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Today is the day in which I have officially been around the sun thirty-four times. In honor of this milestone, I have written thirty-four of my favorite life lessons, quotes, and things I hold to be true.   My wish, at least one of these speaks to you like they all have to me.   1. Don’t should on others, and don’t let others should on you. 2. Luxury once tasted becomes necessity. 3. A trip taken pays a memory dividend long after it’s ended. 4. The sweetest sound to someone i

Every year millions of people set new goals, hopes, and dreams for the New Year, only to fall short or give up within the first few weeks.   Studies show the average person who sets a New Years resolution gives up on it around January 8 th .   And yet, year after year, we do it again. We sign up for a new gym membership. We swear off alcohol. No more candy. (Those last two were mine.) And like clockwork, we fall off days or weeks later.   Or… at least that’s how we tell the s

A few days ago, I was cleaning out a drawer at home. One of those “how did all of this end up here?” drawers. When I came across an old pocketknife my grandfather, "Pop- pop", used to carry. Nothing fancy. No real “value.” But instantly, it took me back to family adventures in Colorado (picture below circa '94), old WWII stories, and funny sayings he must’ve told hundreds of times. My favorite line, "glad you got to see me!". He would say this when saying goodbye, which alway

A few years ago, right after Marie was born, I learned an almost very expensive lesson about FSAs. The kind of lesson that makes your stomach drop, your palms sweat, and your spouse look at you like, “Please tell me we didn’t just waste that much money.” We had signed up for a Dependent Care FSA, maxed it out at $5,000, and felt like responsible adults checking off one more box during open enrollment. Fast-forward to the end of the year… we almost forgot to use it. And by “al

Last week I celebrated another trip around the sun. This birthday felt meaningful because it puts me officially halfway to the age when I plan to claim Social Security. A lot can change between now and then, but it is already something I think about and plan toward. You might be wondering what age that is. With today’s rules, I could file as early as 62. I could wait until my full retirement age of 67. Or I could hold out until age 70. So, which one do I plan to choose, and w

Imagine you’re at a café, sipping your coffee, when money walks in and sits down across from you. No spotlight, no fancy suit, just plain old money. What do you ask? Maybe you’d start with the obvious. “Why do you always disappear so fast?” or “Why do you seem to love my neighbor more than me?” Here’s the thing though. Asking money for answers is like asking your blender to write poetry. It’s the wrong tool for the job. Money is just paper, coins, or numbers glowing on a scre

In today’s world, I often see other people think wealth is often equated with what you own: luxury cars, designer wardrobes, and massive homes. But to my family real wealth isn’t parked in your driveway or hanging in your closet it’s the ability to do the things you want, when you want, and often for us it’s traveling somewhere new as a family. To me, travel can be the ultimate investment in personal growth and happiness that lasts long after the trip is over. By shifting you

If you know me, I’m not one for sitting still. I have to do something or I go insane. As my grandma would say, “Idle hands are the devil’s dirty work.” And that Catholic guilt has always stuck with me.  Last week, I was in San Mateo, California for a Wealth Management conference on retirement and tax planning. When the conference wrapped up, I did what I always do when traveling, I went for a run. One of my favorite traditions since my wife and I got married is running in new

You’ve probably heard me say it before… When the market pulls back, it takes 3–4 years to bounce back to the top again on average. The chart below shows this pattern since 1960 and it doesn’t even include the strong rebounds we’ve seen from 2022 and the new 2025 market lows. So, if you’ve ever thought, “Does the market really recover that quickly?” the data says yes. It just did. Again. But here’s where it gets even more interesting… What tends to happen after the S&P 500

Money is an emotionally charged subject matter. It’s impossible to keep your emotions out of your money because it’s human nature to get scared, excited, worried, jealous and all of the other feels. This is why money is almost always viewed on a relative basis for comparison purposes. Rarely do people look at their absolute level of income, net worth or assets. You compare yourself to others. How rich are you relative to your peers, co-workers or strangers on the Internet? An

One of my favorite quotes about the stock market is by US billionaire, Mike Novogratz, he is famous for saying “volatility is the price of admission”. This quote recently got me thinking due to the volatility in the S&P market cap weighted index over the last week. In the last two years the US stock market has been on an absolute tear, thanks to the magnificent 7 stocks. During this time, the S&P 500 cap weighted index has seen returns of 24% in 2023 and 23% in 2024.

Imagine walking into a Las Vegas casino. The lights are flashing, the slots are dinging, and the craps table is erupting with cheers. The energy is electric. As you stroll past the tables, you notice a roulette wheel with a single open seat. You take it, glance at the board, and notice that the last eight spins have all landed on red. What’s your first thought? Most people think, “There’s no way it can be red again. It has to be black this time!” So you put $100 on black. The

For most of the past few decades, retirement investors had a pretty narrow toolbelt to choose from within their employer 401(k), 403(b), or TSP accounts: stocks, bonds, and maybe a target date fund that mixed the two in different proportions. If you wanted access to hedge funds, private credit, or private equity, you had to be running a pension plan or sitting on the ultra-high-net-worth side of the fence. Everyday retirement savers? No way Jose! That may be about to change.

My wife and I just celebrated our tenth wedding anniversary earlier this month. Ten years of building a life together, growing as individuals, raising kids, and learning (often the hard way) what not to do in a partnership. As I reflect on this milestone, I wanted to share ten lessons that have shaped me, many of which have influenced how I approach life, family, health, and even my work with clients today. 1. Extreme Ownership Marriage has taught me that pointing fingers doe

Predicting the future is hard and forecasting is not really my forte, otherwise I’d be sitting on a yacht in the Caribbean drinking mojito’s, so here’s my list of things that probably won’t happen in 2025: 1. You probably won’t get rich overnight. Someone will. Probably not you or me. But if you do, let me know! 2. No one will predict the biggest risk or upside catalyst.  The most significant risk of the decade turned out to be a pandemic that no one could have anticipated. I