I like to think of myself as a “planner.” Not for the super-long term, but I’m well organized enough to make sure I leave for vacation without forgetting anything important…My Christmas cards went out relatively early… I’ve been more nervous lately, however, in how my family plans for its financial future. Both my husband and [...]
A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes. – Mark Twain We spend a good deal of our life preparing for emergencies – perhaps more than we might realize. We’ve all gone through fire drills…learned the importance of “Stop, Drop, and Roll”…maybe even discussed what we should [...]
I like to think of myself as a pretty even-keeled person. It takes a lot to shock me. Weinergate? Not shocking. Lebron James choking in the fourth quarter? Meh. But something I saw recently really left me taken aback: According to a study by the National Bureau of Economic Research, roughly half of all Americans [...]
When I graduated from college almost 15 years ago, I had accumulated a non-trivial amount of student loans – not a huge amount, but enough to buy a new economy car. In comparison, my sister left with enough loans to buy herself a BMW 5-series, and she seems to be okay with things. Right before [...]
In recent years, we’ve seen the Internet portrayed in many different ways: an information superhighway, a means of satisfying the global thirst for knowledge, a pathway to freedom. For most of us though, it’s been a way to get things for free that we used to pay for: Got stamps? Don’t need them, I’ll pay [...]
I generally do not consider myself to be a college basketball fan, but I have spent a disproportionate amount of time watching it over the past few days. Even leading up to the start of the tournament, I had been caught up in the resurgence of the St. John’s program – an interest that stems [...]
Like many people, I like a little “background noise” around me when I’m working. Since most of my clients are in financial services, this usually means CNBC or Bloomberg TV, where many of the ads tout new web and mobile services for people who want to keep a constant eye on the markets. Recently, I’ve noticed more ads highlighting a new take on this idea: financial media apps for mobile devices.
I would like to retire someday. Sooner would be better than later, of course, but I’d really like it to be of my own accord. As a PR professional who often works with companies in the retirement planning industry – and as an aspiring future retiree – I usually find myself taking a great interest in any news related to the topic.
When we ask someone the core question of “So, what do you do?” there are a few answers you never hear:
“We run a me-too operation.”
“I’m a mediocre doctor/lawyer/landscaper.”
“We do just enough to keep the client from complaining.”
For investors under the age of 40, much of their adult life has been occupied by accelerated boom and bust cycles in the world of finance, peppered liberally with doses of scandal and market turmoil. A lack of growth in the Dow Industrials and S&P 500 over the past 10 years (don’t ask about the NASDAQ) has led to the this period being referred to as a “lost decade.”
