Wealthcare For Women

One of my favorite quotes comes from Leonardo Da Vinci,

Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.

I can’t remember anyone ever telling me they’d like for their life or any part of it to be any more complicated.

Yet, many of us make things unnecessarily complicated when it comes to our money. Carl Richards thinks so, too, and shares his thoughts in his latest New York Times article.

A big part of my work is helping people simplify their lives, especially when it comes to their personal finances. But please don’t think “simple” means ineffective.

I’ve had people tell me in the past that my financial planning and investment approach are “too simple.” But when I ask them why it’s too simple or why it needs to be any more complicated, I’ve never gotten a response that makes any sense.

Whether you manage your own finances or work with an advisor, I’ll leave you with another quote to remember, this one from Albert Einstein,

Make things as simple as possible, but not simpler.

If you’d like to explore a simple, effective approach to wealth management, I’d love to introduce you to Wealthcare For Women and show you how I help women make the most of their one shot at life. Let’s have a conversation.

To better understand the nature and scope of the advisory services and business practices of Wealthcare Capital Management, Inc., please review our SEC Form ADV Part 2a, which is available here. Past performance is not a guide to future returns. Before acting on any analysis, advice or recommendation in the above content, you should seek the personalized advice of legal, tax or investment professionals. By selecting the links in the above email, you may be redirected to third party websites not under the supervision of Wealthcare who may have different privacy policies than Wealthcare.

Saturday, February 9th, was my fourth and final class in the Sandy Springs Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) training course.It was an interesting course and I learned a lot from the firemen who taught us.

Much of the training and discussion was about how to respond to a major event in our local community, but naturally, we also spent a lot of time discussing how best to be prepared.

I’ve been delivering financial advice for 20 years, and for many years early in my career, I used to tell folks that financial planning is “preparing for the worst and hoping for the best.” And at the time, I believed it.

But since discovering Wealthcare, I no longer feel that way about financial planning.

Today, the service I provide to my clients is all about hoping for the best, preparing for the worst AND PREPARING FOR THE BEST.

Many financial advisors have no problem asking clients to sacrifice their lives today in exchange for a more confident and comfortable future.

But with Wealthcare For Women, I help widows, divorcees and other women get prepared for a comfortable and confident future while also making sure we don’t sacrifice their current lifestyle.

You see, it’s all about balance. But you’d never guess it the way most financial advice is delivered.

Many of the people I meet are surprised when I ask them if they’d like to save less money today or reduce the risk in their investment portfolio.

But these are important questions and need to be considered not just at the start of the financial planning process, but they need to be regularly reviewed and discussed going forward.

With this approach, you can be prepared for an uncertain future and be ready to respond to new information and circumstances as life unfolds along your journey.

Also, I recently had a lovely conversation with Kathleen Rehl about the important work she’s doing to educate and support widows. You can check it out here.

To better understand the nature and scope of the advisory services and business practices of Wealthcare Capital Management, Inc., please review our SEC Form ADV Part 2a, which is available here. Past performance is not a guide to future returns. Before acting on any analysis, advice or recommendation in the above content, you should seek the personalized advice of legal, tax or investment professionals. By selecting the links in the above email, you may be redirected to third party websites not under the supervision of Wealthcare who may have different privacy policies than Wealthcare.

For those that know me or have been reading my blog and weekly emails for a while, it will come as no surprise to learn that I think you’re wasting to your time and money trying to actively manage your investments by picking stocks and/or timing the market. And this article indicates your chances of success are about 50% at best. Even this cat has beaten the professionals.

But you have to admit, Fancy Feast cat food is a lot cheaper than the fees many professional investment managers and “active” financial advisors will charge you.

Speaking of fees, do you know what “grey charges” are? Check this out to learn about them.

So what’s the best defense against grey charges hitting your credit or debit card?

I use BillGuard and suggest you try it too.

BillGuard is a free service (for up to 3 cards) that will provide an extra measure of vigilance over your credit and debit card charges.

I’ve been using it since July, 2011, and it’s helped me catch a couple of “grey charges” of my own.

As more people are using plastic and there’s more and more talk about mobile wallets and charging things to our mobile phones, I think additional layers of protection can be helpful.

Much the way BillGuard works, I help my clients monitor their wealth management plan and investments on a regular basis. My Wealthcare For Women approach helps keep you in control and avoid decisions which could prove costly.

If you’d like some help “keeping your guard up” with your personal finances, let’s have a chat about it sometime.

And did you know that when the government releases economic data, they’re not always using the same calculations as they have in the past? Naturally, if they’re comparing “apples to oranges” it can make a big difference in the value and context of the data. Check out the Shadow Stats site to learn more. A good place to start is learning about historical calculations for inflation.

The Meaning of Life (TV series) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Good morning, and happy Wednesday!

Is there more to life than being happy? According to this article, it’s really about finding meaning in our lives, and it’s this meaning that makes us human.

Would love to know what you think about this.

I often tell people that my work is all about helping people – especially divorced baby boomer women – make the most of their one shot at life.

Regardless of your personal beliefs, I think everyone can agree with the “one shot at life” part.

But what do I mean when I say I help you “make the most” of your life? Am I talking about a pursuit of happiness, helping simplify your life, making the things that are important to you more achievable, reducing uncertainty, or is it something else?

I believe it involves all of the above, but after reading the article, I realized that my work is really about helping people live a life full of meaning. And meaning isn’t something that can be defined by me, Wall Street, the media, your family or your neighbors. Your personal life of meaning is based solely on what is meaningful to you.

It could involve charitable giving, volunteering, writing that novel you’ve always had bouncing around in your mind, educating your children or grandchildren, having a successful career, developing your spirituality, or pretty much anything else.

Homework
Right now – or as soon as you have 5 minutes – grab a pen and a piece of paper (I think writing is more important than typing in this exercise) and list everything in your life that is personally meaningful to you. Now, in a separate column, list everything that’s meaningful to you, but isn’t currently part of your life. And while this is your homework assignment, you don’t have to turn anything in and you won’t be graded, so let the ideas flow.

Now I want you to review this list once a week for the next month. If you need to add something to it, go right ahead. As you review this list, begin to think about what you need to do (or stop doing) to add some of the items from the 2nd column into you life.

This can be the start of your financial life plan if you don’t already have one. And if you have an advisor, I’d encourage you to share this list with them so they’ll know how they can really make an impact in your life. If you’d like someone to review and discuss your list with, give me a call. I’d be happy to help.

I don’t believe a meaningful life has to involve an “eat, pray, love” kind of experience. It can be a very practical pursuit and while it’s meaningful for you, it doesn’t have to involve or be meaningful to anyone else.

And this is why I absolutely LOVE the work I do.

I get to help people explore and ultimately clarify and quantify their unique version of a meaningful life. Then I get to help them live it.

Sometimes they get distracted from what’s really important, and these distractions can include friends and family or the market and the economy. And that’s when I reconfirm what they told me was really important or offer a timely reminder.

For some of my clients this involves taking as little investment risk as possible, and for others who are really motivated to reach some meaningful goals, they might be willing to accept some investment risk.

Remember, it’s about meaning – not about markets.

Does your financial advisor take a “meaning-based” approach to your financial planning, or once the pleasantries and small talk are out of the way, is it really just about your money?

Something to think about.

P.S. – As many of you know, my wife and I have two daughters of the canine variety, Abby & Gracie. We love all animals and our dogs are an important part of our lives. And the next time Abby or Gracie are due for a bath, I’ll take my girls to visit my friends at Perk-N-Pooch. This is a new small business recently opened by a client of mine in Sandy Springs, GA, and I love the idea. If you love dogs, or coffee, or both, I encourage you to stop by and visit. Maybe I’ll see you there.