The Value of Financial Planning Congratulations on taking the first step toward securing your financial future! If you’re starting to create a financial plan, you’re already ahead of the curve. Did you know that only one in every three adults in their 50s makes it as...
Our own Chris Johnson recently presented a “Taxes in Retirement” seminar at the Middleton Library. We thought sharing a few of the common questions would be helpful. How do I decide whether to save to my traditional or Roth 401k? It depends! Our tax system is...
Going to college is exciting! You get to live on your own for the first time, meet new friends, and explore new interests. But, for many, college is also a source of anxiety. Aside from having to develop a new routine in a new area, many students worry about how to...
One of the questions we’re commonly asked is how we pick stocks that end up in client portfolios. It’s a fun and creative process, of which we’ll share some of our secret sauce in this post. Our investment philosophy at JSA is to identify and own “excellence” and...
A common question we hear from clients is, “I need to withdraw cash from my portfolio. When should we sell investments to raise that cash?” As we’ve discussed in other posts, timing the market is very difficult. You might get it right a time or two, but outside of...
Considering how strong the housing market has been recently, you may think this seems a strange question. We’ve all probably heard stories of sellers receiving multiple offers or offers without contingencies. For better or worse, real estate is more expensive almost...
A common question clients ask is something along the lines of “are my investments diversified?” What follows will help you determine whether that’s important for your financial life. In our world, diversification means investing in multiple areas rather than...
As markets moved lower in September 2021, we decided to write a piece about FEAR – because if there’s one comment we often hear, it’s that people are afraid of losing money in markets – ESPECIALLY when prices are falling. And the lower stock prices go, the more people...
I started this first Hall of Fear entry very differently until this gem of a tweet from Ben Carlson hit my timeline. What Ben delivers here via humor, education, and sprinkled with a little accountability in four words is just….too good. (If you’re not familiar with...
Part 1: Historical Perspective Many clients are asking about the next market downturn. We consider it one of our primary responsibilities to evaluate “what ifs” for the companies in our portfolios. We make it our job to prepare ahead and make informed decisions about...
