It’s not uncommon that we find ourselves in the awkward profession of critiquing someone else’s work in the world of financial planning. Mind you, we’re seldom put in a position to review a comprehensive financial plan crafted by a fiduciary CFP® Professional using advanced planning software, and that was clearly crafted for this particular client with love and care. Rather, …
Commonplace Mistakes Made with Confidence
In a recent conversation between two major figures in the financial planning world (Carl Richards & Michael Kitces), a poignant analogy was made: “Are we not simply guides through an ever-changing landscape?” The context made herein was that of someone who had just returned from skiing in avalanche country, and the overconfidence they might display in the face of being …
Politely, Please Don’t Compare
It’s not an infrequent question: “Why should we work with you instead of ______________?” Everything in that question is a good question other than the ______________ part. It’s the ______________ part that actually bothers me the most. You see, it makes sense to ask the question of how your financial planner is different, or why when you engage in what …
The Tax Impacts of a Singularly Yuge Statute
Pardon the parody, but I’ve read a thousand “what’s in the big beautiful bill” headlines in the last few days, and I had to give myself some mental respite. But, as the header implies, this week we’re reviewing the tax ramifications of the “one big beautiful bill” passed by Congress last week, as well as a few “trivia items” buried …
Good “Corporate” Citizenship
Last year, we were pleased to announce that we’d become Longmont’s first Certified B Corp, and today, the only local B Corp located in Longmont (we do have a neighboring B Corp headquartered out of state). Now, we’re not the only one in Boulder County nor the entire state of Colorado, but the announcement last year was certification as proof …
Alts and the Complexity Trap
We, the financial planners and wealth managers of the world, are told with some great regularity that investors are demanding “alts.” Now the word “alts” probably doesn’t mean much to you, in fact, it probably looks like a typo, or if it’s a word, it’s barely a word. Yet, “alt” is a term that encompasses a large variety of investment …
Introduction to Cecile
This is a guest post by our summer intern, Cecile Stone. Hello! My name is Cecile Stone, and I recently started as the intern here at MY Wealth Planners. I was born in Syracuse, NY, however, I moved to Broomfield, CO in 2009 and have been here ever since. I went to high school locally and am now a rising …
Firm Benchmarking
We’re rather excited to say that we’ve completed our fifth year of peer-to-peer benchmarking for our firm. The good news? The data has a lot of terrific insights. The bad news? We’ve been told by the firm that does the annual benchmarking study that under no uncertain terms, we cannot name the firm that did the study or otherwise use …
Pricing Yourself Fairly
It’s curious how much time I spend talking about the value of people’s time, or more importantly, their expertise. As a financial planner, I engage every client in a conversation at some point and often at many points, about how much they’re paid as an employee or charge as a business owner. Almost inevitably, everyone is underpaid and undercharging in …
Cruising Into Retirement
It’s not an uncommon question from clients looking to retire: Is there a way to do it a bit more gradually? More as a lifestyle than a life-stage decision? While many of our clients are delighted to retire in their 50s instead of their 60s, another part of that cohort often envisions more of a second act to their career …