Thoughts On Money [TOM]

Our family takes full advantage of this beautiful weather, and I am sure these claimed averages do ring true, but this does not stop us from checking the weather forecast on a daily or weekly basis. Whether we are making a trip to the local zoo, planning a beach day, or having a picnic with friends, we’d like to know the specifics of what the weather will be like. We need to know if we should pack...

Have you ever tried to learn a foreign language? It can be a slow and arduous process. Many say that an effective way to speed up the learning process is to immerse oneself in a foreign language country. The most common areas where students fail are just the lack of vocabulary, poor sentence structuring, or conjugating verbs erroneously. Yet, there are some instances when the errors become quite c...

For a financial professional, there are two decisions that need to be made: (1) What will I recommend to clients? (2) What will I personally own? What I find interesting is whether or not the same answer will suffice for both questions. As I mentioned, the investment options in the marketplace are extensive, but even this never-ending list is trumped by an even greater financial phenomenon – finan...

We live in a world that we could have never imagined a decade ago. We are more “connected” today than ever, yet many of us are feeling more alone than ever. We have access to more information today than we ever have, yet many of us are feeling even more uniformed. The headlines are littered with polarizing opinions on everything from the pandemic to politics. And now add to this, a highly publiciz...

Have you ever played musical chairs? An exciting game, full of anxiety and anticipation, as you are left wondering if you will be left without a seat in the end. When the music stops, that is when the exclamation mark is written, that is when the calamity begins. Just to provide clarity, I’d like to answer two questions for our readers (1) Do I believe there are pockets of “bubblicious” investment...

Trevor is joined by TBG co-workers Sean Latimer and Leslie Rea to talk about developing the right kind of financial portfolio. Links mentioned in this episode: http://thoughtsonmoney.com http://thebahnsengroup.com

Trevor has a conversation with TBG Managing Director, Solutions and Analytics regarding investing principles and how to take the fear out of the process. Links mentioned in this episode: http://thoughtsonmoney.com http://thebahnsengroup.com

Start with broad categories to begin organizing your potential checklist items. For personal finance, that’s things like Tax Planning, Estate Planning, Insurance, Charitable Giving, Cash Management, Investment Allocations, etc. Next, start asking yourself questions relative to these categories: Are there any tax strategies that I should be implementing before the end of the year? Are there any are...

If you worked at The Bahnsen Group, you’d know that Sean Latimer and I eat lunch together just about every day. We are blessed at The Bahnsen Group to have a very tight-knit, family-like culture. Sharing lunch together is a time to bounce ideas off one another, share best practices, and problem solve. I learn a lot from these lunchtime conversations, and I am a better advisor for it. This week, du...

Let’s imagine we had a time machine, but this time machine would only allow us to go back 90 days – that’s it. So, we jump in our time machine, pull the green lever, push the special purple button, and zoom off we go. We open the door and find ourselves back in the first week of September. What’s grabbing headlines? What’s filling our social media feed? What’s the conversation du jour at the coffe...

Trevor Cummings and Sean Latimer from The Bahnsen Group Links mentioned in this episode: http://thoughtsonmoney.com http://thebahnsengroup.com

What happens if you don’t have principles or an investment philosophy? Then you are going to lean on what “feels” right at the time. These feelings, or what you might label intuition, are often influenced by the current environment you find yourself in. So, in a year like 2017, when you see bitcoin climb from $1,000 to nearly $20,000, you might find that your investment interest has peaked. On the...

Stubborn as a mule. That’s how the saying goes, and I’m often that mule. Stubbornness at times can be a strength when it’s a result of deeply held convictions. More often than not though, stubbornness is a weakness. People find themselves falling in love with a conclusion and over time they forget to go back and review the supporting evidence for that conclusion. The longer a position is held the...

In the world of Psychology, there is an often-cited study that was conducted at Stanford University called the Marshmallow Experiment. This was research targeting the study of delayed gratification. The research consisted of multiple test variations, but the process across the board was similar. The test subjects, children, were offered the option of one marshmallow now or two marshmallows later,...

Another great episode with Trevor Cummings and Sean Latimer of The Bahnsen Group Links mentioned in this episode: http://thoughtsonmoney.com http://thebahnsengroup.com

This week's Thoughts on Money [TOM] is filled with some personal stories that, of course, I think are interesting but I promise that I get into some key financial principles for you to consider. I'm especially pleased this week's episode of the TOM podcast (with my co-worker, Sean Latimer) as we make dig into some key aspects of compounding of this week's blogpost. The article ends with one of my...

One attribute of outstanding leadership is one’s ability to cast vision; to clearly articulate the organization’s objectives in a simple and inspiring manner. We call leaders that excel in this area visionaries. I’m currently on a team at church to develop a vision statement for our congregation. I didn’t realize coming into this project just how difficult that task would be. To assist in the proc...

The bible tells us, “Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall” (Proverbs 16:18) a warning about overconfidence and how arrogance frequently leads to failure. In our culture, we often hear these famous last words precluding a fall, “It’s a sure thing.” If you’re a frequent visitor to Thoughts On Money then you know I love the game of basketball. I love playing basketball, t...

Financial planning is a math equation. This equation has multiple variables ranging from intrinsic metrics like your goals, financial resources, personal preferences, and so on, to external factors like inflation, tax rates, expected rates of return, and so on. For this equation though, the conclusion is less like a math solution and more like a report card: "A" is passing with flying colors, "C"...

Since the inception of Thoughts On Money, the objective has been the same - to help translate the complex world of personal finance into something more palatable and to address common questions that investors have. If you've been a long-time reader of TOM, you know that most investment questions don't have a one-size-fits-all answer; this is why I commonly encourage readers to address these partic...

There is a debate out there in the world of finance. A debate about active vs. passive investing. Today I take you on a journey through my personal timeline, how I bumped into this debate, and why I think we are all having the wrong conversation. Come find out why in, fact, all of us are exactly the same kind of investor at our core. Links mentioned in this episode: http://thoughtsonmoney.com http...

This week's Thoughts On Money addresses the never ending quest for "free money." Whether it's some get rich quick scheme someone at work is whispering about or a "sure thing" at the local horse track, many people are enticed by the quick and easy path to riches. In these COVID times, there are no shortages of people touting their short-term trading successes and mistaking gambling for investing. T...

Today I want to address a question I have been getting a lot from clients and friends. This question is usually premised by a comment or concern sounding something like this, “I am worried that this election in November means that [FILL IN THE BLANK] will win the presidency and that will have a negative impact on markets… does this mean that I should sell my stocks?” In order to answer this questi...

Here’s the problem with commitments, they take time and time is a finite resource. Personally, I need to learn to not overcommit. More and more, I see products promoting themselves with financing options. Everything from a mattress to a stationary bike is being marketed with long term financing options. Something with a $2,500 price tag might seem too rich, but a $60 monthly payment over 3 or 4 ye...

Many researchers conclude that an average adult is responsible for making 35,000 decisions a day. Some of these decisions are big, like who you will marry, and others are small, like deciding whether you want cream and sugar in your coffee. To help us navigate these complexities, and the barrage of decisions to be made, we lean on heuristics – little mental shortcuts that help us make quick rule-o...