Insights

Written By: Nik Aamlid  My children love escalators.  Whereas most parents will bring their kids to the store and be greeted with the question, “Can we buy something?,” our kids ask, “Do they have those sliding stairs?”  Despite our repeated efforts not to allow it, they find it particularl …

For my last milestone birthday, I received a great gift from my children. Every Monday for one year, I received an email with one question my children wanted me to answer. Very quickly it became a reminder of just how fast a week would pass; at times, I would have to write two or three afte …

By Kevin Engbers, CFP®, Founder, Wealth Advisor I miss my mom and dad and I think of them almost every day. My dad passed away in 2015 and mom in 2020. (To answer the question that normally follows, my mother did not pass from the pandemic. However, she was in a nursing home, and I …

Many of us all but ignore our retirement accounts for much of our working lives. We look at a pay stub and have a vague sense of the “minuses:” Social Security, insurance, taxes. But the IRA is one of the most powerful retirement savings tools available to us, and so it warrants our attention. 

By: Ryan Ovenden, Wealth Advisor It’s no secret that I am a Christian and that my focus in the financial advising sphere has centered around like-minded believers in Jesus Christ.  Practically speaking, this mostly stems from my origins with Freedom Financial Counseling, Inc., where I coach …

The latest stimulus package – signed into law Thursday by the Biden Administration – is built to boost the middle class and low-income Americans, the goal being of course to speed up economic recovery.

By: Nik Aamlid, Wealth Advisor   With the gales of the so-called “meme stock” phenomenon having largely subsided, it’s appropriate to reflect on these recent events and relate them to our own respective situations. Any time there is volatility in the stock market, investors see a hike …

During the past decade, ending December 2019, low volatility investing has been embraced by many investors due to above average adjusted performance. With the turn of events, the year 2020 witnessed a negative surprise for low volatility stocks. This surprise further intensified when value …

Like gardening or working out, tax planning is one of those activities where you get out of it what you put into it. Plenty of us have a weight bench gathering dust in the garage that hasn’t gotten us into any better shape, or a plot in the backyard that just won’t grow anything because …

Have you found yourself officing in a room with a bunk bed? Do you realize you’re going to the store in your pajamas and never leaving your car? Does going to the movies mean going to the living room to turn on the TV? Quarantine changed the world almost overnight, and the adjustment is so …

In many ways, 2020 may have been the “reset” we needed in order to become better stewards of our time, talents, resources and relationships. A pandemic, protests, a contentious election, the nearly full shutdown of the world economy, school and work from home, nearly all public activities a …