The consequences of unchecked beneficiary designations

View this PDF to see the importance of you choosing your beneficiaries, not the courts:

5 financial milestones to reach in your 20s

From: washingtonpost.com

To be a 20-something is to wrestle again and again with big life moments: Graduating from college. Getting a job. Moving into your own place. Getting another job. Getting married. Buying a house, maybe, or having a kid.

Each milestone comes with plenty of reasons to worry about money. Or as millennial-focused financial adviser Sophia Bera more enthusiastically puts it, “major planning opportunities.”

And…

Why Everyone Should Unplug More Often

From: greatist.com

I don’t know about you, but my smartphone sometimes seems like Grand Central Station at rush hour. Between texts, emails, regular old phone calls, and notifications from multiple social media sites, keeping up with all the inputs can feel like a full-time job. In fact, I can’t remember the last time I passed a full 12 hours without checking my phone at least once….

Advisors Still Favor Active Management, but Preferences Are Shifting: Practical Perspectives

From: thinkadvisor.com

Of the 40% of surveyed advisors who changed allocations, most did so by increasing their use of passively managed investments.

Despite the continuing debate about active versus passive asset management and the increasing popularity of ETFs, the majority of financial advisors haven’t changed their investment strategies and continue to favor active management, according to a new report from consulting…

Harvard Neurosurgeon Confirms The Afterlife Exists

From: spiritscienceandmetaphysics.com

Do we have a soul? Is there life after death? The afterlife is something that has been experienced by countless people since recorded history who have returned to tell their tales, with the most noteworthy account experienced first-hand by Harvard trained brain neurosurgeon of 25 years, Dr. Eben Alexander. This is not just another afterlife account that can be written off as…

Let parents raise their kids

From: news-journalonline.com

Controversies about “free-range parenting” illuminate today’s scarred cultural landscape. Neighbors summon police in response to parenting choices the neighbors disapprove. Government extends its incompetence with an ever-broader mission of “child protection.” And these phenomena are related to campus hysteria about protecting infantilized undergraduates from various menaces, including uncongenial ideas.

The Meitivs live in suburban Montgomery County, which is a bedroom for many Washington bureaucrats who make…

Speaking the Language of Risk

From: nytimes.com

When I say “risk” and you say “risk,” chances are high we don’t mean the same thing.

The finance industry defines risk as something measurable. It is variability within a set of known limits. You may have heard it referred to as standard deviation or even volatility. Ultimately, it represents how much an investment wiggles over time.

I’m an adviser who talks to humans. I also happen…

HNWs Worry About Unintended Consequences of a Big Inheritance
Merrill Lynch report finds parents worried about the effects of too large an inheritance

From: thinkadvisor.com

he vast majority of wealthy people plan to transfer most of their wealth to family members, but many worry about doing so absent context, conversation, guidance or accountability, according to a report published Thursday by Merrill Lynch’s Private Banking and Investment Group.

The report was based on a nationwide…