Our Weekly Blog

You’re at the coffee shop waiting to meet a friend or family member. So, while you’re waiting you decide to check your bank and investment account balances. This is not a good idea. Public Wi-Fi networks—whether you are at the mall, library, a restaurant or a bar— typically are not secure. That means that any information you are looking at on your phone or laptop could be intercepted and viewed by someone else. Save your financial check ins for when you are on a known, secured network such as at home or work.

As human beings, I think we all like the idea of certainty. Most of us don’t welcome change and the thought of what might happen (Especially if we perceive the outcome to be bad) can really make us uncomfortable. Whether uncertainty is lurking in our relationships, our home life, our jobs, and if you watch the news as of late, our finances, it takes us out of our comfort zone.

Many of the Ivy league schools simply don’t award merit-based awards. To put this in perspective, even if your child has a 4.0 GPA and 1600 SAT score, they won’t receive merit-based award money from Yale.

"Monica"1 came to me after her divorce was final to learn if she was going to be okay financially now that the dust had settled. Monica, a mother of two boys, ages 14 and 16 worked part time in marketing and was also receiving spousal support from her ex who was an orthopedic surgeon. When they were married, they lived a very lavish lifestyle and even though her ex had a very high income, they didn't have much in savings. Private school for the boys, two to three expensive vacations a year, two car leases at over $1,000 each a month. Etc. etc Interestingly, Monica was actually "better" with money than her ex. Higher income doesn't always equate to better financial decisions.

If you have holdings with unrealized losses—as many investors do this year—selling the holdings before the end of the year can result in losses that you can report on your tax returns.

Many employers offer health, life and auto insurance to employees at discounted rates. Often your employer is able to negotiate a lower rate for you because they are bringing a lot of potential customers to the insurance company or other provider. Insurers will often discount their rates because they don’t have to spend a lot on marketing because they have direct access to a large number of employees.