If you need to buy a new car, you might wonder about the financially optimal way to go: is leasing vs buying a new car better? In the past, the question of leasing vs buying a new car might have had a clearer answer. Buying outright with cash and then owning that car for 10…
What Is a Beneficiary—and Who’s Listed on Your Investment Accounts?
When you opened your first retirement account, you probably didn’t lose sleep over understanding what is a beneficiary, or who you should name when you filled out that account application. Worrying about beneficiaries can feel almost trivial when you’re a newly-minted adult—unmarried, without dependents, and still on your way to building up significant assets. But…
Our Considerations When Financially Preparing for Kids
Are you financially preparing for kids? Starting a family is a big decision – financially and otherwise. There’s a lot to consider when it’s time to make this choice. As a fee only financial planner in Boston who specializes in working with couples in their 30s and 40s, I have a lot of experience talking…
Suffering from Job Burnout? How to Prevent Your Career from Running Your Life
It happens to all of us from time to time. You get down. You feel tired. You’re overworked and overwhelmed. Dealing with work stress is something we all experience — but sometimes that stress devolves into something much worse if it goes on for long enough. If you let your career run your life for…
Money Is a Tool, So Stop Treating It as the Goal
“I want more money.” “I need to save more money.” “I wish I had more money.” I hear these phrases all the time — and I’ve been guilty of saying them myself, too. While it’s natural to think this way about finances, doing so only creates more stress around money. Why? What’s wrong with “more…
Are You Making These 5 Mistakes with Stock Options?
Stock options are a type of equity compensation, which is a way for employers to reward key employees beyond the usual paycheck. Most equity comp packages can provide a great opportunity to build wealth, but managing that well requires advanced planning. If you want to avoid making big mistakes with stock options, there are specific…
What You Need to Save Before Having a Baby Might Be the Wrong Question
Most of my clients are in their 30s and 40s, and many of them are either starting families or adding to them. Many of these soon-to-be parents ask me, “how much do we need to save before having a baby? What should we have in the bank before we start thinking about having kids?” It’s…
A Trust Fund for Kids: Does Your Family Need One?
For most people, the phrase “trust fund baby” does not come with positive associations. It’s a description that conjures images of spoiled children that may grow up to be dilettantes as adults; of people that seem divorced from the reality of working for a living or being financially responsible for their own futures. But setting…
3 Advanced Techniques to Elevate Your Financial Strategy
A lot of general money advice focuses on the fundamentals; there’s no shortage of tips out there that promise to teach you how to save, budget, spend less, and maybe even make more. This advice is important, and shouldn’t be dismissed. You can’t reach major success without mastering the basics (and in fact, more than…
How to Better Manage Money with Just Two Simple Rules of Thumb
Personal finance doesn’t need to be overly complicated. Yes, the complexity in your financial life will increase as you build assets and grow wealth—but don’t confuse complex for overly elaborate and impossible to understand. At the end of the day, most of what it takes to reach (and maintain) financial success comes down to some…