Appreciate Finance Blog
Boring investing
One of my mantras is that investing should be boring. This article spells out why long term plain vanilla investment plans tend to create more wealth than exciting GameStop type, adrenalin and drama -filled ones.
Important FAFSA Changes
As kids get closer to college age, you may want to read up on important changes that have been made to the FAFSA by the Department of Education. This form, to be filled out for college financial considerations, has been simplified but some benefits have gone away, and...
Children Need Social Security Numbers
Make sure your children have Social Security numbers, especially if you are a US person living overseas, or a resident in the US with children who have other citizenships but are still eligible for a US number. The stimulus payments will be based partially on having a...
Social Security Benefits While Abroad
If you travel the world or those you know live abroad, it is helpful to know you can likely still get your Social Security benefits from the USA while living in other countries, as long as you are entitled to them. There are pitfalls to look out for if you have...
Property & casualty insurance policies and your trust
If you have a living trust, you probably want to add the name of your trust to your Homeowners and Umbrella insurance policies as a named insured. Thinking from a liability perspective, if the home is owned by the trust and the policy is in the trustee’s name, any...
How retail investors are changing market movements
Financial markets have done well so far in 2020, despite the difficult situation with COVID. Some say retail investors are changing the nature of market movements and reactions by behaving differently than institutional ones. Read more here.
Advisors help clients feel more comfortable during difficult times
In August, Dalbar, an investment research firm, surveyed 995 investors in North America who had a relationship with a financial advisor, presenting them with questions about their experiences with investing, the markets and their advisor during the coronavirus market...
Slow down and be skeptical
There’s a disease that has been spreading for years now. Like any resilient virus, it evolves to find new ways to attack us. It’s not in our bodies, but on the web. It has different names: misinformation, disinformation or distortions. Whatever the label, it can be...
Slow down your thinking
Back in 2014, a group of neuroscientists from MIT published a report on the minimum length of time required for the human mind to process information from an image: 13 milliseconds, almost an order of magnitude faster than previously believed. How fast is 13...