Thoughts On Money [TOM]

This week's blogpost - https://bahnsen.co/3RGuE2U Before I gave financial advice, I pedaled bikes.  Today, we will discuss the intersection of BMX racing and investing.  Specifically, we will unpack how to measure results and some of the common pitfalls result-driven investors and athletes face.  I am sure you will enjoy a stroll down my memory lane and the opportunity to grow as investors.  So, w...

This week's blogpost - https://bahnsen.co/3ZyGe1P Have you ever been scammed? Since the birth of the internet, we the American people, have become quite familiar with scams. We now know to delete any proposal for a financial exchange coming from a Nigerian prince. We dodge these scamming attempts daily. Yet, these scams are still in high production. Why? Unfortunately, because they still work; peo...

This week's blogpost - https://bahnsen.co/467qQf8 I am guessing that most of us reading this article have moved at least once or twice in our lifetime. For me, I’ve moved four times over the last ten years. I’ve become familiar with this feeling I get, that tinge of anxiety as I’m preparing for or staring down the barrel of a move. The organizing, the packing, the lifting, the loading, the unloadi...

This week's blogpost - https://bahnsen.co/44yuUnl Do you ever notice those habitual lane-changers in traffic?  There is a lot of activity going on, but they make little progress.  There doesn’t seem to be a correlation between how many times you switch lanes and a reduction in your drive time.  Often you will observe “lane change regret.”  The driver sees opportunity, so they get over, only to the...

This week's blogpost - https://bahnsen.co/3OHt2Ti Legacy. Leaving a legacy. Your legacy. What a loaded finance word, right? We know it has depth and meaning, but we don’t always really know what it looks like practically. Join me as I walk through a real life story of legacy and share some practical steps for how you can leave a legacy.   Links mentioned in this episode: http://thoughtsonmoney.com...

This week's blogpost - https://bahnsen.co/3QDVM25 Suppose I wrote two different articles – one on how to improve investment returns and another on how to reduce your tax bill.  Which article would you be most likely to read?  Regardless of your answer, I think you will enjoy today’s discussion on Thoughts On Money.  We will dive into ideas for improving investment returns by looking for opportunit...

This week's blogpost - https://bahnsen.co/47jPdrg Thank you for your faithful readership of Thoughts On Money. You and I, we are in this together. As iron sharpens iron, So one person sharpens another. Links mentioned in this episode: http://thoughtsonmoney.com http://thebahnsengroup.com

This week's blogpost - https://bahnsen.co/44LNvxf We understand this idea of flourishing as individuals, but even furthermore in a corporate sense. Flourishing as a church community or flourishing alongside your colleagues in business, or flourishing as a family. This is an even deeper aspiration that we would prosper in and with our community. Yet, flourishing isn’t how all of us would describe o...

This week's blogpost - https://bahnsen.co/3Q8lStI I was filling in for David Bahnsen this week on DC Today, and I was reminded how much I enjoy the Ask David section. This is where readers send in questions, and David addresses one question a day on this published public platform. I remember an old teacher always used to encourage our class, “Ask, please ask all the questions you have. If you have...

This week's blogpost - https://bahnsen.co/3DdMjXk Today’s discussion was a lecture I was giving myself. Is there a place of vulnerability in my financial plan that needs to be addressed? Maybe your plan has some vulnerabilities and gaps, too. I encourage you to get a second pair of eyes on your plan and make sure everything is buttoned up and tidy. Why? Because everything can change in a moment. L...

This week's blogpost - https://bahnsen.co/3JLysv2 The Choice is Yours I recently watched the movie Race, the story of Olympian Jesse Owens. One particular scene stood out to me. Coach Larry Snyder is advising Owens on life/relationship decisions, and he warns, “The choices you’re making right now won’t even feel like choices until it’s too late.” I couldn’t shake that statement. The truth of it ha...

This week's blogpost - https://bahnsen.co/3CVMVkh For me, it was working full-time and attending class in the evening.     I saw the burden student debt had on many of my peers, so I chose to pay-as-I-go.  Cost and availability of evening classes definitely filtered down my options for college.     Today, I want to discuss how you can expand those education options for future generations with good...

This week's blogpost - https://bahnsen.co/3qJPIu7 Don’t get me started on medical billing; we’ve got history.   In all seriousness, the whole healthcare system has been a major frustration of mine for years. As a single guy, I never had to interact much with my health coverage – I rarely went to the doctor. With getting married and starting a family, much of this changed.   Today I will discuss ho...

This week's blogpost - https://bahnsen.co/3NlwmE8 Making pizza is all about timing. Do you know what else is all about timing? Roth conversions. Yup, just as the title alluded to, today we are discussing pizza dough and Roth conversions. Links mentioned in this episode: http://thoughtsonmoney.com http://thebahnsengroup.com

This week's blogpost - https://bahnsen.co/45WjDzp In sports, a fair-weather fan is a term for fans who only show up when their teams perform well. We also have a term for fans that rotate their allegiance based on which team is winning and, in vogue, a bandwagon fan While you have to respect those whose fanhood runs deeper than the current performance of their beloved team, born out of loyalty to...

This week's blogpost - https://bahnsen.co/3BX4Fve The financial planning industry is obsessed with talking about (1) you not outliving your nest egg and (2) the proper planning on bequeathing your wealth. Yet, there is very little discussion about how one would enjoy their legacy during their lifetime. Today, we will discuss the reality of future financial leftovers and the importance of planning...

This week's blogpost - https://bahnsen.co/3MILA6a From my vantage point, a lot of investors are sitting on their hands right now.  There seems to be a hesitation to buy real estate, stocks, and any other risk assets.  Everyone is in a sit-and-wait posture.  I believe much of this is driven by fear, a fear that can be paralyzing for many.  Yet, your financial goals do not sit-and-wait. They are dep...

This week's blogpost - https://bahnsen.co/3Vy7trq Please join me today for a few fun stories. You will learn about the number one rule in our house growing up and how I absolutely butchered the catering order for my son's 1st birthday. As I typically do, these stories will bring us back to financial planning. I will explain why accurately estimating your expenses may be the most important componen...

This week's blogpost - https://bahnsen.co/3oDKHlx I’m not sure if this is a cultural phenomenon or just how we are wired as humans, but I see so many people agonize and dwell on the minors while ignoring the majors. You can’t stop thinking about that nick on your new car, your teenage daughter can’t stop looking at that pimple in the mirror, your husband can’t stop complaining about that slightly...

This week's blogpost - This may seem silly, but I do believe it’s important for you to be aware of who you are, how you operate, and what type of financial environment suits you best. Sure, we could poke fun at smaller plate sizes or coloring books during lesson time, but we also have to realize that our success will depend on these types of strategies and approaches that help protect us from our...

This week's blogpost - https://bahnsen.co/415sGen One of the most difficult things for me when I quit competing as a cyclist was staying motivated to exercise. I quit competing when I was 20 and continued to work at a fitness center for the next five years, yet I had so much trouble finding the motivation to work out. There really should’ve been no excuses – I had a free gym membership, and I coul...

This week's blogpost - https://bahnsen.co/3nOuUA2 Today we will revisit an article I wrote back in February of 2020, which seems like forever ago.   There is such a benefit to reflect on how we were thinking back then and how things played out over the next two years.     The original article was inspired by a conversation with a friend who abandoned his investment strategy.  I recently had the op...

This week's blogpost - https://bahnsen.co/3luKIY5 Growing up, I had a lot of pets; my family loved animals. We had cats, we had dogs. We had snakes, we had lizards. We had turtles, we had rabbits. At one point, I think we may have had a chinchilla. When I was in kindergarten, we had a whippet, a dog breed that looked almost like a miniature greyhound. His name was Whip. Real clever, right? In high...

This week's blogpost - https://bahnsen.co/42mZeRZ I was at a tension point with what I wanted to discuss here on Thoughts On Money today; I was really feeling torn.  The newsfeed this week has been absolutely flooded with analysis, opinion, and speculation on the demise of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB).  What you don’t need is another opinion or perspective on what happened. Links mentioned in this ep...

This week's blogpost - https://bahnsen.co/3T5kkjI I have a simple truth to present to you today – if it seems too good to be true, it’s probably too good to be true.  Please join me as we navigate the importance of investor maturity and how some financial products aren’t always as they seem.  I will take you in a time machine back to the start of my career, provide you with some shocking compariso...