Blogs

Educational blogs from SWMG center around the fundamentals of investing and finance.

GameStop Stock

GameStop logo

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 …

Read More

Credit Scores

laptop with lots of credit cards laying near by

In honor of Financial Literacy month, I’m sharing important information related to credit scores. Do you know what your credit score is? And what it means? First, shout out to my dad who is turning 69 today. Happy birthday, dad! Here is the range for Credit Scores: *Source: https://www.experian.com You can check your score for …

Read More

Teaching Children About Money

childrens piggy bank

If you have children or grandchildren, or if you have a special relationship with your niece or nephew or the child of a dear friend, you can enrich their lives in many ways. One of the most important things you can do is teaching children about money and how they manage their money and invest …

Read More

Emergency Savings

hand putting a coin into a pink piggy bank

The government shutdown has shed light on a problem that plagues many in this country: what would you do, if you suddenly were out of a job, or missed a paycheck? That’s what credit cards are for, right? Spoiler alert: No. Pretty much any financial guru is going to tell you that one of the …

Read More

Budgeting

three jars of coins labels savings, retirement, emergency plan, for budgeting

Budget. The 6-letter dirty word. After the series of blog posts on debt, I figured I should talk about budgeting, even though, if you’re like most people, you’re not interested. A Gallup poll showed that less than 1/3 of Americans (32%) actually keep a formal budget, and that you are most likely to have a budget if …

Read More

Target Date Funds

target in a bullseye

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. …

Read More

Diversifying Your Investments

man viewing his stocks and bonds on a phone and laptop

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 …

Read More

Volatility in the Market

stocks going down 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, …

Read More

Browse by Category

MENU