A Planner’s Diary in April
Like many things in life, capacity and tolerance for risk taking in investing are built on personal experience and perception. I view investment risk as a three-legged stool: leg one is risk capacity, or how much risk you can take based on your financial situation, time horizon, and goals. Leg two is risk tolerance, or how much risk you’re comfortable taking. And the third leg is perceived risk, meaning how risky something feels, which is often shaped more by emotion, past experiences and subconscious biases, than facts and figures.
Where I see investors get stuck is when one or more of these legs are out of alignment.
The Most Overlooked Phase of Roth Planning
Somewhere along the way, not spending Roth assets has become an erroneously unspoken rule. But a Roth IRA is one of the most flexible assets an investor can have in their toolkit; it grows after-tax, is not subject to Required Minimum Distributions, and can ultimately be withdrawn tax-free.
A Planner’s Diary In March
William B, Irvine’s The Stoic Challenge has been gathering dust on my desk for far too long. Sometimes it takes a unique set of current challenges and experiences to inspire cracking open certain books. This was certainly true here. The opening chapters offer a simple but powerful reframing: What if setbacks are not misfortunes, but tests? Can challenges and stressors become opportunities to practice resilience, steadiness, and strength? I think so.
Healing Through Planning: The Financial Reset After Divorce
You’ve made it through the emotional fatigue of divorce. The settlement is signed, a chapter closed. You may have imagined this moment many times over, or perhaps it is only beginning to settle in now. Either way, one truth stands out: you’re in the driver’s seat now. The financial decisions ahead are yours to make, on your own terms. At first glance, that responsibility may feel heavy as you begin to heal, rebuild and start over—until you realize, you get to start over.
It’s my greatest privilege to work with women at this stage in their financial journeys. It marks the beginning of an entirely new chapter; one that invites space to envision what an ideal day, week, and year might look like. And a foundational part of building this life begins with a thoughtful financial plan.
So what does creating a financial plan after divorce really involve?
A Planner’s Diary in February
Last month, I wrote about the power of process in shifting ideas from the abstract into something concrete, tangible. Since then, I’ve spent a great deal of time on some very important minutiae: from shaping a client onboarding experience that feels both special and effective, to building out a process to deliver ongoing, real, and quantifiable value. The time invested in choosing the right tools and building repeatable processes has demanded a level of undivided attention that I’ve found energizing and purposeful.