I was recently talking with a couple who had significant wealth from a successful IPO a few years ago. (Ahhhh, those were the days.)
Continue readingLiving Off Your IPO Wealth Starting in Your 30s or 40s. Key Word? Flexibility.
How Much Should You Put in Your Child’s 529 College Account? What If It’s Too Much?
Your child is two years old. You want to save for their college. The answer to “Where should I save?” is easy enough. The bigger, harder question is: “How much should I save?”
Continue readingHow We Evaluate and (Hopefully) Improve a Client’s Existing Portfolio
As much as I think most of investing is boring (and should be), I really enjoy the puzzle of what to do when I first start working with a client’s existing investment portfolio. And how I work through that puzzle might help you evaluate and improve your own investment portfolio.
Continue readingOur Investment Beliefs
I rarely talk about investing in this blog. It has been on purpose.
Continue readingEmployee Stock Purchase Plans (ESPP): Enroll, But Don’t Get Too Excited.
Do you know, more or less, how RSUs work, but ESPPs are a complete mystery? Join many of our clients in that confusion. And frankly they are stupidly complicated for the amount of money they’re worth to you.
You Just Started a New Job. How Much Should You Contribute to Your New 401(k)?
One of the many things you have to figure out when you start a new job is the new company 401(k).
Continue readingYou Want Certainty. I’m Sorry, You Can’t Have It. So How Should You Make Financial Decisions?
Because our clients are of the human variety, a lot of them want some certainty in their planning. They want to know that this decision will turn out right, or that they will be able to achieve this or that goal.
Reflections on 7 Years of Flow
My seventh year in business was probably my hardest year, save for my first. My first was characterized by “Will this even work?” Last year was characterized by “It worked. But I’m not happy…and good lord am I tired.”
Continue readingHow I Created My Own Charitable Giving Plan: An update 2 years later
Two years ago, I wrote about creating my own charitable giving strategy, which I then documented in spreadsheet-y glory. I’m back to tell you how I’ve changed and improved it since then.
Continue readingRolling Over An Old 401(k)? Watch Out for These Gotchas.
Earlier this year, a client rolled over an old 401(k) into her IRAs at TD Ameritrade (where we manage our clients’ investments). She received, correctly, two checks from her 401(k): one for her pre-tax 401(k) account and one for her Roth 401(k) account. She mailed both of those checks to TD Ameritrade…and they were both automatically dumped into her traditional IRA.
You Should Aim to Be Financially Independent…Enough.
Though the fervor around “financial independence” has abated a bit in recent years, I still see quite a bit of it. (Perils of the job, doncha know.) In fact, I most often see this “I want to retire now!” from women who are burned. the f*ck. out. by their career in tech.
Continue readingShould You Exercise Your Options at Your Private Company? 4 Approaches to Consider
This is for all you private-company employees out there who still have your job. And have exercisable stock options hanging over your head, causing persistent low-key anxiety about:
Continue readingShould I be doing something with these?