Join Dave and Nick as they review the book, Thinking Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman. Watch on YouTube HERE Thinking, Fast and Slow concerns a few major questions: how do we make decisions? And in what ways do we make decisions poorly? The book covers three areas of Daniel Kahneman’s research: cognitive biases, prospect theory, and happiness. Here is the summary from the website Shortform.com “We’re so self-confident in our rationality that we think all our decisions are well-considered. When w...
Aug 16, 2023•16 min•Season 2Ep. 132
Join Dave and Ashley (Nick is on vacation) as they talk about Student Loan Repayment Plans, which have been in the news because they’ve just rolled out the details of a new plan. Watch on YouTube HERE The plan is called the SAVE Plan, which is short for Saving on a Valuable Education. It’s going to be replacing the repayment plan that currently exists. If you are in the repay plan you will be automatically transitioned to the new save plan once that gets set in stone. They’re going to phase this...
Aug 08, 2023•15 min•Season 2Ep. 131
Join Dave and Nick as they talk about different that require insurance and other things that may be an option. Learn some tips on how you may be able to save money on things you might over-insuring. Watch on YouTube HERE Dave got a glossy flyer in the mail recently selling appliance repair insurance that came with a whole caveat of exceptions and exclusions that probably make the offer not worth it in the end. The guys also break down the ins and out of warranty insurance and when it might be wo...
Jul 31, 2023•28 min•Season 2Ep. 130
The year is half over, and despite recession fears, banking turmoil, and a debt-ceiling standoff in Washington, the stock market continued its current roll last quarter. US stocks, as measured by the Russell benchmarks, were positive across the board for the quarter, year to date, and the last 12 months. While international returns aren’t as robust, the results have also been positive across all three-time frames except for frontier markets. Bonds were slightly negative for the quarter though st...
Jul 27, 2023•29 min•Season 2Ep. 129
Dave and Nick have another MSU case study for you. This one is a very common scenario that comes up often – couples who are nearing retirement and seeking help from a financial advisor. They know they want to retire and they are looking for someone to help them put all the pieces together. They have been managing their money themselves, for the most part, with some support from the plan providers at Michigan State. But now that they’re getting close to crunch time they are really starting to thi...
Jul 26, 2023•37 min•Season 2Ep. 128
Join Dave and Nick as they discuss an amalgamation of things that Dave has read over the last year or so and has been studying. Dave’s wife got him a book for Christmas on stoic philosophy that was a general overview. He read different parts every day with explanations of what stoic philosophy entails. He kept thinking, “Boy this is almost a manual for good financial planning attitudes.” Stoicism as a philosophy doesn’t deny that we have human emotions. It’s more about recognizing that we have e...
Jul 12, 2023•14 min•Season 2Ep. 127
Join Dave and Nick as they talk about cyber security and keeping yourself safe. They go over some of the steps that they take for their clients to make sure that they maintain safety. Watch on YouTube HERE As you age, there is a real threat of being targeted for different kinds of risks, scams, and abuses out there that are targeted toward the older population. It can be difficult to have these chats it’s important to know. SRB goes through Cyber security training as a team every year. Our team ...
Jul 10, 2023•26 min•Season 2Ep. 126
We have a special guest back for the second week in a row. Our intern, Cade Campbell comes back to talk about the project he’s been working on this summer for us. Cade was tasked with breaking down the tangible quantifiable return that a client receives from a financial advisor. There are quite a few good studies out there. Join us as Cade goes through his research and findings. In a world where online portfolio tools and retirement calculators are available online at little cost, does it make s...
Jul 06, 2023•32 min•Season 2Ep. 125
Join Nick as he chats with the SRB summer intern, Cade Cambell, while Dave is on vacation. Watch it on YouTube HERE Cade is a senior at Michigan State studying finance and minoring in insurance and risk management with a second minor in financial planning and wealth management. He grew up in a little town in the middle of Wyoming called Riverton, in the heart of the Rocky Mountains. Cade is a big outdoorsman who loves to hunt, fish, hike, and just about anything outside. He found himself at Mich...
Jul 05, 2023•28 min•Season 2Ep. 124
Join Nick and Dave as they discuss Nick’s best and worst personal money decisions. In case you missed our last episode where Dave discusses his personal financial best and worst, you can find it here: Ep 122: Dave’s Best and Worst Personal Money Moves Watch on YouTube HERE A Tough Career Decision Nick graduated college in 2005, had a one-year-old daughter, and Michigan was already into the recession that hit the rest of the country. So jobs for finance majors in Michigan were not plentiful. He g...
Jul 03, 2023•24 min•Season 2Ep. 123
Join Dave and Nick as Dave reveals one of the best and worst money decisions he’s made over the years. Don’t worry, you will hear from Nick soon, as he reveals his own trials with money as well. People often assume that because we are financial planners and have lots of experience we never screwed up along the way. Our clients are often surprised when we tell them about mistakes we’ve made or things we almost did. Watch on YouTube Here A Tough Investment Choice One of the toughest things Dave we...
Jun 30, 2023•21 min•Season 2Ep. 122
Join Dave and Nick as they discuss the book, The Soul of Money by Lynne Twist. Lynne Twist is a global activist and founded The Soul of Money Institute and you can find many of her works on her website there, including her book. This is a great read for people who want to examine their relationship with money and how it affects their lives. We’ve had a lot of conversations on this podcast before about behavioral economics and finance and how money really affects you. Lynne’s overall take is that...
Jun 02, 2023•24 min•Season 2Ep. 121
Welcome back to another episode, and another MSU case study. Last time we discussed a married couple who are both MSU professors and have two teenage children. You can find that episode here: Ep 114: Retirement Planning Case Study for an MSU Employee. This time, we are discussing the scenario of a young professor in his late twenties with his first full-time college teaching position. Join us as we talk about the ins and outs of financial planning and setting up a solid retirement plan for someo...
May 22, 2023•24 min•Season 2Ep. 120
Join Nick and Dave as they discuss some of their favorite resources for financial planning and why they like them. You can find links to the resources below. The Kitchen Table Finance Podcast Christine Benz at Morningstar. Practical portfolio and retirement planning advice from a respected source. Takes Morningstar’s research and puts it into practice. www.morningstar.com A recent example: “Five Must-Knows about in-retirement spending” Jason Zweig, Wall Street Journal “Intelligent Investor” Colu...
May 15, 2023•23 min•Season 2Ep. 119
Twelve months ago, I bonds were the security to purchase. As a refresher, I Bond rates get set at six-month intervals. Basically May to November and then November to the following May or April. A year ago at this time as inflation was raging, the treasury announced the rate on I bonds would be a 9.4% annualized rate of return, and of course that got everybody’s attention. Join us as we discuss how the current interest rates and inflation is affecting I bonds and if they are a good investment or ...
May 12, 2023•10 min•Season 2Ep. 118
In today’s episode, we discuss what is your ideal retirement age. We take a look at retirement in the United States and how it’s shifting. Join us as we take a dive back to where it came from and how we got here. We borrowed a lot of this from an article in The New York Times last week titled What Age Should You Retire? What Health Experts Say We take a look at some of the non-financial issues with changing retirement age. Did you know that the retirement age was originally set by politicians? S...
May 08, 2023•21 min•Season 2Ep. 117
We are going to talk about getting real about social security. This has been an ongoing discussion with clients, particularly younger clients for a while but it seems to becoming more prominent. There are more headlines around social security and its future. Watch on YouTube HERE Join us as we try to set your mind at ease as to what is really going on with social security, what you should pay attention to, and what you can scroll right past. We aren’t necessarily discussing what the strategies a...
May 01, 2023•19 min•Season 2Ep. 116
2 nd Quarter 2023 Economic Update and Market Review The first quarter of 2023 was largely positive for the markets, but not positive enough to make up for the frustrating previous 12 months. While inflation still appears to be slowing, there is plenty of uncertainty around interest rates and the Federal Reserve’s ability to slow the economy just enough but not too much. As always, our partners at East Bay Investment Solutions have provided a balanced approach to the positive and negative signals...
Apr 17, 2023•27 min•Season 2Ep. 115
In today’s episode, Dave and Nick have an interesting case study of a couple of MSU professors. Join us as we take a look at some of the common scenarios that come up in a case like this when we’re helping people create their financial plans. This is a composite of several clients we’ve met with over the last couple of years to help people get a general feel for how we look at things and how we string a plan together. A lot of these questions come up quite often and even though we like we say, “...
Apr 10, 2023•28 min•Season 2Ep. 114
How to make housing decisions in a rising rate environment. We’ve been getting a lot of questions about the housing market. We’ve seen the Fed basically increase interest rates at an accelerated pace over the last year. And they are looking to still continue to do a couple more rate increases. So what do you think about that and how do you think about the different housing choices knowing that we’re in this rising interest rate environment? And we don’t really know how long rates are going to st...
Apr 06, 2023•27 min•Season 2Ep. 113
Last Week Silicon Valley Bank collapsed. Nuveen’s asset managers noted it was the fastest bank failure in history, the result of management missteps, a challenging interest rate environment, a narrow client base whose businesses were also sensitive to the interest rate environment, and customers who talk amongst themselves. While none of this is great, the good news is that none of this seems to spell a bigger threat to the American banking industry. There has been a lot written already by folks...
Mar 16, 2023•28 min•Season 2Ep. 112
Join Dave and Nick as they discuss Secure Act 2.0 and how it make affect you personally. We cherry-picked the most important points that we felt would impact our listeners the most. Background on Secure Act 2.0 Secure Act 2.0 stands for Job Security. Secure Act One made changes to the American retirement system overall. It move the required minimum distribution age out from seventy and a half to 72 for people that hadn’t reached that age yet. It made some adjustments to inherited IRAs to make up...
Mar 13, 2023•24 min•Season 2Ep. 111
We have a very special episode for your today. Join us as Nick interviews Ashley Sajor and discover out why she became a financial planner. Ashley is one of the newest members of our team and started off as an intern while she was still attending MSU. Besides starring in our podcast from time to time, Ashley has also started writing blogs for our website. Michigan First-Time Home Buyer Savings Accounts (article) A Quick View on Student Loans About Ashely Ashley graduated from Michigan State Univ...
Mar 06, 2023•15 min•Season 2Ep. 110
Investor Profile Quiz Take OUR QUIZ to assess your own risk tolerance. What is your Investment Risk Tolerance? Join Dave and Nick as they discuss the all-important risk tolerance. This is a big subject and comes up all the time when we’re working with clients. How much of a risk do you feel comfortable taking in your investment strategy? When you look at a statement or look at your account online and call me up and say, “I can’t take this anymore. We have to do something different.” That’s my ev...
Feb 27, 2023•28 min•Season 2Ep. 109
Dave and Nick are joined by A shley Sajor , Associate Financial Planner here at Shotwell Rutter Baer. Ashley started her career at SRB as an intern and after graduating from MSU became a full-time employee. Check out Ashley’s previous visit to our show in the episode titled, Helping Your College Student Budget . Today, we are exploring the concept of a first-time home buyer savings account for the state of Michigan. Which actually was passed into law around June of 2022, so we’re a little over s...
Feb 20, 2023•21 min•Season 2Ep. 108
Join Nick and Dave as Nick interviews Dave as to the “why” and the “how” of his journey to becoming a financial planner. Dave, “I started basically looking for a job and did not have a true career path. I happened to meet the right people at the right time who were in the industry and needed help. They told me I was pretty much a nerd and I should be a nerd about this stuff.” Listen as Dave reveals his love for Excel and spreadsheets and the evolution of the financial planning industry itself. A...
Feb 13, 2023•17 min•Season 2Ep. 107
Nick and Dave discuss the difference between, “I want to be financially responsible” versus “I’m going to try to keep a budget this year.” If you’re starting from the standpoint of already being a financially responsible person, then budgeting is just part of that. Or you are becoming that person and you may not be that person yet. There’s a lot of pressure in the world to spend money. Friends ask you to go out to dinner at an expensive restaurant so you feel like you have to go there and you ha...
Feb 08, 2023•23 min•Season 2Ep. 106
The debt ceiling debate has been front and center lately, so we thought we’d share this article from our partners at Clearnomics discussing this issue and how it may impact markets. Over the past week, there has been nonstop news coverage of the federal government hitting the $31.4 trillion borrowing limit known as the debt ceiling. This once again puts Washington drama on center stage as the Treasury Department enacts “extraordinary measures” to not default on its obligations. Although this has...
Jan 31, 2023•12 min•Season 2Ep. 105
Well, we can all agree that the stock market was not pretty in 2022. What is in store for 2023? Check out the Quarterly Investment Commentary – Q4 2022 from Eastbay Investment Solutions. We received a couple of email questions recently about the debt ceiling struggle. Mario echoed this the other day on our webinar for clients. Check that out here. The overall consensus is that this is not likely to impact the markets in the long run. It’ll be a lot of sound and fury signifying nothing. It may cr...
Jan 23, 2023•26 min•Season 2Ep. 104
This is a pretty common question for our clients t ask in December and January. We’re in an industry where everybody loves to make bold predictions and there’s not a lot of accountability around what happens. Well, we need to be careful with that. If nothing else we are at least filling that void of saying, “Hey you know we put these ideas out there a year ago so let’s see how we did. ” We’ve also got a sampling of some of the major investment banks and sources out there and we can look at what ...
Jan 19, 2023•23 min•Season 2Ep. 103
