When we think of finances, we think of dollar bills, counting change, stock prices, and mathematical precision. What we do not think of is how our emotions, biases, and personal history contribute to all of the financial decisions we make. As Morgan Housel says in his book The Psychology of Money, “Financial success is not [...]
Sometimes I wish summer had 8 days of the week! To be clear, I want the eighth day to be another Saturday, NOT another Monday. I also wish I got a “summer raise” every year, where I get paid more every summer to cover the expenses of all the exciting extra adventures that always seem [...]
By: Kelly M. Lewis, CFP®, JD, LLM “They don’t need any more money; they do just fine on their own.” This is an answer I occasionally hear in my job when beginning the estate planning and wealth transfer discussion. What does it mean? When I ask clients what their goals are for their money [...]
By: Kelly M. Lewis, CFP®, JD, LLM I’m sure you have all seen the “new year, new you” blog posts on anything and everything; finances, weight loss, exercise, travel, career goals, etc. In fact, I think it was just last year at about this time that I wrote a similar blog for everyone to read. [...]
Written by: Kelly M. Lewis, CFP®, JD, LLM While most of us are thinking of pumpkin spice, apple cider, leaf peeping, sweaters, Ugg® boots, and Halloween, we should not forget that many of us have an open enrollment period upon us. During this period, employees can enroll in any number of benefits offered through their [...]
By Kelly M. Lewis, CFP®, JD, LLM Ladies, I was recently going through my monthly budget to see where my money is going. As I started adding up the costs, including the sneaky ones that don’t seem like they would have a major effect on my budget, I found that I was overspending in several [...]
Written by: Kelly M. Lewis, CFP®, JD, LLM Yes, I used the word “post-pandemic” even though the pandemic is not over yet. While about 30% of the United States population is fully vaccinated and mask mandates and social distancing seem to be disappearing, we are all still being cautious. What I wanted to talk about [...]
Written by: Kelly M. Lewis, CFP®, JD, LLM Did you ever read that article about a couple who almost cancelled their wedding because the future husband secretly spent over $5,000 (from his own savings) on surgery for his dog, and the future bride was furious because that meant she was going to have to downsize [...]
By Kelly M. Lewis, CFP®, JD, LLM Check your most recent paystub dated after September 1st, 2020. Did your paycheck increase without you actively making any changes to it? If you make less than $104,000, then it might be because of President Trump’s new payroll tax deferral that is now in effect through the [...]
The dreaded Holiday shopping season is almost upon us! If you’re anything like me, you don’t even think about it until the season is upon us and it’s too late. I’m a last minute online shopper! This can result in a bit too much overspending because I don’t have time to shop for deals or [...]
