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Category: Financial Planning

A man holds a child on his back while another man high-fives the child outdoors.
  • Financial Planning, My Money & Me
4 min read

What Are You Really Worth? The Answer Is Probably Not on a Balance Sheet

At Griffin Black, we spend a lot of time thinking about our clients’ accounts. After all, our clients expect us to guide their investment strategies in a way that enables them to build wealth. But the most important conversations we have with our clients often center on matters that don’t boil down to dollars and cents. In fact, we’ve written previously about the importance of integrating your financial planning with the core priorities in your life: your “why,” in Simon Sinek’s terms.
A smiling man and woman sit at a table with a laptop and notebook, looking at each other. The man holds eyeglasses, and there is a wooden shelf in the background.
  • Financial Planning, My Money & Me
5 min read

Decluttering Your Bottom Line: Financial Spring Cleaning

It’s an annual ritual in many American households: as the weather gradually begins to warm and the trees begin to bud, we open all the closets and dresser drawers, pulling out clothes and other items and sorting them into three piles—“keep,” “throw,” and “sell or give away.” It makes sense. Spring cleaning is one way that we make a periodic assessment, not just of our wardrobes, but also in our lives. It helps us get rid of what we don’t need so we can focus on what is most important. For many, it’s an emotional decluttering as much as a material one.
A family of four poses outdoors; the mother carries one child on her back, while the father carries the other. Everyone is smiling. Trees are in the background.
  • Financial Planning
6 min read

Raising Smart, Confident, and Financially Successful Kids

What is a parent’s role in raising smart, confident, and successful children? What matters? What doesn’t? Though author Margot Bisnow was the mother of two happy and driven entrepreneurial sons, these are questions she once never thought to ask. But then she interviewed 70 successful entrepreneurs – and their Moms – and found that many parents’ approach to ‘helping’ their children is counterproductive.
A woman with glasses, wearing a blue shirt, sits at a table in a kitchen, reading a document and using a calculator. A pink mug is on the table beside her.
  • Financial Planning
7 min read

Five Mistakes Women Make with Their Money

Over the past fifteen years I've had the pleasure of working with many smart and capable professional women. I've spoken with even more about their finances. Here are the biggest mistakes I've seen these smart women make with their money.
Pattern of colorful smiley faces with various expressions, on a white background. Some smileys have the word "HAPPY !!!" written near them.
  • Financial Planning, My Money & Me, Saving & Budgeting
8 min read

Make 2022 Your Happy Money Year

The past two years have subjected us all to unprecedented levels of stress and strain, both financial and otherwise. Over half of the respondents to a recent online survey of nearly 3,000 adults by NextAdvisor felt somewhat-to-very anxious about their finances. Curiously, these responses were given in spite of recent strong stock market performance and in the midst of one of the most robust hiring environments of the past decade.
A couple sitting on a sailboat, smiling, with the ocean and a partly cloudy sky in the background.
  • Financial Planning, My Money & Me, Saving & Budgeting
6 min read

Financial Planning Should Be About Your Life, Not Just About Your Retirement
The U.S. Capitol building illuminated at dusk, with its reflection visible in the water of the Capitol Reflecting Pool in Washington, D.C.
  • Financial Planning, Recent Events, Taxes
7 min read

Will Your Taxes Be Going Up? According to Biden’s “New American Families Plan” Proposals, It’s Likely.
A man and woman sit at a table, smiling and looking at a laptop. The table has a cup and notebook. The background features shelves with decorations and plants.
  • Financial Planning, My Money & Me
4 min read

Does Your Cash Flourish?
A hand is cutting a piece of paper using scissors. The paper initially says "I can't do it" but the person is cutting off the "t," changing the message to "I can do it.
  • Financial Planning, My Money & Me
14 min read

Will You Finally Begin to Make Progress Toward Your Financial Goals in 2021?

According to the fitness app Strava, every year starts with a rush of new users tracking their runs. Then, not quite two weeks later, tracking usage drops off precipitously. As a result, Strava has declared January 12 to be the most popular day to give up on New Year’s resolutions.
A red Swiss Army knife with multiple tools extended, including blades, scissors, and a small screwdriver.
  • Current & Economic Events, Financial Planning
9 min read

Our Big 2020 Election Takeaway? Stay Flexible

Which word best describes the current state of the country to you: divided or balanced? Your answer likely depends on several factors, ranging from politics to life experiences to your penchant for optimism. Regardless, it looks like we’re on course to have a Democratic president and a split Congress.
Photo by James Pond on Unsplash
  • Financial Planning
3 min read

Revisiting Employer Benefit Open Enrollment
A hand drops a coin into a jar labeled "Retirement" filled with coins. An old-fashioned alarm clock and stacks of coins sit next to the jar on a table, with a blurred green background.
  • Financial Planning, Retirement Planning, Saving & Budgeting
7 min read

Four Keys To Retirement Security

"They went to work every day and built a life for themselves, put money away in a savings plan and paid their taxes. And then they got divorced or hurt on the job or sick or widowed or just plain unlucky — and found themselves in the same boat as millions of Americans who are now approaching retirement with most of the financial props knocked out from under them."
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