Critical Thinking Required

This is a fun episode.  We invited Tony Bickmore, the owner of Bickmore Construction, to join us and talk about remodeling/building your primary home.  After Tony briefly introduced how he got into the business, Dan asked where people should start in terms of remodeling and building.  Tony's answer was very straightforward: have a realistic budget.  Know what's important to you, and unde...

Here we go again, this is our quarterly "Trendy Talk" episode for 2020's 4th quarter.  In this episode, we talked about IPOs, why do companies try to do IPOs, how are the prices determined (the truth might shock you), and what happened with Airbnb's IPO.  Tesla is one of the companies that we get questions about almost daily.  Do you know that most of Tesla's profit doesn&...

This episode is all about one of the most fascinating topics: space.  Our guest is Rick Tumlinson, the co-founder of several space companies and non-profits, and one of the most influential people in the space industry.  Rick kicked off the episode by talking about the book The High Frontier and how it inspired him to get into the industry.  He then gave us a rundown of the space industry from a b...

For the very first episode of 2021, we open our show with Drew Brown, the rhythm guitarist of the pop-rock band OneRepublic.  We kicked off the podcast by asking what got Drew into music, what artists inspired him, what his favorite concert was, and what his shower/carpool song pick is (cue the “Beauty & the Beast” theme song plz!).  Drew revealed that he almost joined a metal band, and as Nat...

This is our "Get To Know LBW" mini-series where we interview each of our team members so that you will get to know us better.  Our third interviewee is our Portfolio Manager Nathaniel Leach.  He explained that despite what some people may think, he's not a robot.  He talked about how he explored many different subjects before landing on his history degree, and how that greatly influ...

This is our "Get To Know LBW" mini-series where we interview each of our team members so that you will know us better. Our second interviewee is the Director of Client Relations, Dan Weiss. We talked about his childhood, his education, and his minor (well, not so minor) obsession with geography and maps. He explained why he co-founded LBW Wealth, and what pushes and encourages him in lif...

This is our "Get To Know LBW" mini-series where we interview each of our team members so that you will know us better.  The first interviewee is our master of planning, the Director of Financial Planning: Tim Bickmore.  We talked about his childhood, his studies at Lawrence University, and his feelings and thoughts about our industry.  We also explored his personal life, what his biggest...

In this episode, we invited one of our friends Zach Galin to talk about education, especially college applications.  Zach has spent almost two decades working independently with students and families in the college admissions process. From test preparation to college matching, applications, and financial aid, Zach has helped students gain acceptance to their top-choice schools.  We started the con...

In this episode, we talked about going virtual for events with our friend Rachel Werner.  Rachel is faculty for Hugo House and The Loft Literary Center.  She has contributed print, photography, and video content to Fabulous Wisconsin, BLK+GRN, BRAVA, Madison Magazine, and Entrepreneurial Chef.   As we all know, not everything goes well virtually.  Rachel explained three factors to consider before...

In this episode, we invited our friend Max Zimon and his attorney Peter Salerno to talk about Max's journey of applying for residency status in Canada.  Max started his application in late 2016, and Dan started the conversation by asking "why Canada?" Max feels that he's more comfortable with Canada's overall policies on taxes, healthcare, and its social atmosphere.  As fo...

This is our quarterly commentary episode.  We discussed student loan forbearance, the Federal Reserve and interest rates, the second Stimulus package, and the Trade War with China.  Tim talked about the student loan forbearance ending this coming December.  This policy is very advantageous for people that have lost their job or got a pay cut due to COVID-19 by freeing up a couple hundred or even a...

In this episode, we discussed the concept of an index.  Regardless if it's the Dow Jones Industrial Average (“DJIA”), S&P 500, or the Nasdaq, they all serve the same function: to track a portion of the stock market.  Dan and Tim briefly introduced the history of indices: who created them, who is operating them, and why we have them.  Nathaniel added, like anything else, it's importan...

In this episode, we talked about the stock split.  Dan and Nathaniel started the conversation by battling over who gives a better metaphor for the concept of a stock split (BTW, the editing team voted for Nathaniel).  Basically, you have one one-dollar bill, and after the stock split, you now have four quarters.  The price per unit has changed, but the value has not.  Then why do companies do stoc...

In this episode, we invited Tim's father Tony Bickmore to talk about his adventure of moving to Nicaragua for retirement.  After he retired from the fire department as a fireman, Tony had a successful tiling business up until 2008 hit.  After some extended research and a trip down south, Tony fell in love with Nicaragua: it had the same vibe as Cosco Rica, but at half the living expense.  He...

Recently a lot of our clients have asked us what the November election will do to the market and what they should do to prepare for it.  The short answer is: for the long term, nothing; for the short term, buckle up, and be ready for some market volatility regardless of the election result.  Even in the short term, if you observe past presidential elections, out of seven times that the market decr...

In this episode, we talked about the real estate market in the Midwest, specifically the Dane County area.  Lindsay and Leslie both talked about how the low inventory and low-interest rates are going to keep the market active and crazy for a while.  Lindsay further explained what causes the low inventory in this area: a combination of baby boomers downsizing and buying smaller homes, and millennia...

In this episode, we discussed one of people's all-time favorite topics: real estate.  Growing up in a family of realtors in the Bay Area, it was only natural Tiffany developed an early and intense interest in homes and got her license in 2007.  Tim started the conversation with a question everyone wanted to know: will the real estate market hold?  And Tiffany's answer is yes, at least fo...

The Federal Reserve recently announced that it will allow inflation above the 2% cap for the time being without increasing the federal funds rate.  What does that mean to us?  Tim first explained a couple of concepts: first, the Fed's dual mandate policy, which is price stability and maximum sustainable employment; second, the federal funds rate doesn't equal interest rates you get from...

In this episode, we talked about Employee Stock Options.  On one hand, they incentivize the employee to work harder since now their interests are tied with the company; on the other hand, they help the company to hire faster and better without hurting its cash flow.  Tim introduced the different types of stock options, their associated terms, and how their different structures result in different...

In this episode, we talked about long term care insurance with Fred Thorban.  Fred started his career in the insurance industry in 1990 and has been working with MVP Financial Services since 2007.  We started the conversation by asking: what is long term care insurance?  Fred gave a brief history lesson and told us that when it all started back in the '70s, because it was so new, insurance co...

This is our mini-series "Ready... Go!" where we talk about the top financial topics of 2020 so far.  In this episode, Tim talked a little bit about the FED's interest rate cut and why this was a high-impact move.  Nathaniel discussed the PPP/EDML loans and how they are supposed to help employers retain their employees and businesses during the pandemic.  He also mentioned the challe...

In this episode, we discussed the effective use of leverage AKA debt.  We started the conversation with the recent "hot" topic: home refinancing and interest rates.  We also discussed whether potential inflation is on the horizon due to the stimulus package.  Nathaniel explained how he played the credit card game.  Dan asked: is there such thing as good debt?  Tim said debt is neither go...

In this episode, we had a chat with Ryan Grant.  Ryan has been working in the mortgage industry for 15 years and has been ranked among the top 50 Mortgage Consultants in America each year since 2013.  Dan and Ryan discussed how they love their industries, but also find it distasteful that the industries are being marketed as commodities.  Tim asked about mortgage refinancing and whether the intere...

In this episode, we had a chat with Mike Gibbons about our healthcare system.  Mike has been in the Healthcare field for 33 years and has an extensive background in healthcare administration.  Tim and Dan started the conversation by asking: what's wrong with our current healthcare system, and what can we do as a consumer?  Mike told us, first of all,  it's important for us to take care o...

In this episode, we discussed the benchmarks, especially the S&P 500.  Dan was blunt about his feeling about it: it makes people think off the mark, and not consider the greater risks of chasing the market.  Tim gave some interesting data: YTD, the top 6 stocks of S&P 500 have +16.61% return (as of 5/31/2020), but excluding these top 6 stocks, S&P 500 as a whole is down, with a -9.20%...