Zeroes

Zeroes frequently mark either the beginning or the end. Every interstate freeway starts at mile marker 0. Every golf scorecard begins with 0. The day you are born is your 0th birthday (at least in American culture). Every college basketball game ends with 0:00 on the clock. Most Major League Baseball teams’ first official game…

How Strong is Your Foundation?

Hello. This is Rusty Peterson, partner and wealth consultant at IAG Wealth Partners. Scott has been kind enough to let me sit in for him as he takes a much-needed break in Arizona to be with family. I have been writing a monthly podcast that focuses on building your financial house either on sand or…

Fifteen Years

This past week marks 15 years since the stock market bottomed during the Global Financial Crisis. Time has certainly helped to erase some, if not most, of the trauma. Thinking back on it, I find it incredibly difficult to put into words the oppressive sense of pessimism that pressured perfectly rational people to make incredibly…

Alarm

Writing roughly 45 blogs a year for the last 8.5 years sometimes leaves me a little empty on the idea front, and yesterday I was struggling mightily for a topic or theme that would be at least semi-interesting to write about this morning. I wrestled with this most of the day and by the time…

Tax Culprits

Every tax professional in the United States is now in the thick of tax season. They have in front of them a 45-day gauntlet of tireless tax analysis to complete their clients’ returns by April 15 (unless there is an imminent extension). They are under pressure. Their eyes may be blurry. Their caffeine dosage may…

The Winter That Wasn’t

With the 10-day forecast now extending all the way through the end of February, I believe we can now officially declare that this was a winter that wasn’t. For the snow fans, the season started off well with a white Halloween. Hopes were high as the Farmer’s Almanac declared in December: “Our extended weather forecast,…

Ashentine’s Wednes-Day

Today is a rarity as Ash Wednesday and Valentine’s Day occur on the same exact day. This only happens three times during this entire century – 2018, 2024, and 2029. At first blush, today is a confluence of opposites. The modern Valentine’s Day celebrates romance. Historians cannot definitively determine which St. Valentine is the inspiration…

Patience

One of the key ingredients to successful long-term investing is patience – one of the world’s most treasured natural resources which is being depleted daily. Patience unlocks the value of time. Long-term investing does not have deadlines within the next eight years. If your investment deadline is shorter than that, a short-term investing strategy may…

Lasts

Firsts usually get all of the attention. First human to set foot on the moon. First day at a new job. Baby takes her first steps. Kindergartener loses his first tooth. First time the stock market reached this level. First day of high school or college. There is something really exciting about doing something for…

Roundtrip

We made it! Whenever you depart on a trip, you expect to make it back home at some point. You commute to work, you expect to come home later that day. You travel to grandma’s house for a holiday, you expect to come home in a week or so. You leave for a mid-winter cruise,…