Employer matching contributions to your 401(k) are a beautiful thing. They are also a thing of confusion.
My company doesn’t match my 401(k) contributions (or it’s a very small match). Should I still use my 401(k)?
Before You Invest Your Money, Make Sure You Understand What You’re Investing In
I recently spoke with a prospective client who wants to make sure their advisor can advise on cryptocurrencies, because they own some.
Cryptocurrencies fall cleanly outside of my investment philosophy, which is, in a word, boring: low-cost, broadly diversified investments that try to match the market performance, not beat it.
Changing your financial behavior is hard. Leverage your community!
Changing your behavior is essential to accomplishing anything great in your life, right? Skip your traditional Sunday brunch so you can train more for that triathlon. Study every night instead of hanging with friends so you can get an MBA.
And when you start working on your personal finances, you’re going to be asked to change your behavior, at least in some small way.
A Tesla won’t scotch your financial prospects. Your recurring expenses will.
A lot of my clients fret over a large one-time expense–a once-in-a-lifetime vacation, a huge home remodel, a fancy electric car–and waste much less angst on their monthly expenses. Turns out, they’ve got it backwards.
Life and Financial Lessons from Two Years of Flow
Flow is two years old today. Starting and growing the firm has been stressful, invigorating, challenging, educational (boy howdy), gratifying, ego-stroking, ego-crushing, and validating.Continue reading
Don’t Be Lucky with Your Money. Be Smart. (Ideally, Both.) (Video)
In the tech community, stories abound of people who became rich overnight. They were lucky. Maybe you’ll be lucky. But maybe you won’t.
Netflix, Doritos, and How You Can’t Willpower Your Way Through Your Finances.
I am one of about five people in the United States who doesn’t have a Netflix subscription. During the last month, however, I had a free trial. Now that it’s over, I once more have time and brain power to do something other than binge watch Marvel superhero shows and “Dexter.”
The Netflix trial proved to me, yet again, that I have no self-control when it comes to watching screens. Honestly, my behavior in the last month disappointed me. “Surely I should be able to resist! What is wrong with me?” Continue reading
Investing is risky. Increasing your earning power is the best protection you have.
Whether you’re a confident investor, or you have a bunch of your money hiding out in cash, I think we can pretty much all agree that the stock market is unpredictable.
Historically it has always gone up…eventually, and so it’s reasonable for us to assume it’ll continue in that vein. But we can’t actually know that.
So, how do we protect against the possibility that the stock market will stop working the way it has in the past?
Retirement is so far away it isn’t real. How can you make sure you’re still saving enough? (Video)
The Curious Math of Roth 401(k)s: You Can Save More Than If You Use a Pre-Tax 401(k)
If your 401(k) offers a Roth option, how do you know if you should contribute to it instead of the usual, pre-tax 401(k)?
The Not-So-Obvious Benefits of Using a Financial Planner
What should I do with my stock options?
How much house should I buy?
How much should I be saving?
Is this idea crazy?
Pay Attention to Your Employee Benefits. They Can Be More Important Than Your Salary.
Even though you get paid well in the tech industry–in both dollars and company stock–there’s another part of your total compensation that you should probably pay more attention to: employee benefits.