I have been spending this month in Prescott AZ, about an hour and a half north of Phoenix. Even though it’s close to hot and dry Phoenix, they get all four seasons here – including a huge snow storm the last couple days. At first I was excited for the change of pace, but then reality hit me: I was born and raised in sunny California and have no idea how to drive a car in snow. It wasn’t a…
Category: Retirement Planning
Need a Break From CNN, Fox News and Your Facebook Feed?
Around 9 months ago, I was introduced to a personal development speaker named Jim Rohn. I’ve mentioned him before in some of my videos and emails, but if you haven’t heard of him, I would definitely recommend looking up his books/speeches (after you finish reading this email, of course). Anyway, Jim was diligent about encouraging people to be very mindful of what information you allow into your mind. He saidyour mind was a mental factory, and whatever ingredients you put into…
The Power of Negative Preparation For Your Retirement
I love to read, especially about American History. Earlier this week, I was reading about WWII and General Patton. Before battle, General Patton would think through – and plan – for any and everything that could go wrong in battle. What if the enemy attacked us here, what if they had more soldiers than we were anticipating, what if they used this strategy, what if, what if, what if… This was so important to General Patton because he felt that…
What A Joe Biden Presidency Could Mean To Your 401K
Despite the hyper partisan times that we are living in, there is one thing in my experience as a financial planner that unites both Republicans and Democrats: Taxes. I work with people on all sides of the aisle, and they all want to know what they can do to lower their taxes. As we get closer to Election Day, the polls are showing that Joe Biden has a good chance of winning, which means it’s important to understand what his…
Even Nancy Pelosi Wouldn’t Rip This Up
On Tuesday night we had the latest episode of our country’s political reality TV show. As I’m sure you heard, the feud between President Trump and Speaker Pelosi is only getting worse. It started out when Trump apparently avoided shaking hands with Pelosi before the speech. And after the speech the feud escalated, as Pelosi ripped up Trump’s speech in half, right as he finished. She felt like the speech was so bad it wasn’t even worth the paper it was…
The Most Hated Bachelor Contestant (So Far)
Do you know what last week was? It was the premiere of my favorite TV show guilty pleasure, The Bachelor. If you’re unfamiliar with the show, it goes like this. A single bachelor (Peter is this season’s bachelor) is put in a mansion in Malibu with 30 ladies vying for his attention, and his love. If he likes one of them enough, he gives them a rose, which allows them to stay in the mansion for another week. To keep…
The Biggest Financial Mistake You Can Make (And How To Avoid It)
What’s the biggest financial mistake that you can make? I’ll let you think about it for a second. Is it choosing the wrong investments? Not saving for retirement? Or keeping a balance on your credit cards? Excessive spending? There’s a place for all of those. But I don’t think that’s the biggest mistake we can make when it comes to money is procrastination. We all procrastinate, we all push things off at times. Even when we know we shouldn’t. And…
Options For An Old 401(k)
If you’ve moved jobs a few times, there’s a good chance that you might have some money in one of your old company’s retirement plans. Since changing jobs and keeping up with life is hectic and busy enough as it is, you might not have had time to figure out what exactly to do with that old account. But just leaving the money there may not be best for you, depending on your situation. So here are some things to…
3 Non-Financial Retirement Tips
Whenever we think about retirement, it’s easy to get caught up in the numbers. Have I saved enough? How much income can I take from my portfolio without running out of money? How do I maximize my social security benefits? Those are all good questions to ask, and one that a good financial advisor can help you answer. But what about the non-financial part of retirement? You can have all the money in the world, but money can only…
Do You Have Too Much Cash?
Are you a diligent saver? Always looking for good deals? And constantly making sure that your expenses are in check? If so, there’s a pretty good chance that your bank account keeps growing every month. And soon enough, you’ll stockpile a decent amount of cash. But do you have too much cash? I know what some of you are thinking: “Scott, I can never have enough cash!” I get what you’re saying. Having too much cash is a good problem…