Revocable living trusts have become an estate planning tool commonly used by Oak Partners clients. Often referred to simply as “living trusts”, this type of planning is best created by working with an experienced lawyer or law firm, and if executed and funded properly can help avoid the prob…
If you’ve been reading my column for a while, then you probably know that I spent considerable time in my younger years traveling through wilderness areas in North America.
The “Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement,” or SECURE Act, and its sequel SECURE 2.0 changed retirement planning in a number of important ways. The original SECURE legislation was enacted in 2019 and began implementation in 2020 during the start of the pandemic. Because of t…
Roth options in 401(k) plans are becoming more widely available with many employers. The decision to use a traditional 401(k) or a Roth 401(k) option can be a little complicated; let's go through some planning logic.
While epidemiology is fascinating, I never signed up for this pastime. Yet, in order to be an effective investment strategist over the past 20 months epidemiology has become a prerequisite, and so I trudge forward.
I was able to spend a couple days with my young adult nephews last week while on a family getaway trip. All of them are impressive young men. One had just started his first professional engineering job, one was doing a semester co-op with a semi-conductor company, one had lost his co-op due …
The post-election rally in the US is taking a breather. On Tuesday of this week the S&P 500 posted its 8th negative day in a row. Although the trend in lower closes has been a bit un-dramatic, the benchmark index did close below its 50-day moving average, signaling a downward short-term trend.
I was driving north in my super thirsty pickup truck, mountain bike in the bed, when my heart jumped. A Speedway billboard showed gas for $4.57 a gallon, and I needed almost a full tank! What a deal. Coming back to my senses, reality reasserted itself. “I refuse to be excited about $4.57 gas…
I will not pretend I was always interested or aware of topics of money, as a 51-year-old child of the Region, however, I have some very distinct economic memories from my childhood involving the time period from the late 1970s to the mid 80s.
This week our beloved Spanish exchange daughter Ane returned from Spain to our home to spend most of the remaining summer. Ane spent the 2017-2018 school year with us, and visited again in 2019. My wife and I were supposed to travel to her region in northern Spain to visit for my 50th birthd…
If you’ve been reading my column for a while, then you probably know that I spent considerable time in my younger years traveling through wilderness areas in North America.
My wife, Tracy, and I took a short vacation, celebrating our anniversary, to Utah last week. The trip was planned around an invitation we received to the Ford Performance Driving School in Park City. The invite was included when we purchased her new Ford Explorer ST last fall.
Inflation has returned with a vengeance, and not long after it was clear the trend was not going to be transitory, the questions and conversations about gold and silver as possible hedges against this unpleasant trend returned to my practice as well.
Let me apologize ahead of time; I’m afraid this column may be a tough. Maybe even a sleeper. But the topic is timely and extremely significant so I’m going to do it anyway. Once again, sorry.
Here we go again. The warning sirens are growing louder and louder, the winds of change seem to be blowing, and it looks like a storm is moving in.
As has been quoted many times in this column, renowned economist Milton Friedman famously said, “Inflation is always and everywhere a monetary phenomenon.” Which means inflation is always caused by an imbalance in the supply of money, usually due to some sort of monetary system mismanagement.
Foot travel through wilderness is hard. Every time I go into a wild place, such as our mountain region parks or the north woods, I am reminded even using the best topographical software and incredible tools like Google Earth to plan a route, you never really know how tough a hike is going to…
We had a rare weekend free of obligations last week. With nothing holding us down, my wife Tracy, 12-year-old Ethan and I headed up to Southwest Michigan to enjoy the day bumming around and searching out some locally made snacks to have on hand for the coming summer season, and the return of…
I serve my clients as their fiduciary. Serving in that capacity requires me to identify, manage and mitigate situations where my firm’s business practices may conflict with the best interests of my clients. In situations where sufficient mitigation of conflicts of interest is not possible, t…
My oldest daughter was married about five years ago. Like all brides, she put thousands of hours into her wedding plans, including creating a 19-page instruction manual complete by listing the time I was supposed to be in bed the night before the wedding. She was given a budget, and being th…
I’ve been getting daily questions lately about I-Bonds. The current economic environment has obviously thrown these financial products into the forefront.
One of the best things about talking to people about money, markets and the economy every day is I get to stay on the leading edge of the worries and concerns permeating our collective experience as Americans.
Content by Midwest Express Clinic. For parents looking for ways to keep their family healthy and happy, here are some tips to make sure you and your children are living active and nutritional lifestyles.
Content by Brand Ave. Studios. The annual Amazon Prime Day is here and will offer discounts on many of your favorite things.
Content by Brand Ave. Studios. The annual Amazon Prime Day is coming July 12 and 13, and per usual will offer discounts on many of your favorite things.
Content by Brand Ave. Studios. The annual Amazon Prime Day is coming July 12 and 13, and per usual will offer discounts on many of your favorite things.
My Dad started his career at Prudential Financial in the late 1970s. His Prudential financial practice was doing well and in the early '80s he qualified for an educational award conference in Hawaii.
The “Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement,” or SECURE Act, and its sequel SECURE 2.0 changed retirement planning in a number of important ways. The original SECURE legislation was enacted in 2019 and began implementation in 2020 during the start of the pandemic. Because of t…
We’ve had an interesting couple weeks in the world of finance and economics. Based on recent news and headlines, it’s clear to me at this point that finance itself is being used in radical new ways, some of them embraced and accepted, some of them more controversial.
Cable news has become all Ukraine, all the time. I know the topic is onerous, but I am getting enough questions every day that I felt I should address the crisis in the column.
It’s always been fascinating to me to work in an industry which is so heavily advertised on TV. Maybe I’m biased by my own attention span, but it seems to me that during a typical three-hour televised football game the viewer is subjected to no fewer than 25 commercials for financial service…
My freshman son at IU has to take trips home or to Indianapolis three times in the next month or so for family obligations, so after he came home last weekend, I suggested he get an IU parking pass and take “his” car back to school until at least spring break. He was more than happy to do so.
I encourage readers to visit the website usdebtclock.org. The site itself is beautiful, with multi-colored numbers all moving at once as compound interest affects the nation’s financial condition, and the bigger the monitor, the more mesmerizing the optics.
My brother-in-law in Cincinnati called me. He doesn’t call that often so I made sure to answer.
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