financial planning Archives

Make the Most of Your Vacations: Save for Travel, Not a Vacation Home

May 2, 2017/1 Comment/in Budgeting, Finance /by Michael Rivas

It’s well worth understanding how to make the most of your vacations, you’re better off saving your money for trips, experiences, and various destinations — not a second home.

Budgeting for Coffee Sucks, Try This Instead

February 21, 2017/2 Comments/in Budgeting, Finance /by Michael Rivas

Trying to cut back on your spending gets tedious when you focus on minute details. Yes, it’s important to track every dollar — but to feel anxious about spending on small purchases that you value because you’re trying to save more and spend less?

In Times of Change, Focus on Your Financial Plan

December 2, 2016/2 Comments/in Finance /by Michael Rivas

No one can guarantee when the markets will go up or down. Lots of talking heads and so-called “experts” like to claim they know when factors like news items or current events will impact how the stock market behaves, but it’s all guesswork.

Ready to invest in real estate? Take a close look at your margins

April 29, 2016/1 Comment/in Finance /by Michael Rivas

Is buying investment property a wise idea? Is it the best way to build wealth? Is rental property really ‘risk averse’?

Generation X? I feel your pain!

December 15, 2015/1 Comment/in Building Wealth, Family, Finance /by Michael Rivas

Generation X has some problems—and not just their own. Perhaps the biggest one of all is that this group has everyone else’s problems too!

A New Age of Opportunity

September 28, 2015/1 Comment/in Building Wealth, Finance /by Michael Rivas

Change may be a given, but even when we know it’s for the better, shifting our own thinking can be quite a challenge.

Is “breaking news” killing your financial plan?

July 22, 2015/1 Comment/in Finance /by Michael Rivas

The fact is, all that financial “news” means absolutely nothing to the normal investor. Sure, the play-by-play changes in the stock market may make a difference to the day traders—at least for the day. And yes, the clicks on CNN’s website will make a difference to some marketing genius’s commission check. But for anyone investing for the long term, none of it matters. It’s just noise.