Blog — wealth management RSS

A lot of people have less money than they need to quit working and live comfortably for life. They make do by continuing to work late into life, or by downsizing their living situation, or even by relying on others, often family members. Their wealth-transfer planning is fairly simple, yet often neglected. A smaller percentage...

Over time, as I’ve worked with and advised thousands of clients, I’ve realized that there are essentially just three levels or categories when it comes to wealth transfer. Each of these involves taking a different approach to transferring wealth to heirs and to charity. Many people have just enough money saved to live the rest...

Years ago, on vacation in California, I took my family to Disneyland for the day, which included driving north on I-5 from San Diego to Los Angeles. As we got on the freeway (and this is a busy, multilane highway, as most everyone knows), my young children spotted a car. It was old and the...

“Bob” retired as the captain of an ocean-going ship and ended up returning to the Midwest, managing the family ranch in the Sandhills region of north-central Nebraska. He had little interest in financial matters, leaving those details to his wife, a retired advertising executive. Once, as she and I were reviewing their financial plan, Bob...

Barry was a student in my personal finance class at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. He was less than enthused about college, it appeared. He showed up for class every day, but usually fell asleep sometime during the first half hour. Finally, I asked him to stick around after class to see if I could help...