Bah humbug! After the holiday cheer has faded, will you feel like a holiday chump? In the new year, some households may reel after opening their credit card statements. So is there still time to both enjoy the holidays and be fiscally responsible? As I flip the wall calendar to December, as usual, I have
With stocks in a recent slump, there is growing fear that November’s midterm elections are going to generate new chaos in the investment markets. Will the Democrats take over Congress and the Senate? If so, will they immediately begin impeachment proceedings against the president? Lauren Rublin, a managing editor at Barron’s, adds perspective: “Our concern
Have you been wondering how to make your money last through retirement? Dr. Wade Pfau has a recipe for retirement survival. Dr. Wade Pfau, professor of retirement income at the American College of Financial Services and director of retirement research at McLean Asset Management, recently visited Knoxville to speak to the East Tennessee Chapter
Featured in the Knoxville News Sentinel: August 29, 2018 Recently, a friend asked me to review a sales pitch for an alternative investment product. As he repeated the “Financial Adviser” sales terminology, I cringed. Any time I hear words like “guaranteed” or “low risk” in the same sentence as “up to 8 percent return,” my
Featured in the Knoxville News Sentinel: August 21, 2018 Mabel is the youngest member of our family. She is 8 years old. We love her and she enthusiastically and unconditionally loves us. She is a dog. We bought Mabel on Craigslist – she is a 70-pound, mixed-breed. In July, Mabel began having violent seizures. As with many
Featured in the Knoxville News Sentinel: July 17, 2018 Do you need to have “The Talk” in your family? No, not the birds-and-the-bees talk, I’m referring to the talk with an aging parent about their finances. According to one survey, 54 percent of baby boomer respondents said they would rather talk to their children about sex
Featured in the Knoxville News Sentinel: May 29, 2018 How much is enough? Obviously, it is a subjective question. Enough to just get by? Or enough to be “comfortable?” According to a 2017 Charles Schwab survey, respondents said they would be financially comfortable with $1.1 million. But really, when it comes to personal financial planning,
My youngest child, a college freshman, recently sent me a long text discussing the potential opportunities for Bitcoin miners. As we know, last year, Bitcoin rocketed from $1,000 to $20,000 before splashing down below $9,000. I know an 80-year old investor who has shifted most of his portfolio into stocks, particularly into healthcare and
My family has Appalachian kinfolk who will predict your future by reading coffee grounds. Of course, you could just visit a fortune teller in Pigeon Forge. While I don’t know the track records of mountain folk divinations or palm readers, I do enjoy keeping an annual “Forecasting” folder to review the predictive powers of the
What a year 2017 was! After a lingering slump for worldwide economies and markets (2014 through late 2016), the past 12 months have been crazy, chaotic, and chart-topping in ways both good and bad. Hurricanes Harvey and Irma brought destruction. The Equifax cyber-hack created its own tidal wave of financial security concerns. A reality TV