The asset growth of thematic funds quadrupled and they offer unique, tactical bets on investment opportunities grouped by a subject or motif. Typically, it’s about technology and our changing future. Thematic funds tend to be a bull market phenomenon, possibly a result of investor overconfidence and enthusiasm. (There’s a good line that bull markets make everyone look smart.) It’s an intuitive strategy: “Let’s invest in a handful of really smart innovative companies that people are excited about, the growth potential is incredible”.

College has a big impact on a family’s long term finances. It’s a large expense that comes relatively quickly in the family financial lifecycle, so there isn’t a lot of time to see salary improvements and allow for beautiful, beautiful compound interest to do its magic. Most of us know college prices have gone up a lot faster than the Consumer Price Index, our general benchmark for inflation. But how much faster? What should you and I assume today about the cost of four-year college in 18 years?

The question I get the most is, ‘Should I invest my emergency fund in the stock market?’ Your bank account has never been great at making money. For most of the 2000s, inflation has beat CD rates, which are usually a bit higher than regular bank account rates. The late 80s and 90s were the last time one could reliably make a little money after inflation in a bank account.

If you checked your 401(k) statement for the last quarter, you lost money. (If you didn’t, I want to invest with you!) Even your usually boring and reliable bonds are down a lot. Worse, they are going down at the same time stocks are going down, another rare occurrence. There have been only three years since World War 2 when the 10-year treasury bond had bigger losses than the S&P500. What the hell, bonds? You changed. Not cool.

You are no doubt familiar with the group of mostly anonymous investors who coordinated the leveraged buying of GameStop, AMC, and other stock options, pushing up the price to the point that some hedge funds lost a lot of money. It was a good David and Goliath story and a new development in consumer investing. Out of curiosity, I bought into the frenzy to see what it was like (I’ll cut to the chase; it was terrifying.)

Imagine you pass away and leave $75,000 in a bank account (approximately the median inheritance for the 50th-90th percentile of total wealth.) That sum represents money you didn't you didn't need to earn, right? Effectively, says author of 'Die with Zero' Bill Perkins, you worked for 'free'. I would add you might have missed out on experiences. You could have taken an amazing safari or two with that money!

According to Morningstar.com, smaller 401(k) plans, which includes most nonprofit orgs, are paying double the 401(k) fees of larger plans. Smaller 401(k) plans are defined as $25M total plan assets or smaller and make up 27% of the nation's 401(k) assets. Though fees have come down over time, small 401(k) plans have total expenses that are more than double the national retail investor average and larger 401(k) plans. That difference, .47%, doesn't sound like much but it is. In the meantime, how do you find out if your plan is expensive?

Trish, my late wife, and I traveled a lot with my girls after she was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2003. We didn’t always have enough money for travel. I got creative and started optimizing credit card points and harvesting miles, which comes naturally to a planner and finance nerd like me. The experience dividends have been priceless.

I love I Bonds and have had them since 1999. If you can wait a year to get your money back a bit like a CD, they are an incredible choice for your ‘safe’ money. However, they are not as easy to use as one would hope and I think they fit best in a long-term strategy.

As an investment manager, I watch the market every trading day, but I do so having spent a lot of time studying the history of stock markets. "The investor who is unaware of financial history is irretrievably handicapped.”

Defined-benefit pensions in which the employee usually gets a fixed payment from the day they retire until death used to be the answer. Now they’ve been mostly replaced with the defined-contribution plans most of us know today.  So how much 401(k) would one need to create an equal stream of payments from a pension?

“The Myths of Happiness” by Sonja Lyubomirsky explores how good and bad events affect our happiness and dispels some common held beliefs. Having come through my own tough life events, I opened this practice wanting to help people on a deeper level that considers what they really want in life.

Most 401(k) plans offer ‘target date funds,’ one-stop investment portfolios with a mix of US stocks, international stocks and bonds that automatically get more conservative (fewer stocks, more bonds) as we approach retirement. But it’s not that simple. Here are the four most common mistakes I see with target date funds.

In a perfect world, Financial Advisors would be in the happiness business, not the money accumulation business. What’s the point of money and security if it doesn’t lead to more well-being?

Donor Advised funds are ‘a waiting room’ for charitable donations. The donor gets a current tax deduction, pays fees to a custodian (for instance, .60% for first $500,000 by Schwab), and then later suggests when and to whom the money should go.