Author name: Michael Ross

The First Meeting: What to Look For When Interviewing a Financial Advisor When you’re making big life purchases like a car or a house, you likely spend hours, even days, researching online. You know the car models, the neighborhoods, the features you desire. The digital age has transformed these processes; it’s said that 85% of

You’ve taken the crucial first step in your financial future : recognizing the need for professional guidance and scheduling first meetings. Perhaps you’ve followed my advice and reached out to six different professionals, gathered through referrals from friends, your company retirement plan contacts, your insurance agent, your CPA, or even the attorney who drafted your will. You’ve

Ways to protect your portfolio from Geopolitical Risk. The easiest way to protect your portfolio from geopolitical risk is to not invest internationally. This is not to say you shouldn’t reap the rewards of international growth.  It is to say let the US Companies that you invest in do international investing.  As much as 60% of US Firm revenue comes from outside the United

The Professions “F-words”: Fee Only and Fiduciary Finding the right financial advisor is hard work.  There is no database that matches both competencies and personalities of advisors to clients. You are left with trying to use titles and compensation arrangements to find that needle in a haystack. What makes this worse is that as your

What do insurance agents and rock stars have in common? My answer will surprise you.  I’m reading Brothers by Alex Van Halen.  I’ve just read a section describing their first record contract.  I have read about other rock groups—and this must apply to other music styles too—initial record contracts.  Essentially, they were paid poorly; instead

Current Client Conversations & Revocable Living Trust Two key conversations this week worth talking about.    The first involved a client in Tennessee with whom we are working with her estate attorney on getting some estate planning done.  No, this doesn’t involve the sunsetting for the TCJA’s high lifetime gifting limit.  Rather, this involves a decision

Current Client Conversations & Presediantial Politics This is my reflection on conversations that I have had with clients over the past week that I believe gives you a grasp of those relationships with roughly 120 clients we work with.   One topic that came up multiple times is how people are delaying significant decisions because of

Current Client Conversations & Difficult Moves I spent a significant amount of last week dealing with difficult moves.  Meaning, dealing with both clients and their aging parents or other relatives moving into either other locations or other forms of housing.  Also, arranging for estate planning items. Much of my time is spent on these non-investment-related

Current Client Conversations Managing Expectations Each week I summarize the central themes of conversations I am having with clients lately for you, simply to give you sense of how these dialogues go; to give you a flavor of how I work with clients.  Right now, I am trying to set expectations for 2025.   Using Recency