Credit cards are like a power saw. Use them well and you can easily do things with much less effort than without. Use them poorly and you can (figuratively, for cards) cut off your fingers (ouch!!!). Here are the best and worst ways to use your credit cards, and how in some situations, one of …
WSFP’s Answers to 10 Questions to Ask When Hiring a Financial Advisor
Being a financial advisor/planner is personal to me. Not only is this a job I’m absolutely passionate about, it’s also about how I personally have benefited from having my own financial advisor. When I was grappling with grief and loss, I depended upon my financial advisor as a trusted companion to help guide me through …
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10 Questions to Ask When Hiring a Financial Advisor
I’m a financial advisor who hired my own financial advisor — here’s the 10 questions I asked to interview them. Now you can use them too. Hiring a professional financial advisor can be a challenge. After all, your advisor will know all about your finances and help you make big financial decisions. You need someone …
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My Secret to Success for New Year’s Resolutions
Every day I see evidence that we are still in the midst of New Year’s resolutions season. My gym is much busier than it was in the preceding months and social media is plastered with people tracking or sharing their newfound focus on goals. My guess though based on years of observation (and my own …
A Little Help with Survivor Benefit Plan Decision
Most Important Financial Decision of Your Life For most military retirees, the Survivor Benefit Plan (SBP) is often the most important decision of your financial life. It can also be among the most confusing, emotional, and uncertain. In almost every case, you must make a one-time irrevocable decision that will have lasting impacts for decades. …
What is financial planning about?
What is financial planning about? This is a common question I get asked. After all, isn’t financial planning just something we do as a part of our lives? Why should you hire a financial planner to help you? Why can’t you just implement all of this financial advice on your own? Intellectually speaking, there’s no …
Advice for the Newly Widowed – Perspective from a Fellow Widower
Lessons Learned in my Grief Journey The death of your spouse tops the charts as the number one most stressful event in life. I know. This happened to me when I became a widower two years ago. I learned a lot in that experience. Here are some of the most important lessons I took away …
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Why I Took an 8 Month Sabbatical after Active Duty
Sometimes in the world of personal finance, the focus can become solely concentrated on the “finance” part and neglect the “personal” dimension. I’m going to be starting a series of posts on most Fridays to delve into what that “personal” side often entails and will be using some of my own personal experiences with my sabbatical this year to …