Portfolio Loans

It is very often true what they say: it takes money to make money. Or, said another (slightly different way) – there are many (better) investment strategies and ideas that are only really open to the very wealthy. It used to be, in my experience, that portfolio...

Freelancer Protections

You may have heard recently about California updating laws around who is an independent contractor versus an employee. People (and employers!) are confused about the difference. This is a common problem/discussion – especially in the freelancer world. The way...

Retirement Plans

This is a quick guide to the basics of how retirement plans work and how to help you figure out which plan is the right one for you or your clients. The first thing we look at is how much you want to “defer” or save every year: Levels of deferral: $0 – $5,000 –...

Watch out S-Corps

Another great article  The main takeaway here is that the IRS is starting to look at S-Corps more and more for compliance. S-Corps have exploded in the last ten years or so as the “gig” economy has taken off. And while nearly all of my clients would not have an issue...

No paralysis! Do analysis!

This video came across my desk in the last couple weeks it is Will Smith telling the story of how he got the role of the Fresh Prince of Bel Air: It is WELL worth the five minutes to watch – it is an amazing story and Will Smith is hilarious. But there is one...

Leverage, Arbitrage and Double Whammys

Introduction The concept of leverage and arbitrage is one of those ideas that everyone seems to understand, but few do in detail or well. My goal is to help make these ideas more clear and usable. Leverage Is the act of adding debt to increase return. This is why real...

Planning for Uncertainty

As you may or may not have noticed, the markets and economy are starting to get a little more volatile. This doesn’t mean bad – volatility just means it is unpredictable. Unemployment is very low right now, which tends to mean a growing economy and some...

Release Notes Summary

I got to give a talk at the Release Notes conference about personal finance. It was a fantastic group and I was very fortunate to be made a small part of the community. I gave a talk entitled How to Live a Happy Financial Life. I thought it would be fun to share a...

Rescuing Retirement

I came across this news story about Millennials and retirement. I have not read the book yet (although I just ordered it and will read it shortly) but the idea seems pretty straightforward. Being a millenial, and having a client base that skews heavily millenial, I...