips to maximize the value of those accounts:

Enjoy this month’s edition that features …

The term “sandwich generation” commonly refers to those people who are caring for aging parents and their children at the same time. Today, I introduce a new term – The Financial Sandwich Generation.

My parents were children of the Great Depression and, like many people of that era, they were and are careful with money. While extraordinarily generous to their children, grandchildren and to their beloved charitable causes, spending money on a luxury just for themselves still requires breaking decades of money muscle memory. Surveys during the 1960s showed that people who were young during the Great Depression were not only, like my parents, extremely careful with money but also quite risk averse. Not surprisingly, this aversion to risk made this generation much less likely to invest in the stock market.

Enjoy this month’s edition that features an update on the T. Rowe Price Real Estate fund and reminder about the upcoming tax filing deadline.

During my regular morning Starbucks visit recently I overheard a conversation between two mothers doing what us parents do – brag about the advanced intellect of their children. In this case, 3-year old “Billy” was off all the charts at pre-school and obviously on the fast track to a Harvard full-ride. I, of course, was intrigued and just had to see what toddler budding brilliance looked like so I inconspicuously glanced over….just in time to see “Billy” lick the display glass in front of the pastries. Maybe Billy’s parents would be wise to invest for his future just in case his genius doesn’t reveal itself to those outside his immediate family.