Especially around the time of the New Year’s holiday, thoughts come to mind of finding ways to simplify our lives. For this very reason, my new-client questionnaire has a section on lifestyle goals with a list of thought-starters. The purpose is to initiate discussion and to help clients prioritize what is most important to them. One of the most commonly expressed desires is to simplify one’s financial life. Despite advances in technology and productivity, our liv…

Last Saturday, I was forty-five minutes early for an appointment, so I decided to wait in my car and listen to the radio. I listened to The Mutual Fund Show. This program is hosted by Adam Bold, the founder of The Mutual Fund Store. Although I’ve listened to the show before, I was especially struck by the amount of self-serving and disingenuous comments made in such a short period of time. In a recent article called Agendas, I mentioned Ric Edelman, another r…

According to Bill Gross, co-chief investment officer of the PIMCO money management firm, the U.S. economy is going to be sluggish for the next few years and investment returns muted. Therefore, investors should get used to it. Mr. Gross is one of the most highly respected investment managers on the planet. He is credited with coining the term “The New Normal” to describe an economic environment quite different than we have experienced during our lifetimes. The new…

I recently participated in a “money makeover” project for Money Magazine. In the August 2010 issue’s Fix Our Mix feature, I advised a couple from Southfield, Mich. in their early 40’s on how to integrate their separate financial lives to better communicate in order to achieve their common goals. Since the subjects, Michelle and Scott, also needed to be more aggressive savers and less aggressive investors, I prescribed a 15% savings rate target for retirement and a…

In the June 2010 issue of Hour Magazine, I was named one of the top wealth managers in the Detroit area. You might think that I would feel honored by the recognition, but I find it a little troubling that these types of lists carry so much weight with consumers. It’s natural to want to work with the “best of” any profession. Even so, I believe if you are serious about hiring someone to help with your financial life, you should do more than select from a simple list…