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Students from the university class I teach and readers of my books and previous posts know the story of the Bookkeeper and the Surgeon. The thrifty Bookkeeper accumulates a significant sum and lives a comfortable life, while the highly paid Surgeon is short financially at retirement. The Surgeon is a really terrific professional. He’s high-earning,...

One of the things that make a tremendous difference for young people starting out is, as soon as possible, getting the right job and making sure advancement in a career is possible. What better way to enhance your financial accounts and net worth than being in the right position and getting promoted? Early in my...

Probably every financial professional has done it, at least once in a while. It’s a quick outline made at one of the “four Cs”: church social, country club, coffee shop, or, of course, the cocktail lounge. It’s the back-of-the-napkin financial planning doodle! It’s a hastily jotted down note, a “guess” based on the hazy memory...

You ask, “How do you make money in stocks?” Some will say you buy low and sell high, using a trite phrase offered with a simple grin. But, in fact, what do people do, especially unadvised investors? They buy high and sell low because they react to their “gut instinct,” which is almost always wrong...

Over the last 30-plus years working with hundreds, probably thousands, of clients, I’ve observed the traits common to how the financially wise handle their money. I also have learned what some otherwise successful people do to fail financially. The true story of the Bookkeeper and the Surgeon illustrates what I discovered through real-life lessons. (Although...