Why Make a Financial Plan?
Yesterday it appeared that Hurricane Dorian was weakening somewhat and its probable path this week would spare our Atlantic coast from the worst possible destruction. As it slides slowly northward, the damage may come from storm surges and torrential rain. I have watched some coverage of the preparations. Even Floridians [...]
Want to add weight to your wallet? Eat out less.
If you asked 100 people that struggle to balance their monthly budgets where they spend too much money I would guess the number one answer they would give would be eating out. Too often there just don’t seem to be enough hours in the day to plan meals, go grocery [...]
Who Needs a Financial Advisor?
At no time in history have we had so much ability to learn whatever we want to know about almost anything. It can cost little cost but the time it takes to acquire it in usable form, assuming you have a computer and internet. In personal finance, this is perhaps [...]
August and the Stock Market
At Rotary Club of Independence on Tuesday, we heard Randolph G. Russell, a musician and businessman by past vocations. Now he is a historian and author by choice. He travels and encourages Americans to take up the cause of protecting our cultural heritage by promoting knowledge of our history to [...]
Stock Market Loves to Prove People Wrong
Fear over a major stock market decline continues to permeate the investor landscape. It’s amazing how high the level of fear is, considering the market has made recent all-time highs and remains within striking distance. The stock market has a history of fooling the most people, so is it possible [...]
For Both Disney and Retirement You Need a Plan
My family will soon be taking our first (and probably last) pilgrimage to Orlando to do the whole “Disney thing”. When I first proposed this excursion to my wife last year I had no idea how complicated and time-consuming the whole process would be. In my ignorance I assumed you [...]
Doubling the Minimum Wage What Could Go Wrong?
Knowing how polarized we have become as a nation I usually make a concerted effort to avoid overtly political issues in my columns. But, as an unapologetic capitalist I felt the need to comment on the recent congressional approval of a $15 federal minimum wage and its potential economic impact. [...]
The Fed Still Doesn’t Get It
Here at last, the dog days of summer. Under normal circumstances, the stock market would usually be swooning by now from lack of attention while Big Money folks hang out in the Hamptons, hike in Maine, chic stuff like that. But as the late, great Erma Bombeck said, Normal is [...]
Life’s Unexpected Results by Ron Finke
Last week, some family members and I drove to northern California and back. Never doing things the easy way, we drove 1900 plus miles in the first two days, enjoyed two days with extended family members, and drove 1900 plus miles on Friday and Saturday. Like the terrible joke about [...]
The Trouble With Timeshares
This past weekend I was given the opportunity to go to the Lake of the Ozarks with my family for a couple of days. As a child some of my most cherished memories were of the trips we would take each summer to my uncle’s cabin there. Being able to [...]