The Market Is A Voting Machine? Warren Buffet and his mentor Benjamin Graham both once said, “In the short run the market is a voting machine, but in the long run, it’s a weighing machine.” Regardless of the results of this election, we must understand that our government plays an important role in policies and…

Growing up, the food pyramid gave me a visual picture to understand that it wasn’t so wise to eat 100% junk food. I understood by the simple graphic that moderation was the key to living in balance. Financial gurus will tell you to save everything you can and live on a shoestring budget now so…

Let me ask you one question: Do you think tax rates over the next decade will be headed higher or lower? If you’re like the thousands of individuals I have polled, you are most likely thinking higher. Of course, no one knows the future for sure, but based on the government’s spending habits and the…

Many retirees approach retirement with a healthy mix of unease and excitement. One of the most frequent questions I am asked is, “Andrew, what will be different when I retire on Friday?” Financially, one of the big changes in retirement: You have been used to 40 years of paychecks, and on Friday those paychecks dry…

Charles “Tremendous” Jones once said the only two things that can change your life are the people you meet and the books you read. I can tell you that has certainly been true of my life. At age 15 and bored, I sat in my bedroom one Sunday afternoon with only a book to pass…

In my last blog, I talked about why you would not want to build your own financial plan. Well, if I couldn’t convince you, the guilt of thinking about you duck taping a plan together is too weighty for me to carry around. So, instead of keeping our secret formula locked in a vault, I…

Many handymen feel pride when they build their backyard decks. Yet, they may regret it later when they find themselves involved in a frightening viral video. The video could show a prom photo shoot going wrong and the deck collapses under the weight of too many people. Likewise, financial planning can appear easy to do.…

Wow! Long term care can be expensive! But wait, it gets worse. Long term care (LTC) expenses are increasing faster than inflation,1  which means as our incomes are being outpaced by the cost to assist us in old age. Numerous families have shared with me that they are spring chickens and do not need to…

Everyone has circumstances that just rub them the wrong way. A pet peeve can be like rolling around in itching powder, wearing a sack cloth, and then going for a run on a hot day. As a financial advisor, I have accumulated my fair share of pet peeves that I need to get off my…

Where do Americans go to research life’s most important questions? Most of the time, they go to Google. Regrettably, when you search “when should I take Social Security?”, more than four million pages will pop up. At first glance, you may shake your head thinking, “by the time I read all of these pages, who…

Any educated human being, with a heart, believes discrimination and racism are wrong. After generations, we have all tried to eliminate stupidity and legislate morality, but were we successful? We must remember we live in a sinful world.  In this world, people will justify looting and racist acts, as long as it fits their agenda.…

If I had 10 annuities across my desk, based on my standards alone I would throw away eight of them. In my opinion, many of these annuities do not stack up against other annuities or other investment vehicles. My belief is that no financial advisor should convince you to hate or love any investment. Every…