Value Creation Blog

One of the things we don't focus on when it comes to our aging parents is their pets. Through no fault of their own, pets often get left behind in planning when we think about what's next for our parents or what's next for their pets who they truly love after they die.

Today, we're a society that is much more mobile than at any time in human history. All of this means that getting a good deal on an airline that doesn't punish you is harder than ever.

The main reason you want to hire an investment/wealth manager is to help you avoid investment disasters, if possible.  If you look at the research firm Dalbar, you’ll see that too many investors make the same mistakes and as a result, get a return that’s much less than the market.

Here’s a list of 7 that you should think about.

You think what happened yesterday will happen tomorrow.

All families have wealth.  For some it’s financial wealth and for others it’s values led wealth.  Still, for others there’s both and for way too many it’s none of the above.

I want you to make sure that you have family wealth and you manage it well. 

I’m lucky.  My father has done an incredible job of managing both in our family.  Through his leadership and wisdom, he’s passed lessons he’s learned to both my sister and myself and through us to our children.  Here are some of the things I’ve learned along the way:

You must talk about your values.

Way too often I hear families tell me that there was things they wished their deceased family members had told them before they die. Here are six things you need to think about and talk with your loved ones before your day comes.

If this was 1965 I might be writing a post about how to take advantage of the pension plan you have at work.  For the most part, a traditional pension plan is a thing of the past.  Today, you have to depend on what you save in your individual retirement accounts as well as thinking about the choices you have with social security.

If you’ve followed this blog for any period of time you’ve heard me rant about it’s not the investments so much as the amount you save.  Knowing how much you need to save is something you need to think about.  Another decision you’re going to have to make is when to start collecting social security.

You have more choices than you think.

My sister has a saying, “I’m not on that committee.” In my opinion, that’s something you should never say when you’re talking about your family.

For me, the truth is I’ll be on that committee with my kids for my entire life. You see, I’ve lived a lot longer than they have and there is a certain amount of wisdom that I think I can pass on to them.

I bet you’re in the exact same position as I am.

You can help mistakes from happening.

Those who know me understand the past seven years have not been easy from a health perspective. In 2008 I was diagnosed with a very nasty and dangerous from of cancer.

I went through a significant amount of chemotherapy, a stem cell transplant and targeted therapies. During all of my treatment the management of my health care fell to my wife Suzanne and I. Luckily we had done good research and received good advice along the way.

Here are some of the things I learned over the past seven years that might help you if you find yourself in a similar place:

You must be your own advocate.

When it comes to wealth management we often focus on financial wealth. It’s rare that we take a step back and think about all of the things that we should be grateful for.

Here’s my list. I’m hoping that you take a minute and email me here with your list.

In the book Thinking Slow and Thinking Fast Daniel Kahneman talks about two parts of our brain.  One makes very fast decisions and works on an emotional level.  The other works much more slowly and is the part that takes facts and figures into account when it comes to decisions making.