Financial Lifestyle Archives - Rightpath Investments & Financial Planning, Inc.

Nov 15

Book Review: The One Page Financial Plan: A Simple Way to be Smart About Your Money, Carl Richards (Penguin 2015)

By Steven Smith | Financial Lifestyle , Peak Thoughts , Retirement , Wealth Management

Running joke: If it’s a one-page financial plan, then why isn’t the book only one page? I first read Carl Richards’ novelty of a book, The One-Page Financial Plan, when it was published in 2015. But I only recently grabbed it off the shelf to re-read and figure out ways to apply it in our […]

Sep 30

Is Retirement a Dirty Word?

By Steven Smith | Financial Lifestyle , Financial Planning , Life Transitions , Peak Thoughts , Retirement

I made the mistake of asking a client when she wanted to retire. This is a common inquiry to my clients. Yet unwittingly, I opened a fraught subject for this couple. She loved her job and wanted to work forever. He was ready to retire now and see the world. I learned a valuable lesson. […]

Oct 16

DOL Proposed Rule Change Brings Awareness to Sustainable Investing

By Steven Smith | ESG Investing , Financial Lifestyle , Investment Management , Mountain Lifestyle , Peak Thoughts , Wealth Management

The current US Department of Labor (DOL) has a bone to pick with sustainable investing; what is now colloquially called Environmental, Social & Governance or ESG investing. On June 23, 2020 the DOL issued a proposed rule that would limit the use of investments that consider ESG factors in retirement plans subject to ERISA, such […]

Sep 10

Retire Early? Retire Late? Or Retire Right on Time? – Lessons from the Early Retirement Movement

By Steven Smith | Financial Lifestyle , Peak Thoughts , Retirement , Uncategorized

The FIRE movement captured my interest only recently. Financial Independence, Retire Early (FIRE) is an aspiration of motivated young people today to stop working and retire in their 30’s and 40’s. As a retirement advisor, seeing the obvious challenges of saving enough money and otherwise getting one’s act together at such an age, I rather […]

Oct 10

Dreaming of a Mountain Retirement

By Steven Smith | Financial Lifestyle , Life Transitions , Mountain Lifestyle , Peak Thoughts , Retirement , Wealth Management

Do the mountains call you for your dream retirement? Many people, including most of my clients, aspire to retire to the active lifestyle, fresh air and natural beauty of the Colorado mountains. What will it take to achieve that dream? Here are some considerations for planning your mountain retirement: Follow Your Dream […]

Oct 29

Where are you on the Spectrum of Financial Dependence and Independence?

By Steven Smith | Financial Lifestyle , Meanderings , Uncategorized

Where are you on the Spectrum of Financial Dependence and Independence? (H/T to financial planning guru Michael Kitces for including this article by Morgan Housel in his October 19, Weekly Reading for Financial Planners.) Continuums I love continuums. Or is it contiua? You’ve seen a million of them. They are generally represented graphically, in an […]

Aug 10

Do We Face a Retirement Crisis?

By Steven Smith | Financial Lifestyle , Meanderings , Retirement

In an article in Advisor Perspectives, actuary, financial planner and retirement researcher Joe Tomlinson delves into the question: Do We Face a Retirement Crisis? The “we” Tomlinson refers to is American society as a whole. His conclusion is that the “crisis” for the current generation of retirees is a bit overblown, but the future looks […]

Jan 14

4th Quarter Client Note – Preparing for an Inevitable Bear Market

By Steven Smith | Financial Lifestyle , Financial News , Investment Management , Newsletters

Global equity markets defied predictions – and perhaps even gravity – in 2017. The S & P 500 (total return) index increased 21.83%, landing in the top third best performances in its history. Foreign markets, buoyed by a falling dollar, performed even better. The MSCI World ex USA (net dividends) Index gained 24.21%. The MSCI […]

Dec 21

The Incomparable Virtues of Goals Based Planning

By Steven Smith | Financial Lifestyle , Meanderings , Wealth Management

One of my standard cocktail party questions when conversing with investors is: How much are you trying to earn with your investments? A typical response is: As much as I can. Then I follow up with: Well, how will you know when you’ve done that? – I often get a blank stare. These are of […]

Apr 12

1st Quarter Client Note

By Steven Smith | Investment Management , Money , Newsletters , Retirement

The S & P 500 (Total Return) Index gained 1.35% in the quarter. This was no mean feat considering what was occurring in January. The first two weeks of January welcomed the worst start to a year for the S & P 500 in history. The index was down 7.93% from January 4 -15. For […]

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