Financial planning

Question: I keep trying to figure a budgeting system that will work for me. But I keep failing. Do you have a favorite app to recommend?

Answer: Most people hate budgeting for the same reason I hate counting calories. Eventually, you just get tired of fiddling with all the details and in a moment of frustration, you fall back into old habits.

Question: I keep trying to figure a budgeting system that will work for me. But I keep failing. Do you have a favorite app to recommend?

Answer: Do you have areas of your life in which you are constantly hitting the reset button?

Question: What is financial wellness? I am a human resources professional and financial wellness is a hot topic among my peers. The idea is that if we provide financial wellness training for our employees, they can be more stable and productive for their employers. That sounds good, but I’m not even sure how to define the term, much less offer training for it.

Answer: I think it would be helpful to think of financial wellness in much the same way we think of physical wellness. It isn’t so much a destination as a state of being.

Question: I have been working with a financial planner for a few years and I’m not satisfied. It isn’t so much about the investment part. That’s been OK. But I just don’t feel like he knows I am alive. Is it too much to expect to be able to find someone who will take care of me and my money?

Answer: It is not too much to ask that a financial advisor be a competent partner in assisting you achieve realistic financial goals.

Question: Like most people, I make New Year’s resolutions. Some I have actually kept long-term, but most have been pretty short lived. What do you think is the secret of keeping your resolutions – especially the financial kind?

Answer: I have no idea how many dieting books, fitness club memberships or getting-organized supplies are sold during the weeks just before and just after New Year’s Day…but I suspect it’s a big number.

Something about a new year suggests a clean slate – a fresh opportunity to do it again, only this time get it right!