Financial Planning

I am obsessed with Succession, the HBO Max series about the uber-wealthy and powerful family vying to take over their father’s media empire. While exploring the motivations and psyches of truly terrible people, the show excels at character development and features brilliant writing. In the 2nd season, there is a scene where they provide striking perspective on wealth.

Steve: This article appeared on Forbes online on Oct. 20, 2021. As it is almost as good as something I would write myself, I thought I’d share. The link to the story is at the end.

Ever wonder how the wealthy stay wealthy? For one, they don’t just leave their money sitting around in some savings account. Here’s what they do with it instead...

I recently read about a 28-year old New Jersey man who typed the wrong address into his rental car’s GPS in Iceland and drove six hours in the wrong direction – SIX! – from the airport to a fishing village in the north of the country….when he was just trying to get to his hotel. Now, his first mistake is quite understandable.

In a recent review meeting, clients told us they were considering changing careers to be able to spend more time with each other and their kids and to reduce their considerable professional stress. They were approaching this in a thoughtful manner so want to consider the financial implications of such a move – both short-term and long-term.

The other week I wrote about inflation and the uncertainty of predicting whether it is either temporary or here to stay. Fact: No one really knows for sure. So, how does one plan for a potentially disruptive force? Answer: By creating a margin of safety in our financial plans and our investments. Here are some ideas how to do that.

The list of things I don’t know would stretch from here to, well, I don’t know where. I’m perfectly comfortable admitting when I don’t know something so it amuses me when “experts” claim they know exactly what’s going to happen in the future.

Recently, the mother of a dear friend passed away without a will and it reminded me of this blog post I wrote a couple years ago.

Kentucky’s own Henry Clay reportedly coined the phrase, “self-made man” when describing Benjamin Franklin during a speech in the U.S. Senate in 1842.

Two hosts of a podcast I’m listening to recently described their relationships with money after both growing up poor. Their thoughts started me thinking, again, about people’s views toward money and what affect it has on us psychologically.

“You must pay taxes. But there’s no law that says you gotta leave a tip”, said somebody once. So check now, while you still have time to do something about it, to see whether you’ll owe or get a refund when you file next year. If you believe you’ll owe, below are some moves to reduce or eliminate that amount.