Five reasons having multiple financial advisors is a really bad idea and seven reasons to consolidate to one trusted advisor. Plus, some tips on how to pick and advisor.

Unless you have lived under a rock over the last few years, you have noticed inflation increasing slowly and not so subtly reaching into your pocket.

It's funny how some memories from our childhood stick with us, becoming a part of our identity and shaping our future.

Understanding and leveraging tax advantages is one of the biggest value propositions afforded to the clients that work with me, so why the heck would I not utilize these tax advantages for my own children?

For many people, their Social Security benefits are among the largest benefits that they take with them in retirement. As such, doing your research to ensure that you get the most out of this stream of income is very important.

Last week my family and I had the wonderful opportunity to take a summer vacation up to the shores of Lake Michigan. While the drive made for a bit of a challenging trip, we really had a wonderful time and I have always enjoyed the change of pace and perspective that vacation can bring.

This week’s blog is a little different. Today we celebrate a significant milestone for the blog. It is the 26th blog since the launch of QED Wealth Solutions back in January. In other words, I have written a weekly blog each week for the last six months.

You are back home celebrating the 4th of July holiday with your elderly mother. She has always bought fireworks for the grandkids, but this year she is hesitant. When pressed, she acknowledges that money is just a little bit tighter this year. As far as you know, nothing has changed in her financial situation, so what gives?

Rules of thumb can often provide guidance in the complex world of personal financial planning. While almost all rules of thumb were originally based on a form of sound and practical financial advice, blindly following these common principles can lead to negative outcomes. Whether it’s saving for retirement, budgeting for children, or managing your portfolio, these commonly accepted guidelines tend to oversimplify and if followed blindly could lead to negative outcomes.

Dreaming is one of my favorite things to do. Not dreams during sleep (though I do love my sleep), but dreams while awake. I think it’s part of what makes us human, and ultimately is directed to bringing us to heaven, but maybe more on that at another time. The way I see it there are three types of dreams.

Taxes are likely the single biggest expense you have in your lifetime. While complete tax avoidance is nearly impossible for middle to high income earners during their earning years, with careful planning streams of tax-free income can be created in retirement. By leveraging these options, you can significantly enhance your financial security all while lowering your tax bill at the same time.

When setting out to create your investment portfolio, maintaining a well-balanced portfolio is critical in helping to maintain your long-term financial goals. I have given an introduction to the concept of asset allocation before, but stated simply, asset allocation is the process of dividing your investment portfolio among different asset classes in order to align it with your risk tolerance, time horizon, and investment goals. Through this process, a target allocation is created as a plan to help you best achieve your goals. Rebalancing your portfolio is the process utilized to adjust your portfolio over time as it drifts away from your target allocation.

As many of you reading this blog probably know, I have six children who range in age from nine to nine months. Obviously, our kids are still young, so the jury is still out on whether we have raised financially responsible children, however we have had some recent wins in the teaching money values department. This is my attempt to share these wins and help to impart “wisdom” and inspire others on their journey of teaching good money handling and values on to the next generation.

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times..."

Once we have a clear picture of what our needs and wants are in retirement we can start to match up income and expenses. Learn about different types of income that can help you evaluate if you have enough to retire.

Retirement is a time of life that many people look forward to. After years of hard work, it’s time to relax and enjoy the fruits of your labor. However, before you can truly enjoy retirement, it is important to answer the simple question that most keeps pre-retirees up at night: Do I have enough to retire?

With the recent failures of Silicon Valley Bank, Signature Bank, and most recently, First Republic Bank, consumers have been left to wonder about their own funds and the inherent safety nets built in to protect their assets. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC), and State Guaranty Associations each play a critical role in protecting consumers’ assets in the event of a financial institution’s failure or insolvency.

Often we hear about the tax loopholes that millionaires and billionaires are taking advantage of while the average Joe is left holding the bag. This is generally a mischaracterization, as these millionaires and billionaires are subjected to the same tax code as the rest of us. They simply take advantage of the tax code either by knowing and understanding tax code, or hiring advisors who do. Today’s blog deals with one of those tax advantages that you may not have known about.

With Tax Day falling on my blog release date, I decided to write something a little different. While the aim of most of my blogs are educational, the primary goal of this is to be humorous. I hope you enjoy.

Asset allocation and asset location are two very important aspects of your financial plan. The goal of asset allocation is to divide your investments into different asset classes, creating a diversified portfolio that balances risk and return. On the other hand, asset location refers to the specific accounts in which you hold your investments, such as taxable, Roth, or tax-deferred.

If you are like most people, you are probably confused by the concept of Roth conversions. In this blog post, we will take a look at what Roth conversions are, why they can be beneficial to your overall retirement plan, and how they work....

With all the noise that exists about investing, it is difficult to have any confidence in what the correct solutions are for your investments. While there are almost limitless options regarding the different types of investments (some obviously better than others), this week we are focusing on Class A Share Mutual Funds...

A Harris poll in 2017 found that 60% of respondents had no idea how much in fees and costs was associated with the financial advice they were getting. This is for good reason as the financial industry has intentionally made it difficult to...

From 2019 to 2021 SVB’s deposits tripled from $61.76 Billion to $189.2 Billion. As I am sure you are aware, when you deposit money into a bank, they in turn take your money and invest through lending that money out. However, in SVB’s case, the influx of cash from 2019-2021 happened so quickly that they were unable to grow their loan book quickly to appropriately reflect their cash positions.

There was some beautiful weather over the weekend. Things are starting to warm up and signs of spring are starting to manifest themselves more and more. Personally, I’m not much of a cold weather fan, so these signs of changing seasons have put a little extra spruce in my step. Over the weekend I was able to bust out the ol’ lawn mower and cut my grass for the first time this year.

Like many of you, I have been a victim of procrastination…ok, obviously victim is not the right word. There have been times where I have struggled to prioritize my time appropriately. I have been guilty of putting important things off until the last minute….and if you are wondering, yes, the idea for this blog came about due to some Grade A procrastinating on my part. Today I will try and share a few strategies to help you deal with the procrastination that may have seeped into your financial life.

The second most important Q acronym (behind QED of course 😊) that all retirees should be familiar with is QCD. QCD stands for Qualified Charitable Distribution. It is a provision in the tax code that allows for distribution from your tax deferred retirement account to go directly to a qualified charity. This may be the single biggest missed opportunity for tax savings as there are so many people that simply don’t know about it..

If you know me well, you probably know that I am a big Chiefs fan. Watching Chiefs games on Sunday afternoons has been a family bonding activity from as far back as I can remember. If you have been a Chiefs fan for long, or if you have followed the NFL closely over the years, then you know my Chiefs fandom has come with its share of heartache. This makes their recent success all the sweeter.

Secure 2.0 was passed as part of the Omnibus bill at the end of 2022. As I have gone through the different provisions, the best analogy that I have been able to come up with is that Secure 2.0 is like an ex-girlfriend; there are redeeming qualities, but I really wish it had just never happened.

Why can’t I just pick one of the 10% of funds that has outperformed its benchmark? The truth is you can…if you can identify it. While we certainly have back-tested data, mutual funds have very weak, if any, levels of correlation from year to year. In other words, how a fund performs in one year is in no way a predictor of how it will perform in future years. This ultimately leads to the conclusion that trying to choose the fund that will outperform is a fool’s errand.

January 1st of 2008 commenced one of the most exciting bets of this century (at least to us finance nerds 😊). “The Bet” pitted Warren Buffet, arguably the world’s most successful investor against Protégé Partners LLC, a hedge fund based out of New York City. Click to continue reading.

From the outside, starting my own independent financial planning firm may look a little crazy...and maybe it is. Getting set up for your own Registered Investment Advisory (RIA) is not for the faint of heart. You submit yourself to background checks, pay consultants thousands of dollars to help you navigate the complex registration process, create multiple business structures, and in the process turn your normal day to day on its head. And this is just to get to day one of the firm. Click to continue reading.