Today’s post is a guest blog post from Kim Waldman, who is our Chief Operating Officer at Stephens Wealth Management Group. So, you want to make the most of your financial review meeting, but you aren’t sure how? I totally understand and was in that place myself just a few years back. Following are a …
Financial Planning
Relationships and Finance
If you are in a relationship, are you on the same page when it comes to finance? No?…read on! I recently watched an old episode of How I Met Your Mother, in which Lily was hiding a massive amount of credit card debt from her husband. He didn’t know until they applied for a mortgage. …
DIY Investing
I recently heard a great analogy that aligns well with the topic of DIY investing—consider the process of changing your car’s oil. While you could learn to do it yourself and save some money, it can be messy and mistakes can happen, as my husband discovered years ago when oil dripped on his face while …
Hidden Costs – No Cost Trading
Last year, Charles Schwab announced that they were reducing trading fees to zero, and Ameritrade, E*TRADE and Fidelity shortly followed. Hooray, free trades! But hold on are there hidden costs in no cost trading? For consumers of these companies, however, there really is no free lunch. It is important to look to see what you …
The F Words of Finance
There are a lot of F words, especially in the world of finance. Fiduciary, Finance, Financial Advisor, etc. But none of those are my favorite F word. My favorite is “Female Financial Planner”. Ha, you thought I was going to pick a different F word, didn’t you? I also like “french fries.” It can be …
ESG OR SRI Investing?
Sometimes you hear the phrase, “put your money where your mouth is,” meaning, use your dollars towards things you really are passionate about. If this matters to you, then you might be interested in ESG or SRI investing. ESG stands for Environment, Social, and Governance. SRI stands for Sustainable, Responsible, and Impact. These terms usually …
GameStop Stock
Ok, so, in case you have not heard, there was this really weird thing going on with GameStop stock. GameStop, in my opinion, is going the way of Blockbuster. They have brick and mortar stores, and sell physical discs for video games, which, hello, the industry is heading towards everything online, especially with downloads of …
Target Date Funds
For the past several years, our financial advisors have helped to manage several 401(k) plans for small to medium size businesses. And though I discussed 401(k)s and Roth 401(k) and how they work, I haven’t yet addressed what should you invest your 401(k) account IN…? This blog isn’t designed to tell you what to do. …
Diversifying Your Investments
Previously, on Jill’s Journal, I talked about diversification with stocks and bonds. Remember, the goal of diversifying your investments is to smooth out your ride – you want to have several different types of asset classes to manage the ups and downs of your account. Even amongst stocks and bonds, there are still more ways …
Volatility in the Market
Wow, the markets have sure had a bumpy ride lately! Unfortunately, this is all par for the course with the history of the stock market. We are coming off several years of growth in the markets, and volatility is back, baby. It is important to remember not to make decisions based on fear and panic, …