In our last post, we covered an important part of philanthropy: ensuring that your gifts bring joy to you and your intended recipients in equal measure. Meaningful giving is an admittedly qualitative, “Venus” measure of success. Today, we’ll visit “Mars,” where we explore some of the more quantitative components of your philanthropic plans: Effective Giving – How do you assess potential charitable organizations you’ve identified to ensure they will make good...

Earlier this year, we covered how charitable giving can be a win-win activity, bringing as much happiness to the donor as to the recipient. We believe this is true whether you’re giving gifts to loved ones or fulfilling philanthropic goals. But especially for the latter, the giving is best done intentionally as part of your greater financial life planning: Meaningful Giving – First and foremost, does the giving bring you joy? Effective...

In our last two blog posts, we provided some of the key building blocks that make for a solid fixed-income foundation. First, we described the stabilizing role that fixed income typically plays in your portfolio. Next, we discussed why we advise against trading in reaction to current bond market conditions (including the existing climate) rather than according to your own investment goals. Today, we’re going to explore the strategy to...

In our last blog post, we shared the timeless principles we suggest for your fixed income investing. We also previously presented a Vanguard Funds report demonstrating that actively managed stock funds face punishing odds in their quest to outperform appropriate market benchmarks. But what about in the bond markets, especially in the current climate of potentially rising interest rates? Can active management shine? An additional report from Vanguard helps us...

Interest rates are at historic lows and, for several years now, numerous market pundits have been forecasting an upward move. This leaves many investors fretting about what might happen when rates rise. Some contemplate whether they should be making dramatic changes to their portfolios as a result. It reminds us of that Clash song: “Should I stay or should I go?” This blog post is dedicated to helping you understand...

My son Dominic has been a Junior Firefighter for over a year and a half now, but he moves to Volunteer Firefighter status on his 18th birthday – today! Have you ever wondered what it takes to be a fire fighter? Check out the program Dominic attended last summer to pass his Fire Fighter 1 level. No pun intended, but isn’t this cool? As we celebrate Dominic’s 18th birthday it also...

From “It’s a Wonderful Life” to “Wall Street,” Hollywood often lends an aura of drama to the financial industry. In reality, the daily life of a Fee-Only financial professional isn’t exactly edge-of-your-seat stuff. Our idea of “exciting” is a controversy unleashed last December, when the National Association of Financial Professionals (NAPFA) announced that members of their professional ranks now must be CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ certificants who hold the CFP®...