How do you rebalance your accounts? Don’t know how? Follow along as Michelle walks you through the steps we use when rebalancing client accounts in this month’s vlog, then try it yourself! Continue reading
Financial articles
How Should You Allocate Savings?
If you live a reasonably balanced lifestyle, you will, at some point in your lives, find yourselves debt free, 529s funded and accumulating cash. As physicians, particularly in dual-doctor households, you can accomplish this 10 years or so out of Continue reading
Case Study: How to Prioritize Debt
Recently, a dual physician couple, held a debt planning meeting with me. They had various financial obligations and one spouse had just received a rather large bonus. This couple is not US-born and are not totally rooted in our customs. In their country of origin, however, debt is a big no-no. Continue reading
Breaking Bad (Habits)
A realistic budget is the foundation of all good foundation plans. If you’re not sure where to start or just don’t think budgets are sexy enough, let’s break that habit and learn how to put together a budget you can live by! Continue reading
DAF’s: A Great Way to Control Your Tax Bill
This year, several of our clients have unexpectedly found they will have significantly more income than normal. From becoming partner to a surprising success with a non-doctor spouse’s startup business to an unplanned buyout of a practice, they have a very happy problem. The problem is, of course, they’ll have significantly more Continue reading
What to Do With Old Credit Card Accounts?
When I’m reviewing our clients’ credit reports, I’m not only making sure that we have all significant debt accounted for but also to see if any information should be corrected. Frequently, I notice open credit cards with no transactions in the last year or so. When I recommend clients close these accounts, the reply is often, Continue reading
How to Set Up a DAF [VIDEO]
Johanna talks about DAF’s in her blog post this month. If you’re on board but don’t know what to do next, then this vlog is for Continue reading
Moving on up! Should We Become Landlords?
A recent, true-life client situation is the inspiration for this month’s post. Dr. Tony* and his wife, Sam*, had just made a bid on their “forever” home in California. We had prepared a plan scenario to determine the amount of home they could reasonably afford given their long-term goals and projected income and savings. After some expected haggling, they emailed to tell me their bid had been Continue reading
Are you house-poor? A case study
“I think we are house-poor,” said Greta*, a physician client who lives with her husband, Zeke*, on Long Island. We were only part-way through developing their IFP (Initial Foundation Plan) so I didn’t yet have a grasp on whether this statement was simply a feeling or based on difficulties with their cash flow and the inability to reach Continue reading
Does it make sense to keep your old house? [VIDEO]
Johanna talks about issues you should consider when deciding whether to rent out your old home. But there may be situations which lend themselves to renting out your house – let’s talk about it in my Vlog, When to Convert to a Rental. Continue reading