Our thoughts
and perspective
on life and money
Recently, we had an opportunity to do a question and answer session with one of our valued tax partners, RAC CPA Group, PLLC. RAC CPA is run by Josef Dassler and Paul Saxton with offices located downtown, Seattle. We took the time to ask the questions that we thought would help our clients understand what is important when working with a tax partner and their outlook on the 2025 expiration of many of the tax cuts from the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017.
You’ve likely heard of the 80/20 rule before; if you haven’t, prepare to have your mind blown … (just kidding). The 80/20 rule, aka the Pareto Principle, is a phenomenon which states that roughly 80% of results come from just 20% of inputs.
For many parents, when it comes to thinking about money and kids, there are so many questions to think about. How do I raise my kid without spoiling them? What is a fair allowance? Do I pay them for chores/grades? Do I pay for private school? Do I pay for their college? How do I give them the best chance at success in life? Should I leave them an inheritance?
Earlier this month, our team had a meeting with Fidelity Charitable. Although they share the Fidelity name with Fidelity Investments (the custodial firm), they operate as an independent 501(c)(3) public charity.
A few weeks ago, I had the chance to hike Half Dome in Yosemite National Park for the second time in my life. The first time was over 23 years ago with two close friends. The three of us reunited, added one more long-time friend, and ventured out again to conquer the 8,800 granite peak, climbing 4,800 feet of elevation to reach the top. It was a one day, 16 mile round trip trek, that left us utterly exhausted and simultaneously exhilarated by day’s end.
FOMO is the new catchy acronym for a very old phenomenon we know as the “fear of missing out.” While the term is often used in social contexts, FOMO is extremely prevalent when it comes to our personal finances. Oftentimes, we just don’t realize it.
In this blog post, we’re going to highlight some common situations where we may feel financial FOMO as it relates to our lifestyle, investing, and the hypothetical what-if questions we ask ourselves.
Our national media cycle is a non-stop barrage of mostly gloomy headlines focused on topics that generate clicks and views. Unfortunately, we are biologically wired to focus and react more to negative news than to positive news.
We are constantly discussing what it takes to meet our long-term financial goals with clients. However, we also discuss how important it is to live, today, finding our own balance between our future needs and our current needs. To be sure, travel budgets are a worthy goal!
Recently, two regional banks, Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) and Signature Bank have been caught up, to some degree, in the making of their own demise. Both were seized by regulators last quarter, as their depositors realized the banks were struggling to keep up with withdrawals and were being forced to sell securities at a loss, to keep up.
Recently, I had a chance to preview a personal finance book by a best-selling author that focused on how to build and manage your wealth. During the process of reading an early draft of the book, it struck me that it is easy for many to think of wealth building and wealth management as the same thing. However, they are distinctly different and should be considered separately.