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Time is our most precious resource and I thank you for allowing me to get a few minutes of your time each week. I hope you find the blog helpful and informative. Send me an email if there is ever a topic you would be interested in learning more about. I will research it and write a future blog about it.

Who Or What Causes Inflation? Thumbnail

Who Or What Causes Inflation?
Insights

Inflation is affecting all of us right now. And for many of us, we personally feel the hit in our wallet and our bank accounts. I've calculated that it's costing me and my family right at $8,000 per year just on the basics like fuel, food, and utilities. I shouldn't have to write this disclaimer but in today's political climate, I feel I should. This is not a political or a partisan opinion. Although I do have plenty of both of those, I intentionally keep them out of my blog. So who or what causes inflation? The answer is very simple thus this blog will be short. Here's a hint: It's not the Federal Reserve.

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A Day That Changed My Life Thumbnail

A Day That Changed My Life
Insights

It was 8 years ago today. I had visited a good friend of mine and was traveling home from St. Louis, MO. I took a bit of a detour to go look at a motorcycle I had been checking out online. The dealer happened to be in St. Louis so I decide to do some window shopping. It was a Sunday morning. Probably around 8 am so I knew they would be closed, but I was hoping to get a glimpse of the bike in the window.

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What Is Money?
Investment Retirement Funding

If we know that on average our money is losing a value of between 2-3% yearly, then we know that in 20 years from now our money will have lost about half of its value. Or simply put, in 20 years our cost of living will double. That means if you make $50,000 per year now, you’ll need to be making around $100,000 in 2041 to maintain the same standard of living you have today. So what is your plan in retirement to double your income in 20 years?

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How To Retire Early? Thumbnail

How To Retire Early?
Retirement Funding

What if you're age 55 or older and you just don't want to wait until age 62 to retire? Many of you are stuck in that 50-58 age range where the thought of retirement can be a little scary. Let's look at some options.

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Owning The Best Companies In The United States Thumbnail

Owning The Best Companies In The United States
Retirement Funding Insights

With the Russian invasion of Ukraine, we’ve seen first hand how world events can affect the markets here in the United States. We’ve seen lots of market volatility since the beginning of the year. But guess what? The market is always volatile. And the reason for that is many investors make all their decisions based on emotion. And by doing this they blur the lines between volatility and risk. Risk and volatility are not the same thing. In fact, they aren’t even remotely related.

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Try Something Different With Your Goals This Year Thumbnail

Try Something Different With Your Goals This Year
Insights

Happy New Year! It's that time of year when many of us resolve to change things for the coming year. We make a list of goals that we plan to stick to for the remainder of the following year. That’s great. What's not great is that the overwhelming majority of us don't stick to those goals. I can't actually prove why but my theory is that most of us have goals that create deprivation. Meaning our goal includes depriving ourselves of something we really like doing.

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Receiving A Lump Sum Retirement Distribution From Your Co-op? Don't Make This Mistake! Thumbnail

Receiving A Lump Sum Retirement Distribution From Your Co-op? Don't Make This Mistake!
Retirement Funding

When you retire from your cooperative you have several options on how to receive your R&S pension. For example, you can take it as series of payments, you can take it as a lump sum distribution or you can do a combination of both. For those of you interested in the lump sum distribution, I want to make sure you avoid a critical mistake that I have seen retirees make.

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Cooperative Retirement Decisions Thumbnail

Cooperative Retirement Decisions
Retirement Funding Insights

Many of you are blessed to be employed at a cooperative that offers a defined benefit pension plan that provides you with a lump sum payment or a monthly pension payment for life when you retire. Congratulations! Such plans are uncommon today. Many of you will face a challenging decision at retirement. Should you take the lump sum payout or should you take the monthly annuity payment for the rest of your life and, in some cases, the life of your spouse and beneficiaries as well?

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