I recently completed Shaping Wealth's "Building the Behavioral Advisor" program and it was one of the most transformative experiences of my career. My goal today is to talk with you about a few things I've learned and how they APPLY to our personal financial lives. I can't wait to share more of what I've learned and exercises to help you help yourself.   Questions? Email me: [email protected]

What might the stock market look like 5 years from now? If it's higher, then should you be buying or selling right now? Even if it were to go down 50% more from here, but 5 years from today it were higher, would buying be a mistake or a good decision? It's kind of an important question, isnt it?   Questions? Email me: [email protected]   

No matter where you find yourself in life, it's never too late to begin your investing journey. Whether you can start with $10 or $10 million, getting started can often be the hardest part. Here's the secret: It doesn't have to be that hard.    Questions? Email me: [email protected]   

Of course it does. But not being able to pay your bills during an economic expansion feels a lot worse than being able to pay your bills during an economic recession. This week, we talk about recessions, the effect on US stocks, and hot dogs.    Questions? Email me: [email protected] 

This week I read the Declaration of Independence. This is not a political statement. I believe it's important to know how The United States of America began. We'll get back to personal finance next week.    Questions? Email me: [email protected] 

As we continue our conversation on planning for the event of sudden job loss, we dive into several insurance-related iems. We talk about health insurance options, like COBRA, and dive into life insurance as well. There's more to this conversation to come.    Questions? Email me: [email protected]

Coach Jim Mora's response to a question about making the playoffs resulted in one of the funniest post-game interviews in the NFL. As news of layoffs continues to make the front page, we discuss a few elements of your compensation package that could require some planning in case you get the dreaded pink slip.   Questions? Email me: [email protected] 

I'd prefer frozen in this case, but I found myself faced with a decision to liquidate hundreds of thousands of dollars of investments or borrow money. I chose the borrowing route, and while I think it was the right decision FOR ME, it doesn't come without risks and without me losing control of money.    Questions? Email me: [email protected] 

Media is a business, not a public service. The same is true for social media. Their goals are to extract as much profit as they can. Sensationalism sells, pragmatism doesn't. Next time you're listening to someone on TV talk about doom and gloom, remember that they don't care if you meet your goals or not. Only that you "pay" attention.   Questions? Email me: [email protected] 

Don't worry, this is still a personal finance podcast. Today we're talking about a phenomenon that can both help investors weather terrible downturns in stock prices, and pump-fake us into believing we're done with the selling. We've already had one such dead cat bounce in the market this year, and there could be more.    Questions? Email me: [email protected]

If you've got your shopping shoes on, but aren't sure whether the market has further to fall or not, you could always try using a "stink bid" to get shares of a stock you like at a price much lower than the current market price. This week, we're talking about Stink Bids and of course, some risk factors associated with this strategy.    Questions? Email me: [email protected]  

If you're scared of the market, or thinking about it gives you anxiety because you're uncertain about what might happen in the future, you are human. That's a normal, natural reaction to what is happening in the market. It's okay. You're okay.  Questions? Email me: [email protected] 

Sometimes the market just plain sucks. That's the kind of market we're in now. There are myriad reasons why, but the only thing that matters is what matters to you. How you feel and how you act will likely have more to do with YOUR reality than the market action.    Questions? Email me: [email protected]

It's been about 6 weeks since our last conversation, and this week I'm back to give you an idea of why I was away. We'll also talk about what train travel and investing have in common. Thanks for sticking with me through a rough time in my life!    Questions? Email me: [email protected]

Oil finds a way into most of our lives. The roads you drive on are paved with oil. Each tire on your electric car take about 7 gallons of oil to produce. Even your toothbrush comes from oil! It's a major part of our world and it goes largely unnoticed until the prices skyrocket like they have lately.    Questions? Email me: [email protected] 

A good time to think about a correction is when markets are behaving well. After the crash, it can be too late, and rash decisions can end up compounding the problems facing your financial well being. If you're like me, a friendly reminder is a welcome thing while we're within 1.5% of the all time highs.    Questions? Email me: [email protected]

This week's conversation is a quick one. Like a lot of people, from the comfort of our homes in the USA, we're watching in horror the war in Ukraine. Thanks to the folks at LPL Research, we quickly explore how US stocks have fared during times of conflict and major world events.    Questions? Email me: [email protected]

Hope is not a strategy. You can certainly hope that things go your way. And you should have hope for a better future, especially if you're an investor. But hope by itself is not a strategy. This week we call on three famous innovators to illustrate the point.    Questions? Email me: [email protected]

To get 1% better every day means you'd improve by 37x every year. It might be doable in some areas for a little while, but probably not a sustained period of time. What I think is better is to focus on incremental improvement. You get really far by taking small steps.    Questions? Email me: [email protected]

As Americans, we spent a lot of time thinking about money last year. More specifically, OUR money. That was evident based on the top 10 trending internet searches of 2021. We discuss those, and the difference between knowledge and wisdom as it pertains to investors.   Questions? Email me: [email protected]

This episode was inspired by a tweet that I responded to last week, and an investment concept that I've talked about in the past. I think it can be very helpful to view your investments as "units" rather than dollars. The dollar value will change with the whim of the markets. The number of shares you have will not.    Questions? Email me: [email protected]

Fear drives a lot of short term market direction. But somehow, over the long-term optimism seems to rule the markets. It's important to separate Fear from Uncertainty and Uncertainty from Risk. They're interrelated, but they're not the same thing. Don't allow fear to get in the way of making decisions that you believe to be right for you and your future.    Questions? Email me: [email protected] 

The IRS has raised the limits for 401(k) and similar contribution maximums for 2022. You can now put $20,500 into a 401(k) and if you're over 50 years old, you can make an additional $6,500 catch-up contribution. It's important to take a look at what you're contributing to your 401(k) and make sure it's the right plan FOR YOU!   Questions? Email me: [email protected]   

I set a goal to do 25,000 pushups in 2021. I didn't do 25,000 pushups in 2021. The year isn't quite over, but there's no way I'll get there. In failing to hit my goal, I learned a lot about myself. And more importantly, I learned that even a "failure" can be a success.   Questions? Email me: [email protected]